Originally appeared on Total Retail
Retail media networks (RMNs) continue to demonstrate how they can be a powerful monetization driver for retailers, creating a win-win-win for everyone involved. Retailers can monetize their valuable first-party data as well as their online and in-store inventory, while customers benefit from timely, relevant content that enhances their shopping experience. At the same time, advertisers can reach highly targeted audiences at critical moments near the point of purchase
Achieving this type of success requires overcoming challenges around fragmented and incomplete first-party data, which can limit a retailer’s ability to organize and use their data effectively. Additionally, many RMNs lack the analytical capacity to generate customer insights, build addressable audiences, and accurately measure success. To realize the full potential of their platforms, RMNs need partners that provide complementary data, strong identity solutions, and the expertise to transform insights into actionable strategies. This allows RMNs to drive winning outcomes for themselves, marketers, and their customers.
Here are the five steps an RMN should consider when selecting the right partner.
1. Build an identity foundation
First, the right partner needs to be able to organize and clean customer data. Given the millions of customer records and data points that a retailer has, RMNs need to make sure their data is highly usable. Whether it is a known customer record or an unknown customer with incomplete data, partners should fill in missing information and connect fragmented customer records to a single profile. For example, RMNs need to know that a purchase made in-store is by the same customer who bought online. The best partners will then organize those profiles into households since targeting (and purchasing) is often done at the household level. Without a strong identity foundation future steps of segmentation, insights, audience creation, and activation will not be successful.
Experian identity
Experian’s identity solutions provide RMNs with a comprehensive and accurate view of their customers across both offline and digital environments. We clean an RMN’s first-party data and organize their customer records into households since targeting is often done at the household level and purchases are made at the household level.
Using Experian’s Offline and Digital Graphs we work with the RMN to fill in the missing information they have on their customers (e.g. name, address, phone number or digital IDs like hashed emails, mobile ad IDs, CTV IDs, Universal IDs like UID2 or ID5 IDs). This ensures that the retailers’ entire customer base can be reached – and measured – across devices and channels.
2. Segment your customers
An RMN’s ability to segment its customer base and derive insights depends on the availability and usability of their data assets – not to mention some serious analytical chops. Some RMNs will split their customers into different product segments based on what’s relevant to an advertiser. For example, a home improvement retailer may segment customers by who is buying DIY supplies versus improvement services. Other RMNs may develop custom segments from their customer data and third-party data sources, so that advertisers can personalize their marketing based on life stage, age, income level, geography, and other factors. Either approach is effective but requires working with a partner who has high quality data and deep analytical expertise to develop those segments.
Segment with Experian
Experian Marketing Data helps an RMN learn about their customer beyond their first-party data. With access to 5,000 marketing attributes, RMNs can fill in the holes in their understanding of a customer. We provide them with demographic, geographic, finance, home purchase, interests and behaviors, lifestyle, auto data and more. RMNs can use this enriched data set to create addressable audience segments.
3. Generate actionable insights about these segments
Once the RMN determines how they will segment their customers, they can utilize demographic, attitudinal, interest, and behavioral data from a trusted partner to develop a customer profile that compares its customers against a relevant sample of consumers. Here, the RMN will gain insight that will help them answer questions about its customers. Examples include:
- What age and income groups are more likely to purchase my product?
- What is the current life stage of my customers – do they have children, are they married, are they empty-nesters?
- Is price or quality more important to customers in their decision-making process?
- What sort of activities do my customers enjoy?
- How frequently do my customers shop for similar merchandise?
- What media channels do my customers use to get their information?
Expanded insights with Experian
With Experian’s advanced customer profiling, RMNs can go beyond basic customer segmentation. We build detailed customer profiles by utilizing accurate, attribute-rich consumer data, so RMNs can gain a more comprehensive understanding of their customer’s preferences, life stages, and purchasing behaviors. Having this insight enables the RMN to:
- Design a targeted email campaign promoting home essentials to recently married new homeowners.
- Develop a social media post announcing the opening of a new hardware store to users within a specific location interested in do-it-yourself products.
- Create brochures and flyers at a local community event tailored towards parents with small children that promote equipment for youth sports leagues.
4. Create high quality lookalike audiences
The RMN now knows what distinguishes their customers from other consumers and can create audiences that enable advertisers to run personalized marketing campaigns at scale. RMNs can do this in several different ways:
- Work with a data provider who can create custom audiences for the RMN (e.g., Ages 40-49 and Leisure Travelers and past purchase of travel item)
These custom audiences are created by joining multiple first- and third-party data attributes found to be significant in the customer profile or using machine learning techniques to develop a custom audience unique to the advertiser.
Custom audiences with Experian
With an enriched understanding of their customers, RMNs can create addressable custom audience segments, including lookalike audiences, for advertisers.
5. Expand addressability of audiences and activate on multiple destinations
Once audiences are created, RMNs will want to increase a marketer’s reach across on-site and off-site channels. With the right identity graph partner, an RMN can add digital identifiers to customer records that enable activation across media channels, including programmatic display, connected television (CTV), or social. RMNs should work with identity providers that are not reliant on third-party cookies. They should select partners that offer more stable digital IDs in their graph like mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), hashed emails (HEMs), CTV IDs, and universal IDs like Unified I.D. 2.0 (UID2).
Experian powers data-driven advertising through connectivity
Using Experian’s Digital Graph, RMNs expand the addressability of their audiences by assigning digital identifiers to customer records. Marketers will be able to reach an RMNs customers onsite as well as offsite since Experian provides several addressable IDs.
Audiences can be activated across an RMNs owned and operated platform as well as extended programmatically to TV and the open web through Experian’s integrations across the ecosystem.
Maximize your RMN’s revenue potential with Experian
Organizing customer data, segmenting customers, generating insights, creating addressable audiences, and activating campaigns are all critical steps for an RMN to realize that revenue potential. RMNs should select a partner that provides the data, identity, and analytical resources to create the winning formula for marketers, customers, and retailers.
Experian’s data and identity solutions are designed to help RMNs maximize their revenue potential.
Reach out to our team to discover how we can support your path to RMN success.
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If you buy media today, you’re already feeling the shift: the best results don’t always come from broad, open auctions or static “safe site” lists; they’re coming from deals that combine the right data with the right inventory and let algorithms optimize in real time. That’s curation. And when it’s done right, it reduces data and media waste for buyers and raises eCPMs (effective cost per thousand impressions) and win rates for publishers. As part of our Cannes Content Studio series, leaders from Butler/Till, Index Exchange, OpenX, PubMatic, and Yieldmo discuss how curation cuts waste and lifts results. What is real curation? Real curation isn’t “packaging inventory.” It’s a strategic framework built on three pillars: 1. Unique data Privacy-compliant and accurate. 2. Strong supply connections Access to quality inventory from publishers at scale. 3. Optimization tools To measure, refine, and improve performance throughout the campaign lifecycle. Why it matters: Manual approaches hit a ceiling. They can’t react quickly to shifting content, identity signals, or auction dynamics. That’s where technology partners come in, keeping the optimization loop running continuously. Intelligence at every touchpoint Curation isn’t about shifting control between platforms. It’s about better brand decisions, connecting opportunity-rich supply to the brand’s preferred buying platform and enriching each buy with audience data. In practice, supply-side platforms (SSPs) are ingesting richer signals to route inventory more effectively and support frequency caps and deal prioritization, in collaboration with demand-side platforms (DSPs). "I think we’re seeing a shift toward bringing more DSP capabilities into the SSP, like supply-side targeting and data driven curation. Advancements in areas like CTV are enabling targeting based on content signals, and SSPs are pulling in more data to inform which supply is sent to the DSP, helping with things like frequency caps."Matt Sattel Why page-level targeting beats static lists Static domain lists were a useful first step for quality control. The intent was sound, but the approach was too cumbersome for today’s signal-rich buying. Today, AI and contextual engines read the page, not just the site, and adapt in real time. Page-level logic delivers three key benefits: Accuracy by targeting high-intent, page-level content. Relevance by matching the creative to both the content and the audience context. Speed by enabling campaigns to move away from underperforming pages in real time, without waiting for a manual trafficking change. "AI-driven contextual engines evaluate the page, not just the domain, to curate inventory in real time. That moves curation from static allowlists to adaptive logic for greater accuracy, relevance, and speed."Sophia Su Partnerships broaden who influences the buy Curation works when publishers, agencies, data partners, and platforms share signals and KPIs. Horizontal curation (across multiple SSPs) assembles broader, higher-quality reach and resilience, ideal for scale and diversity of supply. Vertical curation (an SSP’s in-house product) provides deep controls within a single exchange, useful for specific inventory strategies. Creative and data now shape supply and demand: better creative decisioning, tested against richer signals, improves outcomes. DSPs remain central for activation and pacing. But the sell-side’s growing intelligence means more accurate inventory routing and signal application before a bid ever fires. "Curation will continue to evolve through deeper data partnerships and expanded use across publishers and agencies, with more sophisticated types of optimization. DSPs will remain critical to activation, even as sell-side decisioning plays a larger role in identifying and shaping the supply to select."Mike McNeeley Curation delivers access and measurable performance Here’s what curated deals are delivering. For buyers ResultType of result36-81%savings on data segments10-70%lower cost per click (CPCs)1.5-3xhigher click-through rates (CTRs)10-30%higher video completion rates For publishers ResultType of result20%bid density118%win rate10%revenue on discovered inventory25%eCRM on incremental impressions Why it works: When data, supply, and optimization are integrated, you reduce waste, surface better impressions, and let algorithms compound your advantage. That’s why curated private marketplaces (PMPs) have grown at ~19% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2019. "Publishers using supply-side curation see ~15% more diverse buyers and 20–25% better performance than buy-side-only targeting. Smarter packaging and signal application tighten auctions and strengthen outcomes."Howard Luks Holistic curation streamlines planning and outcomes Curation adds the data layer earlier in the buying process, starting at the supply-side. This creates more opportunities to reach the right audience and improves scale and performance. By replacing multiple line items with a single curated deal, campaign setup becomes faster and less error-prone. Curated deals also simplify measurement by including the necessary context for accurate attribution, while dynamic adjustments ensure campaigns remain optimized without requiring manual updates. "Publishers using supply-side curation see ~15% more diverse buyers and 20–25% better performance than buy-side-only targeting. Smarter packaging and signal application tighten auctions and strengthen outcomes."Gina Whelehan It’s much more streamlined, bringing more pieces together so we’re thoughtful and holistic. 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Audigent supports curated strategies through privacy-safe data and advanced integrations. How does curation benefit marketers? Curation reduces wasted spend by targeting high-quality impressions and optimizing campaigns in real time. Audigent’s solutions help marketers achieve higher click-through rates, lower costs, and better engagement across channels. What are curated PMPs, and why are they important? Curated PMPs are deals that use curated data and inventory to deliver measurable results. They help buyers save on data costs, improve ad performance, and achieve better video completion rates, while publishers see higher win rates and revenue. How does Audigent support curated strategies? Audigent provides unique data assets, privacy-safe integrations, and optimization tools that help marketers and publishers create curated deals. Our solutions ensure campaigns are more efficient, targeted, and effective from start to finish. What’s the difference between horizontal and vertical curation? Horizontal curation combines inventory across multiple platforms for broader reach and diversity, while vertical curation focuses on deep control within a single platform. Both approaches can be tailored to specific campaign goals with Audigent's expertise. Latest posts
In our Ask the Expert Series, we interview leaders from our partner organizations who are helping lead their brands to new heights in AdTech. Today’s interview is with Ben Smith, VP of Product, Data Products at Infillion. Adapting to signal loss What does the Experian–Infillion integration mean for advertisers looking to reach audiences as signals fade? As cookies and mobile identifiers disappear, brands need a new way to find and reach their audiences. The Experian integration strengthens Infillion’s XGraph, a cookieless, interoperable identity graph that supports all major ID frameworks, unifying people and households across devices with privacy compliance, by providing a stronger identity foundation with household- and person-level data. This allows us to connect the dots deterministically and compliantly across devices and channels, including connected TV (CTV). The result is better match rates on your first-party data, more scalable reach in cookieless environments, and more effective frequency management across every screen. Connecting audiences across channels How does Experian’s Digital Graph strengthen Infillion’s ability to deliver addressable media across channels like CTV and mobile? Experian strengthens the household spine of XGraph, which means we can accurately connect CTV impressions to the people and devices in that home – then extend those connections to mobile and web. This lets us plan, activate, and measure campaigns at the right level: household for CTV, and person or device for mobile and web. The outcome is smarter reach, less waste from over-frequency, and campaigns that truly work together across channels. The value of earned attention Infillion has long championed “guaranteed attention” in advertising. How does that philosophy translate into measurable outcomes for brands? Our engagement formats, such as TrueX, are based on a simple principle: attention should be earned, not forced. Viewers choose to engage with the ad and complete an action, which means every impression represents real, voluntary attention rather than passive exposure. Because of that, we consistently see stronger completion rates, deeper engagement, and clearer downstream results – like lower acquisition costs, improved on-site behavior, and measurable brand lift. To take that a step further, we measure attention through UpLift, our real-time brand lift tool. UpLift helps quantify how exposure to a campaign influences awareness, consideration, or purchase intent, providing a more complete picture of how earned attention translates into business impact. Creative innovation and location insights Beyond identity resolution, what are some of Infillion’s capabilities, like advanced creative formats or location-based insights, that set you apart in the market? One key area is location intelligence, which combines privacy-safe geospatial insights with location-based targeting through our proprietary geofencing technology. This allows us to build custom, data-driven campaigns that connect media exposure to real-world outcomes – like store visits and dwell time – measured through Arrival, our in-house footfall attribution product. We also build custom audiences using a mix of zero-party survey data, first-party location-based segments, and bespoke audience builds aligned to each advertiser’s specific strategy. Then there’s creative innovation, which is a major differentiator for us. Our high-impact formats go beyond static display, such as interactive video units that let viewers explore products through hotspots or carousels, rich-media ads that feature polls, quizzes, dynamic distance, or gamified elements, and immersive experiences that encourage active participation rather than passive viewing. These creative formats not only capture attention but also generate deeper engagement and stronger performance for a variety of KPIs. Future ready media strategies How does Infillion’s ID-agnostic approach help brands future-proof their media strategies amid ongoing privacy and tech changes? We don’t put all our eggs in one basket. XGraph securely unifies multiple durable identifiers alongside our proprietary TrueX supply to strengthen CTV household reach. This agnostic design allows us to adapt as platforms, regulations, and browsers evolve – so you can preserve reach and measurement capabilities without getting locked into a single ID or losing coverage when the next signal deprecates. Raising the bar for media accountability Looking ahead, how is Infillion evolving its platform to meet the next wave of challenges in audience engagement and media accountability? From an engagement standpoint, we’re expanding our ability to support the full customer journey, offering ad experiences that move seamlessly from awareness to consideration to conversion. That includes smarter creative that adapts to context, intelligent targeting and retargeting informed by real data, and formats designed to drive measurable outcomes rather than just impressions. When it comes to accountability, we’re ensuring that measurement is both flexible and credible. In addition to our proprietary tools, we partner with leading third-party measurement providers to validate results and give advertisers confidence that their investment is truly performing. Within our DSP, we emphasize full transparency and log-level data access, ensuring advertisers can see exactly what’s happening on every impression. All of this builds toward the next era of agentic media buying – one enabled by our MCP suite and modular, component-based tools. This evolution brings greater accountability and next-generation audience engagement to an increasingly automated, intelligent media landscape. Our goal is to help brands connect more meaningfully with audiences while holding every impression – and every outcome – to a higher standard of transparency and effectiveness. Driving impact across the funnel What is a success story or use cases that demonstrate the impact of the Experian–Infillion integration? We recently partnered with a national veterans’ organization to raise awareness of its programs for injured or ill veterans and their families. Using the Experian integration, we combined persistent household- and person-level identifiers with cross-device activation to reach veteran and donor audiences more precisely across CTV, display, and rich media. The campaign achieved standout results – industry-leading engagement rates, a 99% video completion rate, and measurable lifts in both brand awareness (3.6 % increase) and donation consideration (13.7% lift). It’s a clear example of how stronger identity and smarter activation can drive meaningful outcomes across the full funnel. Contact us FAQs Why is identity resolution critical for CTV and cross-channel campaigns? Identity resolution ensures accurate connections between devices, households, and individuals. Experian's Offline Identity Resolution and Digital Graph strengthen these connections for improved targeting and consistent measurement across CTV, mobile, and web. What strategies help address the loss of cookies and mobile IDs? Solutions like Experian's Digital Graph enable brands to connect first-party data to household and person-level identifiers, ensuring scalable reach and compliant audience targeting legacy signals fade. How can engagement translate into measurable results? Focusing on earned attention (where audiences actively choose to engage) leads to stronger completion rates, improves on-site behavior, and drives measurable increases in brand awareness and consideration. What makes cross-channel targeting more effective? By linking CTV impressions to households and extending those connections to mobile and web, Experian's identity solutions ensure campaigns work together seamlessly, reducing over-frequency and improving overall reach. About our expert Ben Smith, VP Product, Data Products Ben Smith leads Infillion’s Data Products organization, delivering identity, audience, and measurement solutions across the platform. Previously, he was CEO and co-founder of Fysical, a location intelligence startup acquired by Infillion in 2019. About Infillion Infillion is the first fully composable advertising platform, built to solve the challenges of complexity, fragmentation, and opacity in the digital media ecosystem. With MediaMath at its core, Infillion’s modular approach enables advertisers to seamlessly integrate or independently deploy key components—including demand, data, creative, and supply. This flexibility allows brands, agencies, commerce and retail media networks, and resellers to create tailored, high-performance solutions without the constraints of traditional, all-or-nothing legacy systems. Latest posts
Audigent, a part of Experian, was named Microsoft Advertising’s Curator of the Year. The honor recognizes Audigent’s leadership for advancing privacy-safe, sell-side curation that packages high-quality audiences with premium supply for measurable campaign performance. Once only a buzzword, curation has become a mainstream strategy for activating advertisers’ first-party data and streamlining programmatic buying. To recognize this shift and the leaders driving it, Microsoft introduced Curate and established the Curator of the Year award to celebrate excellence in this category. Audigent was recognized for: End-to-end curation from audience planning through activation for outcomes-based, closed-loop programs. Breadth of deal and supply types using unique datasets, real-time supply connections and always-on optimization. Data-driven activation with curation across a large publisher footprint that utilizes Experian marketing data, first-party data, and partner audiences. Audigent’s unique, contextual, and predictive audience data solutions are built into all programmatic media buying. The combination of Audigent’s Real-Time Data and Curation Platform and first-party data, along with Experian identity and optimization, turns real engagement into ready-to-activate audiences. These audiences are available within Microsoft Curate and across omnichannel buying. "Audigent is proud to be named Microsoft Advertising’s Curator of the Year. This is a clear validation of the work our team has done to make curation the new standard in data-driven programmatic activation. We will continue to set the standard by expanding curated deals in Microsoft Curate. This will help maximize efficiency across the bidstream.”Chris Meredith, Head of Supply Side Partnerships Together, Experian and Audigent connect identity to inventory, enabling advertisers to reach the right audiences with precision and scale. By harnessing Experian identity and audience solutions and activating Audigent-curated deals in Microsoft Curate, brands can unlock new levels of efficiency and performance across every programmatic channel. This recognition sets the stage for even greater innovation, collaboration, and results in the year ahead. Ready to design your curated library? Let's connect Latest posts