Why does activation expand the value of first-party data? First-party data already delivers value through insight, personalization, and owned-channel engagement. In 2026, marketers expand that value by activating first-party data across owned and paid media channels. Activation is how existing data investments scale beyond CRM into broader audience strategies. Simply capturing customer data used to feel like a win. Building a CRM, capturing emails, and logging transactions delivered valuable insights and fueled owned channels like email and direct mail. But that was largely where activation stopped. In 2026, that mindset is no longer enough. Owning first-party data is now just the starting point. The real advantage comes from what marketers do next. Safely turning static records into addressable, scalable audiences is where first-party data can continue to prove its value. How are marketers shifting from data collection to data connection? As signals fragment, marketers are shifting from data collection to data connection to make first-party data usable across channels. Experian supports this shift by helping marketers onboard and resolve their data into a clean, connected foundation using our identity graphs. Connecting offline and online interactions allows brands to unify customer data across touchpoints to make it actionable. That connection enables more use cases, from audience activation and measurement to personalization and cross-channel optimization. Most brands recognize the value of their own data. Fewer have the infrastructure to make it work across the media ecosystem. Data often sits in silos, disconnected from activation platforms, analytics, and measurement. Without the ability to unify, enrich, and deploy that data, first-party data remains underutilized. In 2026, leading marketers are closing that gap by turning first-party data into audiences they can reach across owned and paid channels, bringing consistency to targeting and measurement. That same connectivity also enables better suppression, allowing brands to avoid targeting existing customers in prospecting campaigns. For consumers, this reduces irrelevant and repetitive ads. For marketers, it improves efficiency and protects the customer experience. With Experian’s identity foundation in place, first-party data becomes usable across the media ecosystem. Marketers can enrich their first-party data with behavioral, demographic, and lifestyle insights, combined with trusted partner data, and activated across channels like social, programmatic, and TV, from a single environment. Why is first-party data becoming central to media planning? First-party data has become central to media planning because it gives marketers control, consistency, and continuity across channels. As media environments fragment, first-party data provides a stable signal that supports activation, personalization, and measurement at scale. Rather than relying on any single data source, marketers are increasingly combining their own first-party data with trusted third-party and partner data to extend reach, improve relevance, and fill gaps in their own insights. Doing so effectively requires deterministic matching, privacy-first infrastructure, and partners that can support both owned and syndicated data at scale. This approach allows brands to maintain control over their customer relationships while continuing to utilize third-party data for prospecting, modeling, and performance optimization across channels. As a result, first-party data activation is now central to how media strategies are planned and executed. 2026 Digital trends and predictions report Our 2026 Digital trends and predictions report is available now and reveals five trends that will define 2026. From curation becoming the standard in programmatic to AI moving from hype to implementation, each trend reflects a shift toward more connected, data-driven marketing. The interplay between them will define how marketers will lead in 2026. Download What business impact does first-party data activation deliver? First-party data activation delivers measurable business impact, including: 70% of B2B marketers plan to increase their use of first-party data, more than any other data strategy. 67% percent of brands and 80% of publishers expect to grow their first-party data sets in the next year. The payoff is tangible. Activating first-party data can reduce customer acquisition costs by up to 50% and drive a 10-15% lift in revenue. Activation drives efficiency. Brands that put their own data to work see lower acquisition costs and stronger revenue lift. These gains come from relevance. When marketers activate audiences built from known customer relationships, they reduce waste and optimize toward outcomes that matter. Experian’s Audience Engine supports this model at scale. Audience Engine helps marketers onboard and activate first-party data through a single unified platform. It connects more than 3,500 syndicated audiences, over 50 media platforms, and 20+ third-party data providers. Marketers can combine, gain insights from, and deploy first-party data quickly. What should marketers plan for first-party data activation in 2026? In 2026, marketers should plan for first-party data to operate across onboarding, activation, and measurement as a connected workflow. Planning now centers on interoperability, scalable activation tools, and privacy-forward enrichment rather than isolated data use cases. Identity underpins each of these three shifts. 1. First-party onboarding is table-stakes Bring your CRM into programmatic and TV to extend reach, lower activation costs, and combine with trusted syndicated and partner audiences for scale. 2. Unified activation tools accelerate execution Use a unified activation toolset like Experian's Audience Engine to view and activate your first-party data and partner segments across 50 platforms (including display, connected TV, and social) while also building lookalike audiences to reach new customers similar to your best ones. Planning for first-party activation doesn't require starting at scale. For small and mid-sized businesses, the path forward can begin with manageable, privacy-safe data onboarding and testing. Tools like Experian’s Audience Engine offer scalable entry points, helping all marketers (not just enterprises) implement first-party data activation. 3. AI-driven enrichment enhances performance Machine learning can identify patterns, predict behavior, model lookalikes, and uncover actionable insights to increase reach and relevance, even as traditional signals fragment. With Experian’s in-house modeling capabilities, marketers gain faster access to advanced machine learning and the ability to define their own model parameters. This gives teams direct control over how audiences are built and optimized, allowing them to activate insights quickly, iterate as strategies evolve, and avoid the limitations of black-box third parties and long development cycles Why first-party data activation matters to marketers in 2026 In 2026, first-party data delivers value when marketers activate it across channels. The opportunity is to extend the value of what already exists through activation, enrichment, and identity-led connection across channels. That means uncovering insights within your existing customer base, building lookalikes from your highest-value audiences, and activating those segments across every channel. With Experian’s Audience Engine, marketers can onboard, enrich, and activate their first-party data in one secure, interoperable platform. Identity connects to outcomes. Performance becomes measurable. Privacy stays at the core. To explore this trend and the others shaping marketing in 2026, download our 2026 Digital trends and predictions report. Download Ready to connect with our team? About the authors Doug McLennan Sr. Director, Product Management, Experian Doug McLennan is the Senior Director of Product Management at Experian Marketing Services where he is focused on product strategy for activation. His past work includes managing syndicated audiences at Oracle Data Cloud and building personalized video ad products at an agency. Doug lives in Colorado and skis as much as his family will allow. Rachael Weinstein Director of Product Management, Experian Rachael Weinstein is the Director of Product Management at Experian Marketing Services where she is focused on product strategy. Previously, she held product roles in advanced TV at WarnerMedia and worked in analytics across multiple startups. First-party data activation FAQs What is first-party data activation? First-party data activation means using a brand’s own customer data to build addressable audiences across paid and owned channels. Experian’s identity spine connects, enriches, and activates that first-party data consistently while preserving control and privacy. Why does first-party data need identity to work across channels? First-party data needs identity to connect customer records across devices, platforms, and environments into a unified view. Experian identity resolution makes it possible to activate, measure, and manage frequency consistently across paid and owned media. How does first-party data activation improve efficiency? First-party data activation improves efficiency by reducing waste and increasing relevance. Marketers focus spend on known and modeled audiences, suppress existing customers in prospecting, and optimize toward outcomes rather than impressions. How does Experian support first-party data activation? Experian supports first-party data activation by resolving, enriching, and activating customer data using identity as the foundation. Through Audience Engine, Experian enables onboarding, audience creation, cross-channel activation, and measurement within one environment. Latest posts

In a perfect world, we’d all have a single, go-to grocery store that carried everything on our shopping list - fresh produce, gourmet coffee beans, rare spices, and maybe even that special-grade olive oil, right alongside our wholesale bulk purchases at unbeatable prices. It would be convenient and efficient, and it’d save a lot of driving around town. The changing data marketplace: From one-stop shop to specialized selection For a long time, data buyers enjoyed something similar in their world: a small set of large-scale data marketplaces that offered a wide array of audiences, making it easy to load up on whatever you needed in one place. Not only are there fewer places to pick everything up, but new factors like privacy and signal deprecation are placing a spotlight on quality and addressability. Just as our dinner plans are growing more ambitious insofar as we want health, flavor, value, and convenience all in one place - so are our data strategies. Instead of a single steak-and-potatoes meal, today’s data marketplace operators might be cooking up a complex menu of campaigns. As a result, data buyers are beginning to shop around. Some still rely on large-scale marketplaces for familiar staples, but now they have reasons to explore other options. Some are turning to providers known for offering top-tier, transparently sourced segments. Others are focusing on specialty providers that excel in one area. A more selective approach to data buying In this environment, choosing where to “shop” for data is becoming more deliberate and selective. Data buyers aren’t just thinking about broad scale; they’re looking to prioritize quality, durability, data privacy, and differentiation. They need to place higher value on data marketplaces that can maintain audience addressability over time, despite signal loss. Sometimes, that means accepting a smaller assortment in exchange for tighter vetting and more reliable targeting. Other times it means mixing and matching - stopping by one marketplace for premium segments and another for cost-friendly, wide-reaching data sets. Either way, they can benefit from having more choices. Experian’s marketplace: A trusted source for high-quality data Experian’s vetted and curated blend of data partners and vertically-aligned audiences offers a trusted specialty store for data buyers. Experian’s marketplace, powered by identity graphs that include 126 million households, 250 million individuals, and 4 billion active digital IDs, enables partner audiences to be easily activated and maintain high addressability across display, mobile, and connected TV (CTV) channels. In particular, Experian’s marketplace provides: Enhanced addressability and match rates All audiences delivered from the marketplace benefit from our best-in-class offline and digital identity graphs, which ensure addressability across all channels like display, mobile, and CTV. Unlike other data marketplaces, Experian ensures all identifiers associated with an audience have been active and are targetable, improving the accuracy of audience planning. Audience diversity and scale Access a broad range of audiences across top verticals from our partner audiences, which can be combined with one another and with 2,400+ Experian Audiences. The ability to join audiences across data providers ensures that buyers can build the perfect audience for the campaign. Trusted compliance and oversight With decades of experience, Experian is a trusted expert in data compliance. Our rigorous data partner review ensures available audiences comply with all federal, state, and local consumer privacy regulations. The future of data marketplaces: Precision and flexibility matter The evolution of data marketplaces reflects the industry's shifting priorities. Data buyers seek specificity, reliability, and adaptability to align with their diverse campaign needs. The best data strategy, much like the best grocery run, isn’t about grabbing everything in one place - it’s about carefully selecting the right ingredients to create the perfect recipe for success. This shift underscores the importance of flexibility and precision as data buyers navigate a landscape shaped by privacy regulations, signal loss, and evolving consumer expectations. As data marketplaces adapt to meet these demands, they are redefining what it means to deliver value. Experian’s marketplace enables buyers to strike the perfect balance between reach and quality by offering enhanced match rates, precise audience planning, and seamless distribution. In this new era, data buyers have the tools and options to craft campaigns that are impactful and aligned with the increasingly selective and privacy-conscious digital landscape. The key is recognizing that today’s data strategy is about utilizing the strengths of many to create a cohesive and effective whole. If you're interested in learning more about Experian's marketplace or becoming an active buyer or seller in our marketplace, please contact us. Contact us Latest posts