All posts by Hayley Schneider, Sr. Manager, Content Marketing

Year after year, CES signals where marketing is headed next. In 2026, the message was clear. Progress comes from connecting data, intelligence, and outcomes with discipline, not spectacle. Across AI, programmatic media, and measurement, the same priorities surfaced again and again. Under the bright lights of Las Vegas, three themes cut through, and each one pointed to a future where data, intelligence, and outcomes move in lockstep. Here are the three themes that defined CES 2026. 1. Agentic AI proved that it’s only as good as its data inputs AI was once again the star of the show. At CES 2026, marketers focused less on demos and more on proof that AI improves decisions, reduces friction, and drives outcomes. Every credible use case traced back to accurate, privacy-first data. What changed at CES was how that intelligence is being applied. Agentic AI systems designed to act autonomously are moving beyond insights and into execution. From media buying to optimization, these agents are increasingly expected to make decisions at speed and scale. That shift raises the stakes for data quality. When AI is operating campaigns, not just informing them, accuracy and privacy are non-negotiable. “This year's CES made agency priorities crystal clear. Efficiency, differentiation, and outcomes. As agentic AI takes on more responsibility across planning, activation, and measurement, Experian gives agencies a robust data and identity foundation they can trust to own the outcome for every client.”Greg Williams, Chief Operating Officer Without accurate, privacy-compliant data, AI agents struggle to reflect real behavior or support responsible personalization. A reliable, privacy-first data foundation is what turns AI from an interesting experiment into an operational advantage. That advantage gets even stronger when it’s anchored in an identity graph that understands people and households across channels. When identity and intelligence move together, AI becomes more accurate, accountable, and effective at driving outcomes. In an AI first world, the strongest signal isn't scale. It's data quality. 2. Curation goes mainstream Curation is no longer experimental. At CES, it showed up as a mandated capability for buyers and sellers navigating fragmented signals and complex supply paths. Marketers want intentional media buys they can explain, defend, and repeat. AI is accelerating this shift. As AI systems take on more responsibility for planning, packaging, and optimization, curation provides the guardrails. It defines what “good” looks like (premium supply, trusted data, and clear performance goals), and allows AI to operate within those constraints driving the optimal outcomes for marketers. “Our sell-side clients walked into CES asking how to stand out in a crowded landscape. The answer kept coming back to data-driven curation. With Experian Audiences and Curated Deals, SSPs and publishers can improve targeting within PMPs, package inventory more intelligently, and prove value with confidence. As we head into 2026, data is no longer a supporting input. It needs to be at the center of every conversation.”Chris Meredith, Head of Sell-Side Rather than maximizing inventory access, curation prioritizes control, transparency, and performance. Buyers want premium supply aligned to specific goals. Sellers want clearer paths to demand. They can play the odds or own the outcome. When data leads, they own it. When curation is powered by high-fidelity audiences and a connected identity framework, it becomes even stronger. That’s what allows curated deals to deliver clarity, confidence, and repeatable performance. This shift reflects a broader move away from probability-based buying toward outcome ownership, where AI-driven systems are measured not on activity, but on results. 3. Activation and measurement finally shared the same stage Activation and measurement are now coming together around shared data and identity. CES 2026 marked a turning point where closing the loop felt achievable, not aspirational. Both the buy-side and sell-side face pressure to show that media investment drives outcomes. Agentic AI was a quiet driver of this optimism. As AI agents increasingly manage activation decisions in real time, marketers need measurement systems that can keep up. That requires a shared data and identity foundation. One that allows AI-driven actions to be evaluated against outcomes consistently, across channels and partners. In healthcare, accuracy is everything. Our clients need to reach patients and healthcare professionals in ways that respect privacy while driving meaningful outcomes. CES underscored that privacy, identity, and measurement must work in harmony. That’s how health marketers reduce risk and increase the likelihood that every message leads to better care.Sheila Wirick, Sales Director, Health Achieving that requires a consistent identity spine that connects planning, activation, and outcomes across channels. And that spine is strongest when it’s built on accurate, privacy-first data and audiences that understand people and households. That connection allows marketers to move beyond proxy metrics and evaluate performance based on tangible results. When campaigns and measurement rely on the same data foundation, AI-driven platforms can optimize toward outcomes such as new customers, account growth, or in-store activity, not just delivery metrics. That’s the connective layer that turns disconnected touch points into a measurable, outcomes-based system. 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 now Three takeaways from CES 2026 AI is maturing, but only for teams with accurate, connected, privacy-first data that AI agents can act on responsibly. Curation is scaling, giving both humans and AI systems clearer paths to quality, control, and differentiation. Activation and measurement are aligning, allowing AI-driven decisions to be judged on outcomes, not assumptions. We’re building for that world today. One where agentic AI operates on a trusted data and identity foundation, curation defines the rules, and outcomes determine success. With the right foundation and the deep data inputs, you can move faster, reduce risk, and let intelligence (human and artificial) work together to deliver results that last long after the neon lights fade. Connect with us FAQs What was the biggest shift discussed at CES 2026 for marketers? The biggest shift was the move from hype to accountability. Marketers focused on data quality, intentional media buying, and outcome-based measurement rather than experimental technology. Why did AI discussions emphasize privacy-first data? Privacy-first data supports accuracy, compliance, and trust. AI models built on unreliable or opaque data struggle to reflect real consumer behavior and create risk for brands. At Experian, privacy and compliance are built in. Every data signal, attribute, audience, and partner goes through our rigorous review process to meet federal, state, and local consumer privacy laws. With decades of experience in highly regulated industries, we’ve built processes that emphasize risk mitigation, transparency, and accountability. How does curation help reduce programmatic complexity? Curation simplifies buying by pairing premium inventory with specific audience and performance goals. This approach reduces waste and creates clearer, more repeatable buying paths. With the acquisition of Audigent, Experian is now more than just a premier data provider. We’re also a full-service curation partner. Together, we deliver end-to-end programmatic curation across data, inventory, and optimization, helping brands and publishers unlock smarter, more scalable media strategies. What does it mean to align activation and measurement? It means using the same identity and data foundation to plan campaigns and evaluate results. This alignment allows marketers to measure success based on business outcomes, not just delivery metrics. With Experian, marketers can plan, reach, and measure in a connected cycle. Every impression is measurable. Every audience is accurate. Every decision is powered by data ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset. Why is identity central to all three CES themes? Identity connects data across channels and stages of the customer journey. It enables accurate AI, effective curation, and consistent measurement within one system. Experian delivers identity resolution at the scale, accuracy, and compliance required by the world’s largest enterprises. Our solutions are:- Built on trust: Backed by 40+ years as a regulated data steward and rated #1 in data accuracy by Truthset, so you can act with confidence.- Powered by our proprietary AI-enhanced identity graph: Combining breadth, accuracy, and recency across four billion identifiers, continuously refined by machine learning for maximum accuracy.- Seamlessly connected: Pre-built data integration with leading CDPs, DSPs, and MarTech platforms for faster time to value.- Always up to date: Frequent enrichment and near-real-time identity resolution through Activity Feed for timely personalization and more responsive customer engagement.- Privacy-first by design: Compliance with GLBA, FCRA, and emerging state regulations baked in at every step, supported by rigorous partner vetting. Latest posts

Why an identity framework matters more than any single identifier   The challenge facing marketers today isn't a single identifier on a deprecation timeline; it’s the increasing fragmentation of signals and identifiers across browsers, devices, apps, and platforms. This shift introduces complexity into how audiences are reached and measured, as signals behave differently in every environment, and it becomes more complex to piece together a complete view of the consumer. Each environment contributes to its own set of visibility gaps, making identity less predictable and more uneven. The result is a patchwork of inconsistent identity signals rather than a single, predictable decline. While you can’t control how platforms evolve, you can control how you respond to fragmentation. The future won’t be defined by the loss of any single identifier, but by your ability to unify, interpret, and activate the many signals that remain. Marketers who adopt a flexible, identity framework will be best positioned to create consistency in an otherwise fragmented landscape. At Experian, we believe flexibility starts with intelligence. For decades, we’ve used AI and machine learning to help marketers understand people’s behavior more clearly, respect their privacy, and deliver messages that drive business outcomes. Our technology brings identity, insight, and intelligence together, so even as the number of signals grows and becomes more varied across environments, marketers can reach the right people with relevance, respect, and simplicity. This intelligence acts as the connective tissue across fragmented ecosystems, ensuring marketers can recognize and reach audiences consistently wherever they appear. What forces are driving fragmentation in identity and signals? Changes to traditional IDs Since Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency (ATT), access to the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) has become inconsistent across apps and devices. Google’s evolving Android privacy roadmap adds another layer of variability, fragmenting mobile addressability. Safari and Firefox have long restricted third-party cookies, while Chrome continues to support them for now. This creates different signal availability across browsers, contributing to an uneven and increasingly fragmented identity landscape on the open web. Shifts in signals IPv4 to IPv6 migration introduces mismatched identity structures that complicate continuity across environments. Platform-driven fragmentation Closed ecosystems and uneven adoption of evolving RTB standards (like OpenRTB 2.6 updates designed to support new identifiers and consent signals) create differences in which identifiers and consent signals are shared in the bidstream. At the same time, the rise of alternative or “universal” IDs—often developed by individual platforms, publishers, or technology companies—means that multiple ID types can appear within the same auction, each with its own structure, rules, and level of support. These differences reduce interoperability across platforms and contribute to a more fragmented activation landscape. Each change creates an identity silo. Together, they form an ecosystem defined by fragmentation rather than absence. Without an identity framework, these environments operate as disconnected identity islands. A multi-ID world requires a unified identity framework Alternative IDs play an important role, but they also expand the number of signals marketers must reconcile. Without a consistent identity layer, more IDs often mean more complexity—not more clarity. Common alternative IDs in use today: UID2: The Trade Desk’s Unified I.D. 2.0, an iteration of their original Unified ID 1.0, which was still reliant on third-party cookies, creates persistent IDs with user-provided email addresses and phone numbers. ID5: This independent identity provider builds an identity infrastructure that powers addressable advertising across channels. It can create an ID based on both deterministic and probabilistic data. Hadron ID: Hadron ID is a unique, interoperable identity system (including first-party, audience-based, contextual, deterministic, and probabilistic) developed by Audigent, now part of Experian, to drive revenue for publishers by making their audience data and inventory actionable for media buyers. Industry reports suggest roughly one-third to two-fifths of open-auction traffic carries alternative IDs, sometimes multiple per request. Among Experian clients, adoption of alternative IDs rose 50% year over year, with a 30% increase in IDs resolved to individuals via our Digital Graph. Identity isn’t disappearing; it’s multiplying. A modern identity framework resolves these identifiers into a single, privacy-safe consumer view. Why CTV makes an identity framework essential Beyond alternative IDs, device-level identifiers also play a major role in today’s ecosystem and add to the fragmentation marketers must navigate. Connected TV (CTV) environments introduce additional fragmentation. CTV IDs A CTV ID is an identifier used to deliver, target, and measure ads on CTV devices, including smart TVs, streaming devices, gaming consoles, and more. Unlike MAIDs, which act as universal device identifiers across apps, CTV environments often generate multiple, platform-specific IDs for the same physical device. Different operating systems, publishers, or streaming platforms may each assign their own identifier—such as Roku ID for Advertisers, Amazon Fire Advertising ID, Samsung TIFA, or Apple IDFA for CTV. As a result, a single household or TV can appear under several distinct IDs, making cross-app or cross-platform recognition more complex and further reinforcing the need for a unified identity framework. Experian’s identity framework is powered by predictive and generative intelligence that makes resolution faster and more human-centered. Our AI models fill gaps where data signals are missing, infer behaviors responsibly, and continuously optimize for accuracy, so marketers can personalize ads responsibly, even in a fragmented ecosystem. More importantly, our framework normalizes signals across disconnected environments, creating a consistent identity spine that follows the consumer through their fragmented digital journey. An identity framework connects online and offline signals Fragmentation extends beyond digital environments. Marketers manage offline data from in-store transactions, loyalty programs, household identifiers, and phone numbers that rarely align cleanly with digital signals. As consumers move between online and offline touch points, an identity framework connects these signals into a coherent view of the individual. This foundation allows marketers to recognize the same consumer across environments that expose different identifiers. Four keys to future-proofing your media with an identity framework 1. Know your customer: Unify and enrich your first-party data First-party data is a marketer’s most durable asset, but it’s often scattered and incomplete. Unify it: Bring CRM records, site interactions, and loyalty data into a single platform to build a holistic customer view. Use Offline Identity Resolution to resolve your first-party offline personally identifiable information (PII) back to a consolidated consumer profile, removing duplication of users in your data set. Enrich it: Append Experian Marketing Attributes to uncover demographics, lifestyle markers, and purchase behaviors you can’t see on your own, and use Offline Identity Append to fill in missing offline data points (such as name, address, phone, etc.) to create a more complete and actionable customer profile. This gives you richer profiles that drive more personalized targeting and messaging. Fragmented ecosystems make unified first-party data even more essential. A connected view allows marketers to anchor identity against a stable, proprietary foundation. As identifiers vary across environments, marketers need flexible, privacy-first ways to understand where their audiences are and how to reach them. 2. Find your customer: Expand how you discover and reach audiences in a fragmented landscape As identifiers vary across environments, marketers need flexible, privacy-first ways to understand where their audiences are and how to reach them. Contextual signals: Experian’s Contextually-Indexed Audiences map content to consumer insights, so you can target intent-rich environments. Geographic insights: Our Geo-Indexed Audiences help you find regions that over-index for specific traits and activate them across your preferred platforms. Syndicated and Partner Audiences: Choose from 3,500+ prebuilt segments or 30+ partner data sources spanning health, retail, travel, and more. Curation: As a full-service curation partner, we enable private marketplace (PMP) deals that are privacy-safe, identity-agnostic, and performance-optimized. Together, these approaches help you confidently reach your audiences - using multiple types of signals that complement your identity strategy and create a clearer picture across fragmented environments. 3. Reach your customer: Maximize scale through interoperability As signals and identifiers proliferate across environments, interoperability is essential to maintain consistent reach. Experian’s Offline and Digital Graphs unify disparate signals (MAIDs, CTV IDs, alternative IDs, IP, and more) so marketers can recognize and engage audiences reliably across channels, devices, and platforms. Interoperability matters because it turns a collection of disconnected identifiers into a coherent identity framework that can actually be activated. The following capabilities demonstrate how that comes to life. Unified identity: Create a consistent view of your audience, even when different environments expose different identifiers. Experian’s identity framework connects these signals into a single, actionable identity spine. Expanded reach: OpenX enriched its supply-side identity graph with Experian’s audiences, making our data available directly across OpenX supply and formats. By matching more of the starting audience and identifying more users in the bidstream, marketers see higher match and activation rates, extending reach in hard-to-address environments like Safari and mobile web. Measure success: Optimize based on outcomes If you can't measure your marketing, you can't improve it. Experian Outcomes, powered by our holistic understanding of the user across online and offline touch points, closes the loop by connecting media exposures to real-world actions (store visits, purchases, or site conversions). With these insights, you can: Prove ROI across digital and TV Attribute success to the right channels and tactics Continuously refine targeting, creative, and spend allocation Outcome-based measurement makes your strategy adaptive, so dollars flow to what drives results. As signals multiply across environments, connecting exposures to outcomes requires a unified identity foundation. Experian closes the loop by unifying exposures across disconnected touch points, enabling holistic attribution and optimization. Our AI-powered simplicity drives continuous improvement. From predictive modeling to agentic workflows that automate optimization, we’re investing in generative AI to help marketers spend less time on manual setup and more time on strategy and outcomes. The Experian identity framework advantage Experian connects fragmented signals into a single, actionable identity framework built for long-term resilience. What our identity framework delivers Interoperability: We support all major identifiers, including alternative IDs, IP address (v4 and v6), contextual signals, and both first- and third-party data. Flexibility: Whether you’re activating syndicated audiences, tapping into partner audiences from 30+ data providers, or curating custom segments through Audigent, our solutions meet you where you are. Scale: With four billion IDs resolved in our Digital Graph and 280 million telephones in our Offline Graph, we deliver unmatched reach across digital and offline environments. AI that makes marketing more human: We bring together identity, insight, and automation through responsible AI, helping marketers see audiences clearly, act with intelligence, and optimize with respect for privacy. Our approach is delivering results across a range of programmatic players. These outcomes demonstrate how a unified identity framework delivers performance in environments where signals, identifiers, and devices operate in silos. Proven results powered by Experian’s identity framework Sonobi increased programmatic addressability across the mobile web by 25% and delivered a 20% lift in impression value through our identity graph, driving stronger campaign connections and greater publisher returns. One DSP used our Digital Graph to match more MAIDs, CTV IDs, and IP addresses to online conversions, enabling increased accuracy of their attribution and measurement. They achieved an 84% synced ID rate and a 9% increase in match rate. For Cuebiq, we significantly increased match rates and resolved data from cookieless environments, such as Safari. By combining separate data streams and resolving 85% of total events to a household, Cuebiq expanded on the household IDs to identify MAIDs that are observed in-store, enabling accurate cross-channel measurement. Our Digital Graph allowed MiQ and their clients to expand the reach of their seed audiences across devices by 51% and cookieless IDs by 64%. As a result, MiQ can provide marketers with future-proofed connected planning, advanced targeting, and precise measurement. We’re your partner in building identity framework that lasts: resilient to change, adaptive to new signals, and focused on outcomes. What comes next for signals and identity? The future isn’t defined by any single identifier. It’s defined by the ability to unify and activate across a fragmented identity ecosystem. The winners will be those who adopt interoperable, outcome-driven identity frameworks today. Those strategies will increasingly be powered by responsible AI, systems that simplify workflows, predict opportunity, and optimize in real time while keeping people at the center. At Experian, we see AI not as automation for its own sake, but as a way to make marketing more human, relevant, and respectful. Your playbook for navigating fragmentation Experian connects the fragmented identity ecosystem, unifying alternative IDs, IP signals, contextual data, and first- and third-party assets into a consistent, actionable identity foundation. With proven lift across partners like Sonobi and new offerings like Contextually-Indexed Audiences, we help you build campaigns that perform in a fragmented landscape. Download our 2026 Digital trends and predictions report to explore how identity, interoperability, and measurement will define the future of advertising. Download About the author Henry Schenker Group Product Manager, Experian Henry has nearly 15 years of experience in Digital Advertising, Social Media Marketing, Data Licensing & Analytics, Front-End Engineering, Technical Architecture & Integrations, Profit & Loss Management, and Enterprise-Level Contract Negotiation across the U.S., EMEA, and Asia Pacific regions. Prior to re-joining Experian, Henry held critical go-to-market and product roles at noted industry-disruptors Media.Monks and Attain. From 2018 - 2020, he served as the Vice President, APAC of Innovid (now publicly traded, NYSE:CTV), leading the company's expansion into Japan, Singapore, and Australia. The preceding 4 years with Tapad (acquired by Experian), allowed Henry to become a seasoned Sales Engineer, grow and lead a global Technical Integrations team, and relocate to Singapore, leading sales and operations in the APAC region. Before beginning his career and learning front-end engineering on-the-job at Wyng (formerly Offerpop), Henry received a dual-major (BA/BS) in Sociology and Economics & Finance from Bard College in New York. FAQs Why is signal and identity fragmentation increasing across digital and offline channels? Signal and identity fragmentation is increasing across digital and offline channels because consumers now engage across more devices, platforms, and environments. Each environment introduces its own identifiers and privacy rules. This growth creates more signals overall, which increases the need for unification rather than reliance on a single ID. How should marketers think about alternative IDs in a multi-signal ecosystem? Alternative IDs add reach and coverage when they connect through a common identity framework. They work best alongside first-party data, device identifiers, and contextual signals. Resolution turns multiple IDs into one consistent view of the consumer. What role does unified identity play in CTV and cross-device media? CTV environments often assign multiple platform-specific identifiers to the same household or device. A unified identity layer links those identifiers together. This approach supports consistent audience recognition across streaming apps, devices, and digital channels. How does unified identity support accurate measurement and attribution? Unified identity connects media exposure to outcomes across digital, TV, and offline touch points. It enables marketers to see how different channels contribute to real actions like visits or purchases. Measurement improves when identity remains consistent across the full journey. Why does an identity strategy matter beyond digital advertising? Identity extends into offline signals such as transactions, loyalty activity, and household data. A unified foundation aligns online and offline interactions into one coherent profile. This connection supports planning, activation, and measurement across the entire customer experience. Latest posts

Remember when “6-7” was all over your feed and no one really knew why, but somehow everyone got it? In 2025, the internet proved that connection doesn’t always make sense — at least not at first. The “6-7” meme was random, ridiculous, and everywhere. It spread because it felt connected; an inside joke everyone could share. Marketing in 2026 will have its own 6-7 moment. Experian's 2026 Digital trends and predictions report explores how 2026 will be defined by connection: between activation and measurement, data and AI, platforms and outcomes. After years of fragmentation, the industry is finally unifying around shared foundations: data accuracy, identity resilience, and measurable performance. Here are three connections to watch for in 2026. 1. AI is only as good as its data foundation AI’s performance depends on the quality, recency, and integrity of its inputs. In 2026, marketers will recognize that the differentiator is not the algorithm itself but the data that informs it. As AI becomes embedded into workflows (from audience discovery to media optimization) accurate identity and privacy-safe data become essential. Why it matters Good data fuels responsible automation, predictive insight, and personalization that feels human. Without it, even the most advanced models will simply automate bad decisions faster. What actions should marketers take to strengthen their data foundation? To make AI adaptive, ethical, and aligned with real-world context, marketers need to strengthen the data foundation beneath it. In 2026, that means taking four core actions: 1. Prioritize accuracy Verify data and anchor it in real human identity, rather than inferred or fragmented signals. 2. Keep data fresh Ensure inputs stay current through continuous updates that reflect real-time consumer behavior and conditions. 3. Maintain consent standards Source data responsibly and stay compliant with privacy regulations emerging across 20+ U.S. states. 4. Enable interoperability Connect data securely across platforms through a signal-agnostic identity framework that supports consistency and scale.    When these elements come together, AI becomes more than just automation: it becomes adaptive, ethical, and responsive to real-world context. 2. Commerce media expands beyond retail Commerce media is no longer just a retail play. What began as retailers monetizing their data and media has evolved into a multi-sector movement uniting data, media, and transaction insights. Auto, travel, CPG, and even financial brands are launching their own media networks or partnering with existing ones to close the loop between exposure and conversion. More than half (58%) of advertisers are interested in advertising on non-retail media networks. eMarketer Why it matters In 2026, commerce media becomes a strategy for any brand with first-party data, measurable outcomes, and the need for closed-loop insight. What should marketers do with this expansion? Activate beyond owned channels Extend audiences beyond owned inventory into addressable connected TV (CTV) and open-web environments where identity links every impression to real outcomes. Make identity the growth engine Privacy-first identity resolution increases data addressability and keeps media measurable across every channel. Collaborate for scale and consistency Partner with providers that deliver transparency, interoperability, and shared measurement - not just data volume. 3. Curation becomes the programmatic standard Curation is reshaping programmatic advertising into something more focused, efficient, and accountable. In an era shaped by privacy regulation and signal loss, curation brings identity, quality, and control together, allowing marketers to target confidently across CTV, audio, and the open web. More than 66% of open-exchange ad spend (over $100 billion annually) now runs through curated private marketplaces (PMPs). eMarketer Why it matters Curation aligns with the industry’s need for accurate identity, transparent supply, and stable outcomes, especially as traditional signals fluctuate. How can marketers use curation more effectively? Utilize supply-side innovation Use supply-side platform (SSP) curation tools from partners like Index Exchange and Magnite to optimize in real time and keep your supply paths transparent. Adopt curated marketplaces Work with agency-built marketplaces from groups like GroupM and Butler/Till to control data costs, maintain transparency, and improve performance. Activate with Experian Curated Deals Tap high-performing audience segments, including PurpleLab’s HIPAA-compliant health audiences, through curated PMPs in leading demand-side platforms (DSPs) such as Amazon DSP. Optimize and prove performance Combine Experian data with Audigent supply-path intelligence to adjust campaigns mid-flight using metrics like CPM, CTR, and video completion rate. 2026 will be the 6-7 era for marketing The “6-7” meme didn’t need to make sense to go viral. But your marketing does. 2026 will be the year marketers move from fragmentation to connection. Download Experian’s 2026 Digital trends and predictions report to explore all five digital marketing trends shaping 2026. Download now Ready to get started? Connect with a member of our team About the author Fred Cheung  Director, Partnership Sales, Audigent, a part of Experian  Fred Cheung has spent over a decade in the programmatic advertising space, with roles at Mindshare, Jounce Media, Twitter, and The Trade Desk. His deep experience in trading and product management helps in his current function on the Experian Marketing Services’ Sales team where he focuses on data growth and adoption across the industries’ leading buy-side platforms.  FAQs Why does Experian describe 2026 as marketing’s “6–7 moment”? Experian uses this phrase to describe the inflection point where AI, identity, commerce media, and programmatic curation finally connect in practical, scalable ways. It reflects the shift from fragmentation toward unified activation and measurement. Experian covers five digital marketing trends to watch for in 2026 in our 2026 Digital marketing trends and predictions report. How does Experian support AI strategies for marketers? Experian provides verified consumer data, identity resolution, and privacy-first frameworks that strengthen AI accuracy. AI tools require reliable inputs, and Experian’s data foundation helps marketers apply AI in predictive modeling, audience insight, and media optimization. Why is identity central to commerce media growth? Identity allows brands and media networks to connect exposure to conversion across sites, screens, and environments. Experian supports this through resilient identity frameworks that maintain recognition even as signals shift. How does Experian help marketers activate curated programmatic buys? Experian provides high-performing audience segments and outcome-based signals that improve curated PMP performance. These capabilities give buyers more control, more stability, and clearer pathways to measurable results. Where can marketers learn more about Experian’s 2026 predictions? Experian’s 2026 Digital trends and predictions report outlines the five forces shaping the year ahead, including AI’s dependence on data quality, commerce media expansion, and the rise of curation. 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Personalization without context misses the moment Marketers have spent years perfecting personalization — but personalization alone often misses the mark. We’ve all seen it. You shop for a weekend getaway, then get served travel ads weeks later when you’re already home. The data was right. The timing wasn’t. Personalization based only on identity and behavior knows who you are but not when or why you’re ready to act. At Experian, we believe AI should make marketing feel more human. That means understanding people in context, recognizing their environment, mindset, and the moment, to create relevance that feels timely, not intrusive. The context gap: Why identity and behavior aren’t enough Identity and behavioral data can reveal the kind of consumer someone is and the kind of products they may want to buy. But they don’t explain what’s happening right now. The missing layer is context: the dynamic, real-time signal that shows why this moment matters. Context bridges the gap between knowing something about a consumer and understanding their intent. In an era of fragmented signals and stricter privacy rules, context is one of the most reliable ways to stay relevant without over-reliance on personal identifiers. It helps marketers adapt to shifting needs while keeping privacy intact. How Experian interprets context in real-time By context, we mean all the subtle, in-the-moment signals, like time of day, location, or what someone’s watching, that shape what people care about in real-time. At Experian, our technology interprets these in real-time: Temporal signals Time-based patterns such as daypart (morning vs. evening), recency (how fresh a signal is), seasonality (holidays, life events), and micro-moments (split-second intent-driven actions). Environmental signals The media or content environment; what type of program, article, or channel someone is engaging with when they see your ad. Situational intent Signals like browsing behavior or purchase patterns that hint at a person’s stage in the buying journey, from early research to final decision. By layering these signals over verified identity and behavioral data, Experian’s AI-powered technology helps marketers predict not just who will act, but when they’re ready to act. Experian’s approach: Turning context into relevance Consumer behavior changes by the minute, and marketers need to adapt just as quickly. Our technology interprets live bidstream data, device activity, content, and timing to optimize in the moment, ensuring your campaigns deliver meaningful relevance, not just broader reach. Our process combines: Input Clean, accurate identity and audience data anchored in our privacy-first framework. Enrichment Our models fuse household, device, and publisher context to reveal moment-based intent. Activation We're investing in agentic workflows that help marketers plan and execute performance campaigns at scale, activated via our real-time technology that dynamically adjusts deals and surfaces contextually aligned opportunities. Governance Every signal and recommendation follows Experian’s principles of transparency, consent, and ethical oversight. We call this AI-powered simplicity tools that help marketers work more efficiently, with intelligence that feels intuitive and human-centered. How context changes the game for marketers AI without real-time context can only react based on what it already knows. AI-powered by in-the-moment contextual data points enables marketers to anticipate, not just react. A travel brand can shift creative from “dreaming” to “booking” mode when AI detects signals of active planning. A retailer can align promotions with trending content or regional weather shifts in real time. A CPG brand can trigger different product messages based on the context of recipes or household occasions. Adjustments based on contextual signals compound into meaningful gains — higher engagement, better efficiency, and a consumer experience that feels natural rather than intrusive. Context makes AI more human Context introduces empathy into automation. It’s what keeps AI from overstepping, ensuring the message fits the moment. When marketers respect timing, environment, and intent, ads feel like service, not surveillance. Context transforms relevance into respect. At Experian, our vision is to make every signal serve people, not profiles. Because the more our technology (including our AI tools and capabilities) understands context, the more human marketing becomes. At Experian, responsible intelligence is built in Every contextual model we deploy adheres to our standards for transparent and responsible innovation. We validate inputs, monitor model drift, and ensure no context-based variable introduces bias or privacy risk. This is what responsible automation looks like in practice: intelligent, explainable, and ethical. From who to when: Context is the future of AI-driven marketing Identity tells us who someone is. Context tells us when it matters. The next wave of AI-driven marketing will unite privacy-first identity with contextual intelligence to deliver real-time relevance, responsibly. At Experian, we’re building that future now. Our AI-driven capabilities bring identity, insight, and generative intelligence together so brands, agencies, and platforms can reach the right people, at the right moment, with relevance and respect. Get started now About the author Matthew Griffiths SVP of Technology, Audigent, a part of Experian Matthew Griffiths is a seasoned technology entrepreneur and a driving force in advertising technology, data technology, and AI. As the Co-Founder and former CTO (now SVP of Technology) at Audigent, a part of Experian, he plays a pivotal role in shaping the company’s cutting-edge solutions for data activation, curation, and identity management. With years of executive experience across the U.S., Africa, and the U.K., Matthew has a proven track record of leadership in steering the adoption and use of cutting-edge technologies to drive business outcomes. His expertise spans from collaborating with top global corporations and governments to spearheading award-winning technology projects that deliver life-changing impacts in some of the world's most underserved communities. Matthew’s dynamic approach to solving complex business and technology challenges makes him a visionary leader in the AdTech space, consistently driving innovation and performance through technology. FAQs How does context make AI-driven marketing more effective? Context makes AI-driven marketing more effective because it helps marketers understand people in context, recognizing their environment, mindset, and the moment, to create relevance that feels timely, not intrusive. Context helps marketers understand not just who a person is, but when and why they’re ready to act. Experian’s AI-powered technology layers contextual signals over verified identity data to deliver relevance that feels intuitive, not invasive. This approach connects recognition with understanding, making every campaign more effective and more human. What is the context gap in AI-driven marketing? Identity and behavioral data can reveal the kind of consumer someone is and the kind of products they may want to buy. But they don’t explain what’s happening right now. That’s the context gap—the missing link between knowing something about a consumer and understanding their intent.  Context closes this gap by analyzing environmental, temporal, and situational signals that reveal intent—without using invasive identifiers. Does Experian interpret contextual signals in real-time? Yes, at Experian, our technology interprets contextual signals, including temporal, environmental, and situational, in real-time. By layering these signals over Experian’s verified identity and behavioral data graph, marketers can predict when consumers are most receptive, turning data into real-time opportunity. What does responsible intelligence look like in practice? At Experian, every contextual model we deploy adheres to our standards for transparent and responsible innovation. We validate inputs, monitor model drift, and ensure no context-based variable introduces bias or privacy risk. What does Experian’s foundation in responsible automation look like? - Privacy-first clarity: We unify household, individual, device, demographic, behavioral, publisher first-party signals, and contextual data points to build a reliable view of consumers, even when certain signals are missing. This clarity helps marketers personalize, target, activate, and measure with confidence.- Predictive insight: Our models go beyond describing the past. They forecast behaviors, fill gaps with inferred attributes, create lookalikes, and recommend next-best audiences so clients can anticipate opportunity.- AI-powered simplicity: We’re investing in generative AI and exploring emerging agentic workflows to reimagine how marketers work. Our vision is to move beyond basic audience recommendations toward intelligent audience discovery and automated setup, helping teams uncover opportunities they may not have considered, while spending less time on manual work and more time on strategy and outcomes.- Real-time intelligence: Consumer journeys never stand still. Our AI-powered technology interprets live bidstream data, device activity, content, and timing to optimize in the moment, ensuring campaigns deliver meaningful relevance, not just broader reach.- Transparent and responsible innovation: We drive safe, modular experimentation, from generative applications to agentic workflows, always balancing bold ideas with ethical guardrails. We stay at the forefront of evolving legislation and regulation, ensuring our innovations protect consumers, brands, and the broader ecosystem while moving the industry forward responsibly. Latest posts

Originally appeared in Adweek  This holiday advertising season, identity is the real differentiator Marketers are betting big on AI to run their holiday advertising, using it to build predictive audiences, generate creative at scale, and optimize media buys in real time. The draw is clear: greater efficiency, delivered at scale.  But here’s the problem: without a solid identity foundation, AI is just guessing. And in a year when consumers are cautious and competition is fierce, guesses won’t deliver the outcomes you need. Experian’s 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report shows that success this season will depend on connecting the right data to the right audiences in real time. Download the report now Are shoppers really using AI to make holiday purchases?  Not yet. Only 12% of consumers plan to use AI tools to shop this season, mostly for finding discounts. Instead, trusted influences (like retailer websites, product reviews, and recommendations) still guide buying decisions.  For marketers, that’s a signal to focus on credibility and connection. AI can support your holiday advertising strategy, but trust still wins the sale. Consumer sentiment heading into the holidays is low, but that could mislead marketers Here's why How marketers are really using AI in holiday advertising  Behind the scenes, AI is working overtime. Teams use it to segment audiences, test creative, and optimize media in real time. These capabilities are powerful, but only if they’re grounded in accurate, persistent data.  Think about the typical holiday shopper. They may browse a product online, validate it in store, and finally purchase days later from a different device than they used while browsing. If AI isn’t anchored in identity, it struggles to connect those touchpoints. Instead of amplifying relevance, it amplifies noise. See our predictions for Black Friday 2025 Why identity is the GPS for AI-driven holiday advertising  Identity is what turns AI from a blunt instrument into an accurate tool. By unifying fragmented signals across channels and devices, identity provides the consistent consumer view that AI needs to be effective.  With that foundation, AI can do more than churn out models. Instead, it can: Identify the right audiences and filter out waste  Personalize with context, not just scale Measure real outcomes, linking exposures to visits and purchases Identity doesn’t just improve efficiency; it creates accountability. And in a season where every holiday advertising campaign dollar is scrutinized, accountability is the difference between investment and waste. Why connected data will make or break Cyber Week How to turn complexity into clarity this holiday season  This year's holiday advertising season is complicated. Marketers are confident, consumers are cautious, and AI is somewhere in the middle. The challenge isn’t just speed or volume, it’s accuracy.  By pairing AI with identity, you can adapt to real behavior instead of assumptions. You can build campaigns that are consistent across connected TV, retail media, and social platforms. And you can prove results when it matters most.  AI isn’t a holiday miracle. But when it’s powered by identity, it can give you clarity in a noisy season and proof of performance when budgets are under scrutiny. Explore Experian's holiday audiences to activate this season What’s the real takeaway for marketers this season?  Don’t assume AI alone will save your holiday advertising strategy. It won’t. Consumers still trust human voices more than machines, and your AI models are only as strong as the data beneath them. Identity is the difference between guesswork and accuracy, between activity and impact.  This holiday season, the winners won’t be the brands that simply spend more or automate faster. They’ll be the ones that put identity at the core of their AI strategy and meet consumers where they really are.  Download Experian’s 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report to see where consumers are spending and how identity can help your holiday advertising campaigns more effective. Download now About the author Colleen Dawe VP, Advertiser Partnerships, Experian Colleen Dawe is VP, Advertiser Partnerships at Experian Marketing Services, where she oversees revenue growth and client success, helping advertisers harness data and identity to fuel marketing strategies. With over 15 years of experience spanning TV and digital media, she brings deep expertise in data, identity, activation, and measurement to help her clients connect innovation with business outcomes. Holiday advertising FAQs Why isn’t AI enough on its own for holiday advertising? AI works best when it’s grounded in accurate data. Without identity, it can’t connect actions across devices or channels, which limits its effectiveness. How does identity improve AI-driven campaigns? Identity creates a single, persistent view of your audience. That means AI can personalize content, measure conversions, and cut waste with far greater accuracy. What does “identity” mean in marketing terms? It’s the data layer that connects people across their devices, browsers, and behaviors—so your campaigns reach real individuals. How can marketers prove ROI in holiday advertising? By tying exposure to verified outcomes—like store visits or purchases—using identity-linked data. That’s how Experian helps brands move from impressions to impact. Latest posts

What challenge did the pet brand face? A national e-commerce pet supplier wanted to expand into audio advertising to diversify beyond display campaigns. But with only one team member available to test this new channel, they faced three hurdles: Prove performance in a new channel  Run lean with limited bandwidth  Show purchase intent, engaged site visits, and completion rates fast  They needed a partner to handle execution and supply optimization so their lean team could focus on strategy and selling audio internally.  Hear how we're working with Audacy to help our clients connect beyond the screen Tune in here The solution: How did Experian Curated Deals help? Audigent, a part of Experian, ran point on setup, optimization, and real-time reporting. The brand turned to Experian Curated Deals. Together we: Streamlined access to curated inventory, cutting intermediaries and boosting efficiency Handled campaign setup and supply-side optimization Delivered real-time demand-side platform (DSP) reporting for agile targeting refinements Provided an extension of their in-house team, giving them bandwidth to focus on pitching audio internally “What stood out about Experian was their real-time control and the depth of their trading team. I knew I could hand them a campaign, and they’d run with it.”Programmatic Media Lead, National e-commerce pet supplier Want to see the full case study? Download it here What results did the campaign deliver?  In just a few months, audio transformed from a small test into a top-performing channel:  Exceeded KPIs by 63%  Increased purchase intent and engagement vs. competing platforms  Matched display performance without creative refreshes or incentive overlays  Earned budget increases, positioning audio as a long-term investment  Reduced internal setup time, freeing the team for strategic projects  “Experian became more than just a media partner: they filled critical gaps that would typically require outsized investment in internal resourcing.”CMO, National e-commerce pet supplier Explore more examples of how brands are driving performance with Experian Windstar Cruises Leading athletic retailer Swiss Sense Why does this matter for marketers?  For marketers, audio isn’t experimental anymore. It’s a proven channel that can drive both engagement and conversions.  This case study shows how brands can:  Use Experian Curated Deals to validate new channels with minimal risk.  Lean on Experian to handle execution, freeing teams to focus on growth.  Drive meaningful engagement and purchase intent, not just impressions.  For marketers navigating limited resources and pressure to prove ROI fast, Experian Curated Deals provides both performance and confidence. Want to beat your campaign goals by double digits? Contact us today Curated Deals FAQs What is Experian Curated Deals? Experian Curated Deals streamline access to premium media inventory by eliminating unnecessary intermediaries, optimizing efficiency, and ensuring campaigns perform against KPIs. Why use curated deals for audio advertising? Curated deals help brands test and validate audio quickly, without the heavy lift of manual setup and supply path management. Can audio really drive conversions? Yes. In this case, audio campaigns not only exceeded awareness and engagement goals but also matched the conversion performance traditionally associated with display. How does Experian support lean teams? By managing setup, supply optimization, and reporting, Experian acts as an extension of your team, reducing internal workload while driving performance. Latest posts

AdTech jargon can feel overwhelming, but we're breaking it down café-style. From first-party data and identity resolution to clean rooms and ID-free targeting, here are the essential terms marketers need to know.

Holiday shopping in 2025 feels a lot like a complicated relationship. Shoppers want deals, but they also want trust. They start shopping early, but they’re still browsing well into December. They love the convenience of online shopping, but they still show up in-store before making the final call.

Marketers aren’t thinking in channels anymore: they’re thinking in audiences. As consumer media habits have scattered across devices, platforms and formats, brands have shifted their focus from managing one channel at a time to delivering a connected experience. That’s the core of omnichannel marketing: meeting people where they are and making each touchpoint feel like part of a larger narrative. However, most brands still encounter the same roadblocks: siloed data, fragmented planning and tools that don’t integrate. And while the industry talks a great deal about omnichannel marketing, few are actually doing it well. The brands that figure it out won’t just reach more people; they’ll improve brand perception while improving the customer journey, achieving better outcomes, and optimizing their media spend more efficiently. Learn more about this trend in our 2025 Digital trends and predictions report. Learn more Why omnichannel is no longer optional Omnichannel marketing has long been a goal, but recent shifts in media and technology now make it a necessity. According to Forrester, 21% of global B2C business and tech professionals identified enhancing omnichannel or cross-channel customer experiences as a top priority for their organization today. Connected TV (CTV) and commerce media networks are emerging as dominant channels, necessitating the coordination of messaging across an expanding ecosystem of streaming, programmatic display, and commerce-driven environments in addition to the multitude of other addressable (and non-addressable) channels. Fortunately, identity solutions continue to evolve, enabling marketers to maintain audience addressability in digital channels even as traditional signals decline and privacy regulations intensify. Consumers expect this kind of cohesion. They don’t see “channels" - they just see a brand. A member of your loyalty program might browse a product online, see the exact item later on their socials, and then receive an email offer. If those messages feel disconnected or out of sync, this will not be a good customer experience, and a brand risks wasting impressions and losing conversions. Omnichannel isn’t about showing up in more places. It’s about showing up with a consistent message. The opportunities inherent in true omnichannel execution Despite the industry’s movement toward omnichannel marketing strategies, there are a few untapped opportunities brands would benefit from pursuing. Break down planning silos to optimize performance Many marketers still plan and measure media in silos: programmatic display, CTV, commerce media, search, social, email, SMS, and each might have their own budgets, strategies, and KPIs. This disjointed approach leads to inconsistent messaging, inefficient spend, and overexposure or underexposure to key audiences. The opportunity? Shift toward integrated media planning and measurement. By aligning teams and KPIs across channels, marketers can optimize frequency, coordinate creative sequencing, and better attribute business outcomes. Breaking down internal silos improves the customer experience and drives more effective performance. With two-thirds of North American CMOs naming siloed data as their biggest obstacle, those who solve it stand to gain a clear advantage. Encourage interoperability to activate audiences consistently Omnichannel success depends on defining an audience once and reaching them everywhere. But in today’s ecosystem, where walled gardens control inventory and many tools remain disjointed, this is easier said than done. Just under a third of marketers say the tools they use don’t work well together. The opportunity? Invest in interoperable systems that give you control over your data and privacy-safe solutions like clean rooms or universal IDs that enable consistent audience activation across platforms. Advocate for a unified identity framework Audience data remains fragmented: commerce media networks control shopper data, TV platforms hold viewership data, and walled gardens provide limited data transparency and determine which data they will share, making it difficult to recognize, reach, and follow the customer journey across digital touchpoints. Without a unified view, campaigns remain disconnected and cross-channel attribution is difficult. The opportunity? Advocate for a centralized, privacy-conscious identity framework that bridges fragmented data sources. This would allow marketers to recognize consumers across platforms and deliver cohesive messaging. Marketers need solutions that enable connected audience activation while respecting privacy requirements and platform-specific constraints. Without this, omnichannel remains an aspiration rather than a reality. Data and identity: The tools you need in your toolkit to make omnichannel work Implementing omnichannel right starts with establishing identity. Brands need a foundation that lets them connect the dots: across data, platforms and channels. Here’s how: Build a unified identity foundation “A single view of the customer is the foundation of a successful omnichannel program,” says Forrester in a December 2023 report on omnichannel. This begins by connecting disparate data sources, including persistent offline information, such as addresses, emails, names, and phone numbers, with digital signals, in a privacy compliant way. And this, in turn, creates a strong identity foundation. Solutions that integrate hashed email addresses (HEMs), mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), IP addresses, CTV IDs, and universal IDs enable brands to resolve customer identities across different platforms, ensuring that campaigns remain addressable as users transition between channels. Activate audiences everywhere, without the hassle Brands should be able to define an audience once and activate it across all addressable channels without unnecessary complexity. Interoperability between demand-side platforms (DSPs), supply-side platforms (SSPs), clean rooms, and private marketplaces (PMPs) ensures that high-quality audiences are matched with premium inventory in a targeted, transparent, and efficient manner. This connectivity helps maintain consistent audience targeting—even as consumers engage in different environments. By working with a partner that seamlessly integrates with major platforms, marketers ensure that data quality and identity resolution remain intact throughout campaigns, avoiding data loss that occurs when data is transferred between different, disparate platforms. Measure across channels, and the customer journey Effective omnichannel marketing isn’t just about reaching audiences—it’s about understanding how different touchpoints contribute to conversions. Advanced attribution models, incrementality testing, and cross-platform frequency management enable brands to use consistent identity across campaign planning, activation and measurement so they connect ad exposures to real-world outcomes. Achieving this requires a strong identity resolution partner—one that can unify audience data across environments and power accurate, privacy-compliant measurement at scale. The future of omnichannel marketing Omnichannel is becoming the baseline expectation for modern marketing. The brands that figure out how to connect the dots across the increasingly disparate media landscape will drive better performance and build stronger customer relationships. By working with a partner that can offer you an end-to-end data and identity solution focused on consumers, not channels, you can better understand your best customers (and your next customers), reach them across channels, and measure cross-channel campaigns more effectively, making true omnichannel execution more achievable. Get started today About the author Kimberley Klevstad Account Director, Retail, Experian Kimberley Klevstad is 25-year industry veteran with a wide range of experience driving strategic growth for global accounts across print, online, mobile, location-based and streaming audio platforms. Kimberley is currently a member of the Experian Marketing Services Retail team, advising top retail brands on data and identity strategies that will deepen loyalty and drive acquisition in an increasingly competitive landscape. Latest posts