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Third-party cookies have been the foundation of targeted advertising for a long time. Around 75% of marketers worldwide rely on third-party cookies, with approximately 42.2% of websites using them to gather user data. These tiny bits of code silently track our online activities, collecting search history and product preferences to help advertisers tailor their campaigns to our needs.
However, as fears over online privacy have grown, the third-party cookie era is ending. Most American consumers are worried about data privacy when engaging with brands online. Privacy concerns are widespread across all age groups, with 82.7% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 87.8% of 55- to 65-year-olds expressing apprehension about how their data is handled, according to eMarketer.
While some other search engines have already eliminated third-party cookies, Google Chrome — which holds 65% of the global browser market — is just beginning to phase them out as new alternatives are tested. Google’s third-party cookie deprecation is expected to impact marketers in a big way.
Let’s talk about what that impact will look like and how marketers can reconcile consumer demands for browsing privacy with their preference for personalized ad experiences.
What is cookie deprecation?
Cookie deprecation is a process where web browsers, like Google Chrome, phase out the use of a specific cookie type. In the context of this article, we’re referring to third-party cookies, small pieces of data stored on a device by websites a person visits.
Advertisers and other companies use third-party cookies to track a person’s actions on the web. They help those companies learn about an individual’s interests and show them targeted ads. But over time, internet users have become more aware of cookies and how much companies know about them, so browsers are phasing out third-party cookies to respect user privacy.
The timeline and reasons behind the shift
In January 2020, Google announced it would no longer allow third-party marketing cookies by 2022. Realizing it needed to find an alternative first, it pushed the deadline back several times over the years, eventually confirming that third-party cookies would be deprecated by the end of 2024 — a big deal for the advertising industry. So, what’s the motivation behind this change?
Many people are becoming increasingly worried about online privacy and the intrusiveness of third-party cookies. In recent years, lawmakers have pressured tech companies to make changes in response to their constituents’ concerns about online privacy rights. By getting rid of third-party cookies, browsers like Chrome are trying to give users more control over their data and respect privacy demands to create a more privacy-friendly browsing experience.
This shift is part of a broader trend in the digital world toward greater privacy protections, with browsers like Firefox and Safari having already phased out third-party cookies. We’ve also seen other significant moves in this direction, including the following. These regulatory efforts reflect a growing awareness of how important it is to protect data privacy and consumer rights in a world gone digital.
- Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework was introduced in iOS 14.5, requiring users to get permission before tracking their data across other apps or websites.
- The Global Privacy Control (GPC) strives to improve users’ control over their internet privacy by letting them signal their preferences for data sharing.
- Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) have strict guidelines for how companies handle personal data to prioritize transparency and user consent.
Google’s most popular browser, Chrome, recently made its first big move toward third-party cookie deprecation. On January 4, 2024, Google announced the rollout of a new “Tracking Protection” feature, limiting cross-site tracking by default. They’re doing this gradually, activating the feature for 1% of random Chrome users worldwide, about 30 million people.
Google Chrome’s cookie phase-out impact
Chrome’s third-party cookie deprecation is expected to have the farthest-reaching consequences for marketers like you, as it has almost two-thirds of the browser market worldwide. It’s important to note that this phase-out specifically targets third-party cookies, not first-party cookies, which are generated and stored by the website a user visits directly and will be unaffected by this change.
Here are a few of the impacts to prepare for.
Reduced tracking capabilities
Once third-party cookies are eliminated, you may face challenges in understanding consumer behavior across different websites. Without this tracking capability, understanding your audiences and effectively tailoring advertising campaigns might become more difficult.
Required shift in strategy
It will be key for you to adapt your advertising strategies to rely less on third-party data and more on alternative targeting methods. This shift may involve greater emphasis on contextual advertising, which targets people based on the content of the websites they visit instead of browsing history, and first-party data gathered directly from site users to personalize advertising campaigns.
Additionally, in order to move beyond reliance on cookies and third-party identifiers, activation platforms like demand-side platforms (DSPs) must evolve to identify addressable IDs within bid streams. This adaptability is essential as digital advertising shifts toward privacy and cookieless environments. By being able to recognize addressable IDs in bid streams, DSPs can help facilitate more accurate, personalized targeting and help advertisers reach their audiences across channels and devices without privacy concerns. As a marketer, you should understand the capabilities of your chosen platforms and inquire about their support for evolving targeting methods and data sources.
New compliance regulations
By limiting the ability to track users across the web, Google aims to enhance user privacy and control over their data. You’ll need to embrace privacy-centric approaches to advertising to comply with evolving privacy regulations and build trust with consumers.
Challenges posed by Google’s cookie deprecation in 2024
Marketers are responding to the announcement of third-party cookie deprecation with an eye toward innovation as they proactively seek new solutions. As of early 2024, 56% of marketers in the United States were testing cookieless alternatives. Knowing their customer acquisition will be less efficient without these cookies, they’re looking for ways to maximize the value of their existing customers, increase retention, and make better use of first-party data. Others have been slow to react due to a lack of awareness or uncertainty about how to handle the changes.
Here are some additional challenges advertisers can expect to face as third-party cookies begin to be phased out.
Impact on targeting and personalization
The decline of third-party cookies is expected to have a major impact on targeting and personalization strategies. As advertisers will no longer have access to individual browsing histories, some may struggle to reach specific audiences and deliver personalized content. As a result, they have begun to explore using first-party data and contextual targeting to preserve relevance and consumer engagement.
Attribution and measurement challenges
The future removal of third-party cookies may also make it harder to measure the effectiveness of advertising and accurately attribute conversions. Marketers are currently searching for reliable alternatives to track users across channels and touchpoints. Google’s Attribution Reporting API and private aggregation methods are being explored as potential solutions to these attribution and measurement challenges.
Data privacy and compliance challenges
Future third-party cookie deprecation makes data privacy and compliance a top priority. With the introduction of stricter regulations like GDPR and CCPA, you need to ensure your data collection and usage practices comply with privacy laws. To maintain the trust of consumers and abide by regulatory requirements, it has become essential to shift toward first-party data collection and more transparent consent mechanisms.
Lack of resources to invest in alternative solutions
One of the main challenges advertisers will face with future cookie deprecation is a lack of resources to invest in alternative solutions. Many businesses don’t have the financial resources or technical expertise to explore and implement new targeting and measurement methods.
Additionally, some companies have been reluctant to adopt new solutions because they want to thoroughly test and evaluate their efficacy. The fear of investing resources in unproven technologies or strategies has led to a cautious approach among marketers and advertisers. However, this reluctance to adapt could hinder their ability to remain competitive.
Many companies may also face logistical challenges due to the complexity of transitioning from reliance on third-party cookies to alternative data sources and targeting methods. Integrating new technologies, adjusting workflows, and retraining staff requires time and effort, adding to the complexity of the transition.
Adapting to a cookieless world
Even though third-party cookies are going away, you still have other types of data in your arsenal to help you continue reaching your audience.
Use first-party data
First-party data, collected from customers or website visitors directly, offers valuable insights into consumer behavior and preferences. By investing in proven data collection methods and analytics tools, you can understand your audience more accurately and tailor your messaging and targeting accordingly.
Explore Experian’s signal-agnostic products
Experian is leading the charge in preparing marketers for a cookieless world with our audiences and foundation built from over 200 offline data sources. Our signal-agnostic Graph supports universal IDs and enables brands to expand their existing IDs to all other digital and addressable IDs within our Graph.
Advertisers can enhance their strategies by working with Experian to enrich first-party data with our demographic and behavioral attributes to gain a better understanding of audiences without cookies. Additionally, our data collaboration solutions enable marketers to collaborate with partner data, deriving greater value and enabling deeper insights for effective marketing campaigns. Experian is future-proofing identity strategies to ensure continued marketing performance and success.
Discover alternative targeting technologies
As third-party cookies become obsolete, marketers are starting to investigate alternative targeting technologies for optimizing campaigns. These may include contextual targeting, which focuses on the content and context of a user’s web browsing activity, as well as emerging solutions like cohort-based targeting, which groups users based on shared interests and behaviors. Think of third-party cookie deprecation as the opportunity to innovate and rethink strategies that have relied too heavily on one type of technology.
Best practices for marketers in the post-cookie era
Embracing best practices for a privacy-centric advertising environment can help you maintain your effectiveness and thrive in a cookieless world. Let’s talk strategies to help you succeed in the post-cookie era.
Focus on customer consent and transparency
Having consumers opt-in to sharing their data is an excellent way to build your data pool ethically. One way to do this is by encouraging users to create accounts or log in to access exclusive content or features while providing valuable information in exchange for their data. Another way is by conducting surveys or quizzes to gather insights directly from users about their preferences, interests, and behaviors. You could also use interactive content like polls and contests to engage users and collect data. These approaches can enrich your data pool while demonstrating your commitment to respecting user privacy and preferences.
Prioritize obtaining explicit consent from users before using or gathering their data for your advertising. Implement transparent data practices by clearly communicating to consumers how you’ll use their data and providing easily accessible options to manage their privacy preferences. By building trust through transparency and respecting user choices, you can forge stronger relationships with your audience.
Enhance the customer experience with quality data
In the future absence of third-party cookies, first-party data will be paramount in helping you understand and engage with your audience effectively. Invest in strategies that will help you collect high-quality data directly from customers, such as through interactive content, preference centers, and loyalty programs. By obtaining and using accurate, relevant data, you can provide personalized experiences that resonate with audiences and drive meaningful engagement.
Collaborate with evolving technology platforms
As Google’s cookie deprecation reshapes advertising, it will be important to collaborate closely with technology providers and key industry players who are adapting to these changes. Make sure your chosen platforms are keeping up with the industry and offering solutions that align with the shift to cookieless environments. Partnering with platforms that are proactively addressing these challenges will make it easier to navigate the changing marketing environment and drive better results for consumers and campaigns.
Prepare for the future of advertising with Experian
Despite the fact that third-party cookies are going away, there’s no need to panic. This change offers new opportunities for innovation and strategic refocus. With the emergence of alternative targeting methods, such as first-party data, you can still reach your target audiences effectively while respecting user privacy. By staying proactive and utilizing your available resources, you can navigate the cookieless future with confidence and continue to drive meaningful connections with your audiences.
With a robust suite of data-driven solutions and a breadth of addressable IDs, Experian can help you continue to reach and engage with your target audiences. Our Consumer Sync identity solution is signal-agnostic and empowers consistent consumer interactions, while our Consumer View data solution offers privacy-compliant data to help you connect meaningfully with consumers and reach audiences effectively. Connect with Experian today to discover how we can help you prepare for and thrive in a cookieless future.
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Marketers are searching for better ways to connect with their audiences across screens and prove results. Optimum Media is at the forefront of this development, helping brands plan, activate, and measure campaigns across linear TV, addressable TV, connected TV (CTV), digital, and social platforms. To support this approach, Optimum Media partners with Experian, combining their subscriber data with Experian’s trusted audience and identity solutions. Together, we help brands not only find the right consumers but also understand their behaviors and measure real outcomes. Here’s how Optimum Media and Experian are working together. Build a complete customer view with rich data from Experian Optimum Media starts with strong first-party data, including viewership and exposure information from millions of households. However, reaching a deeper understanding of these audiences requires more than what subscriber records alone can offer. Through Experian’s Marketing Attributes, Optimum Media gains access to thousands of demographic and behavioral attributes to its data sets. These attributes—such as income ranges, lifestyle interests, and retail purchasing behaviors—help advertisers build a more complete view of the consumer. \”We work with trusted partners like Experian to deliver the additional audience insights—like demographics and lifestyle—that are critical for our clients\’ success.\”Natalia Irmin, Sr. Director, Strategic Partnerships, Optimum Media Combining Experian’s Marketing Attributes with Optimum Media’s subscriber footprint helps brands segment audiences more precisely, develop refined media plans, and tailor messaging based on the real behaviors and interests of consumers. Move beyond basic targeting with Audience Engine To support more personalized and scalable targeting, Optimum Media uses Audience Engine—Experian’s self-service platform for audience management and activation. Through Audience Engine, Optimum Media can: Access Experian’s syndicated audiences Not just what’s available directly on their platform. Build custom segments Using Experian’s demographic and behavioral insights. Tap into our data marketplace To explore additional segments from Experian and our Partner Audiences through trusted third-party providers. These tools give Optimum Media and its clients the ability to move beyond basic targeting. Whether a brand wants to reach families preparing for back-to-school shopping, in-market car buyers, or upscale consumers planning home renovations, Audience Engine makes it possible to identify and activate those audiences with greater accuracy—based on real data, not guesswork. Extend campaign reach with Experian’s Digital Graph While Optimum Media has a substantial owned footprint, they often work with advertisers who need to extend reach beyond traditional subscriber bases. To support this, they rely on Experian’s Digital Graph. Our Digital Graph connects mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), IP addresses, CTV IDs, and hashed emails into unified household and individual profiles. This enables Optimum Media to identify and reach audiences outside of their network with the same level of accuracy as inside it. For even deeper audience insights, Digital Graph can be bundled with Marketing Attributes. This combination helps advertisers go beyond basic targeting to include real-world behaviors like shopping habits, travel preferences, and lifestyle characteristics. The result: campaigns that do more than deliver impressions—they connect with the right households across any channel. Turn viewership into measurable business outcomes One of the biggest challenges in multiscreen advertising is connecting exposure to real business results. With Experian’s solutions, Optimum Media can: Plan based on audience behaviors across screens, not just age and gender demographics. Activate household-level audiences across linear, CTV, digital, and social. Measure campaign performance using unduplicated reach, frequency, and attribution across devices. By offering advertisers access to a more complete consumer profile and maintaining consistent measurement across channels, Optimum Media and Experian help clients make better decisions about where to spend and how to adjust strategies over time. Why the Optimum Media and Experian partnership delivers Deeper audience understanding: By combining first-party viewership with Experian’s demographic and behavioral data, advertisers gain a fuller picture of who they are reaching. Seamless cross-platform execution: Identity solutions like Digital Graph allow brands to reach audiences across multiple devices and channels without losing precision. \”Optimum Media has been instrumental in helping Experian strengthen the precision, quality, and real-world applications of our data. Their ongoing feedback is invaluable in making sure our solutions continue to meet client needs and perform at the highest level.\”Chris Feo, Chief Business Officer, Experian With a single, trusted partner offering both identity and audience solutions, Optimum Media avoids the complexity many advertisers still face when piecing together different data sets and vendors. “Having Experian’s identity and audience solutions under one roof makes it easier for us to plan, reach, and measure across every channel. It’s a complete solution that simplifies advertising and improves performance.”Natalia Irmin, Sr. Director, Strategic Partnerships, Optimum Media Start building better campaigns with Experian Ready to improve your audience targeting and measurement strategies like Optimum Media? Connect with our team today to learn how Marketing Attributes, Audience Engine, Digital Graph, and our other solutions can help you build stronger, more measurable advertising campaigns. Connect with us About Optimum Media Optimum Media is a multiscreen advertising business that partners with small and medium businesses, as well as national, political, media and entertainment, and agency clients across the United States. They work with advertisers to develop custom multiscreen advertising solutions powered by proprietary technology and a massive aggregated database of audience data points and TV viewership data. Latest posts
Originally appeared in The Current Forget the cookie delay — AI is already rewriting the rules of advertising. While the industry was busy debating yet another postponement of Chrome’s third-party cookie phaseout, AI quietly became the most disruptive force in marketing. But here’s the twist: AI doesn’t work without identity. If marketers want results — real outcomes, not just impressions — they need to prioritize the data that makes AI go. First-party data strategies are now mainstream. Interoperable identity solutions like Unified I.D. 2.0 (UID2) and ID5 are gaining adoption across the open web. Connected TV (CTV) has grown into a performance-focused, cookieless channel. Contextual and geo-based targeting have become smarter and more scalable. Identity graphs are helping marketers stitch together signals across devices, platforms, and channels. The foundation for a better ecosystem isn’t being built — it’s already here. The AI hype is over — and the stakes are higher It’s no longer buzz. AI is here, and it’s already reshaping how we plan, activate, and measure advertising. We’re seeing the rise of agentic AI: systems that don’t just surface insights but act on them. These AI agents are identifying patterns, building audiences, optimizing media buys, and analyzing performance. AI is helping marketers stop guessing and start improving. But there’s a catch — one we can’t afford to overlook. AI is only as good as the data it works with. “Garbage in, garbage out.” as the saying goes. And in advertising, that means if you don’t know who you’re reaching, even the smartest AI won’t drive results. To unlock AI’s full potential, marketers need a strong, privacy-safe identity foundation. Identity is the fuel that makes AI work AI can personalize creative, optimize in-flight campaigns, and even recommend which channels to prioritize — but it can’t do any of that well without context. And context starts with identity. Identity connects signals from different devices, logins, channels, and interactions to real people. It tells your AI models who you’re talking to — not just what they clicked. That kind of clarity gives AI the power to make smarter predictions, uncover insights, and deliver relevance at scale. Without identity, AI is guessing. With identity, it’s delivering. Identity is the foundation of the outcomes era We’re living in a performance-driven age. Impressions and clicks are no longer enough. Marketers today are being judged by real outcomes: incremental sales, customer acquisition, revenue lift, and long-term value. To measure those outcomes, you need to know who you reached — and whether they took action. Identity makes that connection possible. It links ad exposure to real-world results. It enables accurate attribution across channels. It powers personalization at every stage of the journey, making every impression more valuable. This is the outcomes era, and identity is what makes it measurable. Commerce media and CTV show what’s possible Two of the fastest-growing channels — commerce media and CTV — are great examples of identity in action. Commerce media In commerce media, identity helps retailers and marketplaces organize their customer data, enrich it with external insights, and activate it across their own sites and off-site channels. It makes accurate targeting possible and gives marketers a clear ROI they can prove. CTV In CTV, identity helps solve a fundamental challenge: turning anonymous viewers into addressable audiences. On free ad-supported streaming platforms (FAST), identity solutions resolve viewership to the household level. On logged-in platforms, identity enriches profiles with behavioral and purchase data, boosting demand, improving CPMs, and growing revenue. At Experian, we’ve invested in this future. Our recent acquisition of Audigent brings together data, identity, and activation — under one roof — built to support both AI-driven planning and outcome-based performance. How marketers can win now To stay ahead in a world defined by AI and outcomes, marketers need to: Invest in omnichannel identity To unify signals across platforms and environments. Make identity actionable in real time To inform both targeting and measurement. Utilize first-party data, clean rooms, and privacy-safe partnerships To future-proof performance. Tailor identity strategies To fit their media mix — because what works in CTV may not apply to in-app or web. It’s not about rebuilding everything. It’s about building on what’s already working. Final thought: Identity is the bridge AI is raising the bar, and outcomes are the new standard. But neither works without identity. The marketers who win won’t treat identity as a compliance checkbox — they’ll treat it as their competitive edge. Get started with us today Latest posts
As marketers gear up for the 2025 holiday season, economic turbulence, tariffs, and shifting digital habits are changing how and where consumers shop. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still set to be the crown jewels of retail, but winning this year means leaning into data, omnichannel activation, and tools that help you do more with less as you start your Black Friday planning. Let’s explore this year’s Black Friday trends in relation to last year’s and how to make the most of every opportunity in the 2025 holiday season. Spending trends we saw in 2024 After years of economic uncertainty, Black Friday 2024 marked a return to retail “normalcy” with record-setting online and in-store shopping that reflected growing optimism and smarter behaviors: Online Black Friday sales increased by 10.2% from 2023, largely due to better-timed deals and earlier shopping. Mobile shopping made up 69% of global purchases. In-store traffic rebounded, surpassing online during Cyber Week for the first time in years. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) added $686 million to online sales — an 8.8% YoY increase — as consumers spread out their holiday spending. Retailers using AI tools (like chatbots and shopping assistants) saw up to 15% more conversions. Ultimately, last year’s Black Friday e-commerce trends showed that shoppers prioritized flexible payments, value, and easy, personalized buying experiences. Key products and categories in 2024 After years of favoring lower-cost essentials, consumers returned to higher-ticket purchases during Cyber Week. The share of expensive goods sold online rose over 15% compared to pre-season figures, with AI-powered product recommendations leading consumers to top-selling products like: AirPods Pro Ninja Creami Our Place Always Pan Vitamix blenders Oura Ring The highest-performing gift categories included electronics, apparel, furniture and bedding, groceries, and cosmetics. 2024 Black Friday trends we expect to continue in 2025 As we reflect on a record-breaking 2024 holiday season, we predict many of the key Cyber Monday trends and Black Friday strategies for retailers in 2024 will carry over and intensify in 2025: Mobile will remain the primary shopping channel. The shift to early shopping will persist. AI-driven efficiencies will play an increasing role. Retailers that focus on the customer experience will capture the most wallet share. As a marketer, you can use these insights to plan your Black Friday e-commerce strategy and meet audiences where and when they scroll and shop. Projected growth YoY While 2025 holiday retail shopping may not match the explosive growth of 2023 to 2024, consumers are still expected to show up in force for Black Friday in 2025. The National Retail Federation projects that overall U.S. holiday sales will rise between 2.7% and 3.7% compared to last year. Experian’s 2025 Q1 consumer data paints a more nuanced picture: Mass retail transactions remain above 2024 levels, but YoY growth is slowing, from +8% in January to +4% in May. Department stores, which grew 10% YoY in January, have since declined to -3% by May. Apparel saw a similar trajectory, slipping from +7% growth in Q1 to slightly negative growth leading up to the summer months. This slowdown suggests early signs of consumer fatigue, especially in discretionary categories, as inflation and tariffs continue to erode the spending power of price-sensitive consumers and small brands that rely heavily on imports. Emerging trends and behaviors to expect in 2025 With inflation still weighing on household budgets and new tariffs potentially reducing consumer spending power by up to $78 billion, brands and shoppers are entering the holiday season with uncertainty. Roughly 91% of consumers may adjust their buying habits in response to tariff-driven price increases and inflation. Consumers are still motivated by value, but they’ll expect more for their money and may start deal-hunting even earlier this season. You’ll need to be agile with your messaging, inventory, and budget allocation, as shoppers will still spend when the experience is seamless, personalized, and smart. Let’s explore the key trends shaping the 2025 holiday season and how you can build them into your omnichannel marketing plan before the rush hits. Omnichannel campaigns In 2025, holiday shoppers will be more intentional than impulsive, which means they may zigzag between channels — browsing products on TikTok, watching TV ads, researching on Google, and checking out in-store or online before purchasing. They’ll want consistent, personalized experiences no matter where they engage. This means you can’t rely on a single sales touchpoint anymore and must deliver a seamless experience wherever your audience spends time. Forrester shows 21% of global B2C leaders are already prioritizing omnichannel, which makes it a competitive necessity. Fortunately, these efforts pay off. Omnichannel shoppers spend 1.5x more per month than those who shop on a single channel. How Experian helps Experian simplifies omnichannel marketing. Our identity graph connects hashed emails, mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), connected TV (CTV) IDs, and more so you can define your audience once and reach them consistently across every major channel. With unified data, identity, and activation, we help you cut through platform silos and deliver coordinated, cross-device campaigns that actually feel connected. Mobile first In 2024, over 70% of orders and $195 billion in sales happened on mobile devices, according to Salesforce. As more consumers browse holiday deals from the couch, car, or checkout line, mobile-first shopping is among the top Cyber Monday retail trends and the main channel for on-the-go purchases. For marketers, this means your mobile experience can make or break your Black Friday results. Responsive design, fast load times, and smooth checkout flows are the new expectations. Brands that invest in sleek mobile sites, intuitive apps, and frictionless buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) options will better meet and convert customers where they are at key moments. How Experian helps With Experian, you can reach mobile-first shoppers precisely at scale. Our identity graph connects MAIDs to individuals, so you can activate campaigns across mobile apps, SMS, and social with confidence. Define your audience once and deliver consistently personalized offers wherever they scroll, search, or shop. CTV On Black Friday 2025, shoppers won’t just be scrolling — they’ll be streaming, too. CTV continues to surge as a key channel for holiday shoppers, with viewership far outpacing ad spend. In 2024, CTV drove 31% of digital audience activation revenue. With nearly half of U.S. viewers expected to tune into free ad-supported TV (FAST) in 2025, CTV is becoming a core part of the Black Friday media mix. Still, many marketers underestimate the channel, assuming it’s strictly an upper-funnel awareness channel rather than a direct driver of conversions. In reality, CTV can influence high-intent holiday shoppers closer to purchase than many assume. With more consumers engaging with FAST during the holidays, CTV offers scalable, measurable reach and can fuel conversions across the entire funnel. And when paired with identity resolution and cross-device targeting, it becomes a powerful full-funnel tool. How Experian helps Experian gives marketers the household-level insights and activation capabilities to reach the right shoppers at the right frequency across platforms — a must for a high-volume weekend like Black Friday. Our identity graph connects devices within a household to manage frequency, unify messaging, and eliminate waste. Plus, with support for Universal IDs like Unified I.D. 2.0 (UID2), you can activate audiences across CTV environments — including FAST — using login-based, privacy-compliant signals for a campaign that connects, converts, and performs on the biggest shopping weekend of the year. Signal loss Although Google has reversed its plan to phase out third-party cookies, 40% of browser traffic no longer supports them. You now need various identifiers across devices and platforms to get a complete customer view, especially during Black Friday when reach and precision are key. That’s why marketers are shifting to alternative IDs like UID2, ID5, and Hadron ID to maintain reach. In 2024, we saw a 50% increase in Experian clients using alternative IDs and a 30% jump in the number resolved to individuals in our Digital Graph. These IDs are unlocking up to 60% incremental reach in campaigns compared to cookies. Preparing a multi-ID approach and incorporating privacy-first strategies, such as contextual targeting, can give you a competitive edge this holiday season. How Experian helps Experian’s identity solutions connect all your digital and offline identifiers into a single, privacy-forward customer profile. This lets you recognize and reach your audiences no matter what device or platform they’re using. Plus, with Contextually-Indexed Audiences, you can activate high-performing segments instantly in major demand-side platforms (DSPs) without cookies to maintain and improve addressability during the holidays. RMNs Retail media networks (RMNs) are set to capture 20% of digital ad spend in 2025. In particular, off-site retail media is expected to surge 42.1% this year, driving more Black Friday campaigns into channels like CTV, programmatic, and social. This shift reflects a growing demand for full-funnel strategies, broader reach, and cross-channel measurement. RMNs that extend their first-party data beyond owned platforms will be best positioned to deliver results during peak shopping periods like Cyber Week. However, off-site success hinges on clean, connected data. Many RMNs still face fragmented views of their customers, making it harder to scale audiences and measure performance. How Experian helps Experian helps RMNs scale off-site by resolving fragmented identities, enriching first-party data, and enabling seamless activation across channels. Our identity graph connects key digital identifiers to unify customer profiles, while our audience insights add depth with demographic, behavioral, and purchase data. Curation Curation is quickly becoming a go-to Black Friday marketing strategy, helping advertisers connect with high-value audiences by blending inventory with audience and contextual data. In fact, by 2026, private marketplace ad spending is projected to grow by $31 billion. Instead of choosing between wide-open auctions or direct publisher deals, curation offers a powerful middle ground through curated private marketplaces (PMPs) built on first-party publisher data, contextual signals, and alternative IDs. How Experian helps Now unified with Audigent, Experian is setting a new standard for curated media buying. Our Curated Deals combine Experian’s powerful identity and data capabilities with Audigent’s flexible activation and audience customization. You can activate high-performing audiences across DSPs or directly through Audigent’s PMPs to maximize precision, privacy, and scale ahead of the biggest shopping week of the year. AI-powered shopping experiences AI is becoming a co-pilot for holiday shoppers and reshaping the customer journey. From researching gift ideas and comparing prices to relying on personalized product recommendations and AI chatbots for faster service, consumers are using AI to shop smarter. Salesforce reports that AI influenced 19% of holiday purchases in 2024 — a 6% increase from the previous year. In an Experian survey, shoppers shared they’re also using AI to help with BOPIS logistics and even choosing which BNPL option to use at checkout. Influencer content powered by AI and social algorithms is also guiding purchases in real time. This holiday season, brands that weave AI into their digital storefronts, payment options, and social strategies will drive conversion. How Experian helps Experian uses AI and machine learning to help marketers deliver faster, smarter Black Friday campaigns. Our Digital Graph improves targeting with advanced household connections, while machine learning models fill in data gaps and identify high-intent shoppers. We also offer AI-powered audience recommendations and real-time contextual signals, enabling you to quickly build and activate the right segments at scale. How to prepare for Black Friday 2025 Now that we’ve covered Black Friday trends for this year, it’s time to talk about how you can build them into a data-powered marketing strategy. Here’s where we suggest you focus your Black Friday planning for Cyber Week 2025. Understand and segment your audience Winning Black Friday 2025 starts with knowing your audience and how they shop so you can reach them at optimal times with messaging that resonates. Whether you\’re targeting early-bird deal hunters or last-minute gifters, audience precision is the foundation for success this holiday season — and Experian can help. Purchase intent Drive performance by identifying consumers actively in the market for holiday purchases. With Experian’s holiday shopping audiences (available across major DSPs and platforms like Audigent, The Trade Desk, and DirectTV), you can reach: Last-Minute Shoppers One-Stop Holiday Shoppers Post-Holiday Shoppers Heavy Gift Givers These intent-rich segments can help you capture demand at every phase of the season. Spending behavior While some consumers may splurge this year, others are tightening their belts due to economic turbulence. Experian’s pre-built holiday audiences help you target accordingly, with segments like: Holiday High Spenders and Moderate Spenders Big Box/Club Stores Discount Holiday Shoppers, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday Shoppers These segments can help you optimize campaign spend based on wallet size. Channel preferences Knowing where your audience shops is just as important as how much they spend or what they buy. Experian offers audiences like: eCommerce Diehards Brick-and-Mortar Diehards Impulse Buyers BOPIS Shoppers Tailor your media mix and creative strategy to align with their channel behavior, whether they’re browsing in-store, online, or on social. Demographic, lifestyle, and behavioral data Experian helps you tap into rich demographic and lifestyle data to better understand and engage high-value segments, whether that’s suburban deal hunters, Gen Z beauty buyers, or luxury holiday splurgers. And by layering in Experian Marketing Attributes — 5,000+ attributes that include financial behaviors, interests, shopping patterns, car ownership, media consumption, and more — you can gain a clearer picture of age, gender, purchase behaviors, and content habits for refined holiday targeting. With our data marketplace, audiences are more accessible and actionable than ever. We offer: Diverse, high-fidelity partner audiences Easily activate audiences from 31+ premium data providers, including: Attain: Real-time, permissioned transaction data from 8 million U.S. consumers Alliant: Predictive audiences built from billions of consumer transactions across key verticals Circana: Loyalty-based CPG and general merchandise audiences Dun & Bradstreet: Privacy-compliant B2B audiences based on firmographic and professional attributes Flexible activation across top platforms Our identity graph powers our data marketplace, enabling audiences to be easily activated and highly addressable across display, mobile, and CTV with 10+ activation platforms, including Madhive, Open AP, Optimum, and Yieldmo. Privacy-first audience planning All data in our marketplace meets strict privacy and compliance standards, helping brands scale campaigns confidently. Custom and pre-built audience options Mix and match from 2,400+ Experian Audiences and Partner Audiences to find the right shoppers and meet your campaign goals. Our data marketplace delivers the people you want to reach, where you need to reach them, with the insights to optimize in real time. Personalize promotions One-size-fits-all promotions won’t cut it in 2025. Consumers expect relevance at every touchpoint and ignore what feels generic or off-base. With the abundance of Black Friday offers, shoppers are filtering fast and prioritizing brands that understand their needs, preferences, and timing. Here’s how you can deliver on these demands: Deliver targeted product recommendations: Whether through chatbots or personalized emails, consumers want help quickly finding what they need. Brands that invest in smart recommendation engines position themselves to drive cart additions and increase average order value (AOV). Customize promo codes by segment: Everyone loves discounts, but not all shoppers should get the same one. Use customer segments like high-spenders, last-minute shoppers, or deal-hunters from Experian’s syndicated holiday audiences to offer custom promo codes, boost conversions, and avoid over-discounting with those who would buy regardless. Optimize the timing of offers: Timing is everything during Cyber Week when inboxes and feeds are flooded. Use our behavioral and lifestyle data to determine when your segments are most active and likely to buy, and schedule your best offers for maximum impact. Use Experian Activity Feed: Black Friday 2025 will span devices, stores, and channels. Activity Feed connects the dots between online ad exposures and offline sales, helping you measure the impact of your campaigns and identify what drives conversions. Case study: How Cuebiq increased match rates with Activity Feed Using Activity Feed, Cuebiq, resolved digital ad exposures to MAIDs so they could know the impact of their campaigns on in-store visits and purchases. Within three weeks, they resolved 85% of ad events to households across web, mobile, and CTV, giving their clients a clearer view of what drove store traffic and sales. “In just a few weeks, they were able to maximize the match rate across the fragmented digital inventory, solving a huge problem when it comes to cross-channel attribution.”Luca Bocchiardi, Director of Product, Cuebiq Experian can help you win big this holiday season Marketers are entering this season with more pressure, more complexity, and more opportunity than ever before. Whether you\’re grappling with signal loss, evolving your omnichannel mix, or launching your first curated PMP, Experian has the data, identity infrastructure, and activation tools to help you win. 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