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Programmatic media buying isn’t getting any easier.
Buyers face rising signal loss, shrinking margins, and growing pressure to perform in a privacy-first world. Add in fragmented tech, shifting privacy regulations, and inconsistent identity signals, and reaching the right audience at scale has never been more complex (or costly).
Meanwhile, advertisers demand more transparency, publishers want control, and consumers expect relevance without feeling watched. Open exchanges, legacy data management platforms (DMPs), and spray-and-pray strategies just aren’t cutting it.
That’s why curation has become a trending topic in the AdTech space. In programmatic advertising, curation refers to the strategic integration of enriched data and quality inventory into a single package — often executed as a private marketplace (PMP) deal. This approach reshapes how campaigns are built, activated, and optimized by enabling performance-ready buys that reduce waste, increase relevance, and give marketers greater control over outcomes.
It’s no wonder then that curation investments are accelerating, PMPs are gaining traction, and buyers are shifting budgets accordingly. Over 66% of the $150 billion+ open exchange programmatic market now flows through curated PMPs, with industry giants like Google publicly backing curation as a core strategy.
So what exactly is programmatic curation, and why is it becoming essential for privacy-conscious, performance-driven marketers? Let’s break it down.
What does programmatic curation mean in AdTech?
Programmatic curation is the process of filtering, structuring, and packaging enriched data with high-quality programmatic inventory — enhanced by real-time optimization to create more targeted, efficient, and transparent media buys. Instead of buying at scale and hoping for the best, curation prioritizes accuracy and value over volume, resulting in more targeted, efficient, and transparent media buys.
As privacy regulations reshape targeting, curation is becoming a key differentiator in an increasingly crowded AdTech space. It connects robust data with quality supply, helping marketers stay effective while giving publishers new ways to monetize with control.
But not all curation is created equal. Programmatic curation requires three core elements:
1. Unique data
Unique, privacy-compliant, and valuable.
2. Strong supply connections
Access to quality inventory from publishers at scale.
3. Optimization tools
To measure, refine, and improve performance during a campaign and improve performance throughout the campaign lifecycle.
Without all of these elements, a so-called “curator” may simply be repackaging inventory without delivering the full value of a curated approach.
Why does curation still matter with cookies sticking around?
While third-party cookies and mobile IDs like IDFA haven’t gone away, the industry has already pivoted in anticipation of their decline.
Even without Google flipping the switch, signal loss is here thanks to Apple’s ATT, tighter compliance rules, and new tracking restrictions. Marketers are dealing with less data, more fragmentation, and fewer reliable IDs. So if you want to run an effective, scalable media campaign today, you need tools that go beyond third-party cookies.
That’s why programmatic curation is gaining ground as a better, more sustainable way to buy media. Investments in programmatic curation are growing, and not just for identity resolution. Marketers are leaning in because it:
- Combines verified audience data with premium inventory
- Supports ID-free or context-aware targeting
- Enables scalable, identity-agnostic strategies
- Improves data quality through enrichment
- Creates more controlled, pre-approved media paths via PMPs
Experts anticipate that, at some point, publishers will have to lean into this method.
“Curation will be bigger than header bidding and as big as programmatic or RTB — that’s our bet.”
Index ExchangeAndrew Casale, CEO
Whether cookies stay or go in the future, curation works for an ecosystem that demands smarter, cleaner, and adaptable media buying.
What are the benefits of curation and who wins?
Curation is one of the few innovations in AdTech delivering meaningful wins across the ecosystem. By bringing better data, cleaner supply, and more intentional targeting into programmatic advertising, it helps brands, agencies, and media buyers drive stronger performance, gives publishers more control, and creates a more respectful experience for consumers.
And unlike traditional approaches, curation is built for what’s now and what’s next. Here’s how each group benefits and why it matters.
Brands and agencies
Curation helps brands and agencies run smarter, more efficient campaigns by connecting high-quality data with premium supply. It delivers:
- More efficient supply paths with less waste and better performance
- Lower costs than DMP segments and open exchange buys
- Cleaner, pre-vetted inventory that aligns with audience and brand goals
- Future-proofed buying via cookieless and log-level data integrations
- Stronger targeting and measurement driven by enriched data and actual usage signals instead of modeled assumptions
- Better outcomes through real-time supply and data optimization
Publishers
For publishers, curation makes inventory more addressable without giving up control. It enables:
- Smarter packaging that aligns with buyer needs and campaign goals
- Higher CPMs by curating inventory above open exchange floors
- More control over how audiences are accessed and how inventory is monetized
- Access to higher-value demand through curated, data-backed deals
- Better protection of proprietary audience in a privacy-conscious environment
Consumers
At the end of the chain, curation improves the ad experience for those who matter most: your audience. It supports:
- Higher-quality content alignment for more natural, less disruptive ad experiences tailored to their interests
- Less invasive tracking, as targeting becomes more data-smart and privacy-aware, with reduced reliance on legacy identifiers and personally identifiable information (PII).
Curation is setting a new standard for how data, inventory, and experience come together across the ad ecosystem. When media is smarter, cleaner, and more intentional, everyone wins.
What’s Experian’s role in powering curation?
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 Experian + Audigent enable
Whether you need speed-to-market with pre-curated deals or white-glove custom deals, Experian and Audigent make it easier to activate high-performing, privacy-compliant campaigns at scale with:
- End-to-end curation across data, inventory, and real-time optimization
- Pre-packaged and custom PMP deals with built-in performance signals
- Scalable, privacy-first media solutions aligned to brand objectives, verticals, and KPIs
These aren’t just theoretical; curated marketplace deals are already delivering measurable gains. In OpenX, Audigent-curated campaigns increased bid competition by 20% and drove a 118% spike in impressions won over a two-month period.
Key benefits for partners
By bringing together our data depth and Audigent’s curation technology, we offer our partners a full suite of value-added capabilities, including:
- High-quality, verified data ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset and powered by Experian’s identity graph and deep programmatic data insights
- Data enrichment layers that boost addressability, accuracy, and contextual relevance
- Privacy-compliant infrastructure built for secure, cookieless data use at scale
- Platform integration across leading demand-side platforms (DSPs) and supply-side platforms (SSPs) for seamless activation and optimization
How Boiron achieved smarter reach with Audigent’s curated PMP strategy
A leading homeopathic brand partnered with Audigent to scale customer acquisition for its flu relief product without increasing media investment. They wanted to reach new, privacy-compliant audiences while improving CPA across display and video.
Using Audigent’s curated SmartPMPs and CognitivePMPs, the campaign delivered measurable performance improvements:
- 80% lower CPA on display than historical benchmarks
- 40% lower CPA on video
- 30% reduction in data costs
- Significant media efficiency gains through real-time supply and data optimization
- Fully future-proof targeting with zero reliance on cookies or MAIDs
Boiron’s success story is just one example of how curated deals backed by Experian identity and Audigent’s optimization technology can deliver efficiency and impact in a privacy-conscious environment.
Our curation capabilities
Together with Audigent, our curated solutions go beyond basic packaging. Every deal is designed for performance, privacy, and relevance, so you can activate smarter media with greater confidence:
- Deal ID-ready audiences for fast, turnkey activation
- Performance-specific curation, including viewability, CTR, and outcome-based targeting
- Custom audience + inventory packages tailored to campaign goals
- Vertical-specific curation for industries like auto, retail, CPG, and financial services
- Real-time optimization signals embedded into every curated deal
Don’t wait: Curate today
The future of programmatic advertising won’t be won by those waiting for perfect signals, clean cookies, or simplified tech stacks. It’ll be won by marketers and publishers who embrace smarter, cleaner ways to activate their data, inventory, and strategy now.
With Experian and Audigent, you’re not just getting better data but also a partner that helps you activate it with accuracy, privacy, and performance at scale. Whether you’re trying to reduce media waste, gain supply path control, or future-proof your campaigns, curated deals can get you there faster.
Let’s build a curation strategy that gives you control in a chaotic ecosystem.
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At Experian, we understand the importance of audience targeting when it comes to crafting a successful marketing campaign. That's why we've invested in developing 2,400+ syndicated audiences, which span across multiple verticals and categories, including demographic, and lifestyle and interest data. We are excited to share a curated list of audience recommendations to support your campaign planning so you can confidently connect with your audience. What separates Experian’s syndicated audiences Experian’s 2,400+ syndicated audiences are available directly on over 30 leading television, social, programmatic advertising platforms, and directly within Audigent for activation within private marketplaces (PMPs). Reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and their household makeup. Experian ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset for key demographic attributes. Access to unique audiences through Experian’s Partner Audiences available on Experian’s data marketplace, within Audigent for activation in PMPs and directly on platforms like DirectTV, Dish, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk. New audience segments to consider for Q4 campaign planning These new audiences, recently released on major platforms, offer unique opportunities to align your campaign planning with the latest consumer trends and behaviors. Here are four new Experian audiences to include in your Q4 campaign planning: Holiday Shoppers: Black Friday Holiday Travel – Budget Savvy Airline Geo-Indexed Audiences – Hybrid Vehicle 24-Month Future Car Buyers Seasonal audiences for Q4 Political audiences As the 2024 election approaches, moving beyond broad categorizations like “Democrat,” “Republican,” or “Independent” is crucial. Voters want candidates who align with their beliefs and values and Experian’s political personas offer a nuanced understanding of American voters to craft tailored engagement strategies. Experian has created 10 political personas to help better understand the American voter so you can reach consumers based on their viewpoints on key political issues. Additionally, over 200 politically relevant Experian audiences are available for activation on-the-shelf of the leading TV, demand, and supply platforms. Learn more here Holiday audiences This upcoming holiday season serves as the perfect opportunity to drive sales and build customer relationships. Experian has recently introduced 19 new audiences that can help you reach relevant shoppers across major ad platforms including TV and programmatic. By using Experian’s audiences in your holiday advertising campaigns, you can reach last-minute shoppers, discount-seeking shoppers, gift-givers, and holiday travelers. Just as shoppers seek the perfect gifts, your holiday advertising campaigns can capture the right shoppers this holiday season with the right strategy. Read our holiday audience guide now Our top 10 audience recommendations for Q4 Based on the top Experian audiences activated in Q4 of 2023, our top 10 list is designed to help agencies and media buyers plan data-driven advertising campaigns. Household income level 1) $100,000+: This segment contains consumers who are likely to have an estimated household income of $100,000+. 2) $75,000+: This segment contains consumers who are likely to have an estimated household income of $75,000+. Demographics 3) Ages: 25-54: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 25-54. 4) Ages: 30-39: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 30-39. 5) Ages: 35-39: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 35-39. 6) Ages: 40-49: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be aged 40-49. Homeowners 7) Homeowner: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be homeowners. Military 8) Inactive: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be inactive military. Automotive 9) In-market for a small, mid-size SUV: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be in the market to buy a mid-size SUV in the next 180 days. 10) In-market for a full-size SUV: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be in the market to buy a full-size SUV in the next 180 days. You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix. Activate the right audiences with Experian When you choose Experian’s syndicated audiences, you gain access to over 2,400 audiences that span across 15 verticals and categories. These audiences are directly available for activation on over 30 platforms and can be sent to over 200 media platforms. Experian is ranked #1 for data accuracy (as validated by Truthset), and Experian Marketing Data is the foundation for successful targeting, enrichment, and activation. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide. Need a custom audience? Reach out to our audience team and we can help you build and activate an Experian audience on the platform of your choice. Connect with our audience team Appendix Here are the complete audience segment names (taxonomy paths) for all audience segments discussed in this blog post. New audiences Autos, Cars and Trucks > Near Market > 24-Month Future Car Buyers Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Black Friday Autos, Cars and Trucks > Ownership – Geo-Indexed > Geo-Indexed Audiences –Hybrid Vehicle Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers Household income level Demographics > Household Income (HHI) > $100,000+ Demographics > Household Income (HHI) > $75,000+ Demographics: Ages Demographics > Ages > 25-54 Demographics > Ages > 30-39 Demographics > Ages > 35-39 Demographics > Ages > 40-49 Homeowners Demographics > Homeowners/Renters > Homeowner Military Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Occupation > Military – Inactive Automotive Autos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Small Mid-Size SUV Autos, Cars and Trucks > In Market-Body Styles > Full-Size SUVs Latest posts
Experian, the leader in powering data-driven advertising through connectivity, is thrilled to unveil our latest solution, Digital Graph and Marketing Attributes. This joint solution supplies marketers and platforms with the insights and connectivity needed to understand who their customers are and reach them across digital channels. The uncertainty around third-party cookies in Chrome and the overall decline in signal complicates the industry’s ability to reach the right consumer. Omnichannel media consumption results in scattered data, making it harder for marketers and platforms to understand consumer behavior and reach them across channels. These challenges call for a comprehensive solution. Our Digital Graph and Marketing Attributes solution addresses these challenges by providing identifiers for seamless cross-channel engagement. By adding Marketing Attributes, like demographic and behavioral data, marketers and platforms also gain a better understanding of their customers. This solution uses Experian’s Living Unit ID (LUID) to combine offline and digital data, giving customers deeper insights into consumer behavior, greater audience reach, and improved cross-channel visibility. Benefits of Digital Graph and Marketing Attributes Both our Digital Graph and Marketing Attributes provide value to clients as standalone products. When clients license our Digital Graph and Marketing Attributes joint solution, they have more data at their fingertips, unlocking: Consumer connectivity: When clients license Experian’s Digital Graph, they get access to digital identifiers like mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), connected TV (CTV) IDs, hashed emails (HEMs), and universal IDs so they can target the right consumers with the relevant messages across all digital media channels. Consumer insights: Experian’s 5,000 Marketing Attributes provide our clients with detailed consumer information and insights, such as age, gender, purchase behaviors, and content consumption habits. Marketing Attributes help clients create more relevant messaging and informed audience segmentation. Client examples How OpenX offers richer targeting and more connectivity with Experian OpenX is an independent omni-channel supply-side platform (SSP) and a global leader in audience, data, and identity-targeting. With industry-leading technology, exceptional client service, and extensive scalability across all formats, including CTV, app, mobile web, and desktop, OpenX has a legacy of innovating products that enhance buyer outcomes and publisher revenue while addressing complex challenges in programmatic. In recent years, OpenX has licensed Experian’s Digital Graph with identifiers, contributing to the SSP’s largest independent supply-side identity graph, which offers advanced audiences to buyers and improved data resolution to content owners. More recently, OpenX licensed Experian’s Marketing Attributes to enrich its supply-side identity graph, which includes IPs, MAIDs, and client IDs, with a variety of attributes. This strategic move has helped OpenX’s clients benefit from enhanced consumer insights and addressability, in turn delivering greater reach to the demand side and higher revenue for publishers, despite industry signal loss. "We built on our long-term partnership with Experian to enrich our digital IDs with Experian’s Marketing Attributes, which help provide buyers better insights to audiences, thereby helping our publishers monetize their inventory. With partners like Experian, OpenX effectively facilitates the value exchange between demand and supply, ensuring our partners are able to drive results for their business in the era of signal loss"Craig Golaszewski, Sr. Director of Strategic Partnerships, OpenX How StackAdapt licenses our product bundle to address three different use cases StackAdapt is the multi-channel programmatic advertising platform trusted by marketers to deliver exceptional campaigns. They drive superior results through a variety of solutions, like contextual and first-party targeting, brand lift measurement, and optimization through insights. StackAdapt licensed a similar yet unique product combination, our Digital Graph and our Audiences. StackAdapt uses the Digital Graph to allow clients to onboard their first-party data in a seamless, self-serve manner that allows them to further segment their data using Experian Audiences. “StackAdapt has been recognized as the most trusted programmatic platform by marketers, and with the integration of Experian’s Digital Graph and Audiences, we are strengthening our leadership in the space. This partnership improves our ability to deliver precise cross-channel segmentation, reach, and measurement, helping advertisers run more successful campaigns. Our collaboration with Experian allows us to offer a differentiated solution in the market and ensure our clients can deliver the most precise and impactful ads to their audiences.”Denis Loboda, Senior Director of Data, StackAdapt We recently announced a new partnership with StackAdapt. This collaboration brings the power of Experian's identity graph, syndicated and custom audiences directly to the StackAdapt platform. Read the full details in our press release here. Four ways to use Digital Graph and Marketing Attributes When these two products come together, our clients have a 360-degree view of their consumers, which helps them power four critical use cases: Analytics and insights: Learn more about your consumers by connecting our Marketing Attributes with our Digital Graph's identifiers. For example, a retailer can discover that their recent customers over-index as pickleball fans and players, leading the retailer to sponsor a professional pickleball event. Inventory monetization: When supply-side partners know their audience better, they can attract advertisers in search of that audience. For example, a publisher might find out that their audience is full of pickleball fans, leading them to reach out to brands that want to reach this audience. Activation: Companies with access to more digital identifiers from our Digital Graph can reach more people, while controlling frequency across channels. A company might know that they want to reach pickleball fans. Now, they have the digital identifiers needed to reach pickleball fans across all digital channels where they consume content, leading to increased reach. Measurement and attribution: Use the Digital Graph’s support for various digital identifiers to understand all consumer touchpoints, from media impressions to conversions. Then, lean on our Marketing Attributes to determine who your messaging resonated with. For example, a company uses our Digital Graph to know if it was the same individual who was exposed to an ad on CTV and converted via e-commerce. On top of that, the company can use our Marketing Attributes data to find out that the people who purchased were overwhelmingly pickleball fans. Connect with us to learn more about how our Digital Graph and Marketing Attributes joint solution can provide the data and insights you need to create, activate, and measure cross-channel media campaigns. 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After a six-month beta period, collaboration in Snowflake Data Clean Rooms using Experian's offline or digital graph is now generally available for all clients. As part of this, Experian is excited to announce that Experian's identity graph will be integrated into Snowflake's Data Clean Rooms. With the growing importance of data privacy and marketing efficiency, this partnership builds off of Experian's previously-announced integration into Snowflake's AI Data Cloud for Media. Adding Experian's identity graph to Snowflake Data Clean Rooms helps advertisers, advertising platforms, and measurement partners work more effectively. Built upon Experian’s rich offline and digital identity foundation, with support for various identifiers across platforms, collaboration in Snowflake Data Clean Rooms helps clients maximize the value of their data and meet the diverse needs of modern business: Collaborate with partners for richer data insights Achieve higher match rates Improve audience building Produce more accurate and complete reports Ensure data privacy Seamless integration of AdTech and MarTech platforms Regardless of the identifier type you are looking to collaborate on, Experian has the identity data in Snowflake Data Clean Rooms to support you and your partner. This leads to higher match rates and more resolved data for you to use to benefit your media initiatives. "Integrating Experian's identity graph into Snowflake Data Clean Rooms marks a transformative leap for digital marketing. This collaboration empowers advertisers, programmatic platforms, and measurement partners with unparalleled accuracy, privacy, and efficiency. Together, we are excited to provide innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of our clients."Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, Head of Data Clean Rooms at Snowflake The Experian and Snowflake partnership showcases how collaboration can enhance scalability and cost-efficiency. Data clean rooms provide a secure environment where multiple parties can share, join, and analyze their data assets without leaving the clean room or exposing the underlying data. By integrating Experian's identity graph within Snowflake's secure platform businesses of all sizes can receive advanced data collaboration and identity tools without the high costs usually involved. The integration prioritizes consumer privacy and data security. Backed by Experian’s Global Data Principles, Experian's deep roots in data protection and security provide customers with the most trusted way to share data and protect consumer privacy. With Experian's graph in Snowflake Data Clean Rooms, customers will get a solution that respects customer consent, safeguards sensitive data, and ensures that processing occurs with the utmost respect for user confidentiality and preferences. Further, Snowflake Data Clean Rooms uses advanced methods to preserve privacy, such as differential privacy and secure computations on encrypted data, enabling data security and integrity. Together, these methods prevent unauthorized access by keeping sensitive data within the secure confines of the cleanroom on a strict, collaboration-to-collaboration basis. The collaboration between Experian and Snowflake significantly enhances data matching and identity resolution within the Snowflake Data Cleanroom. Experian’s identity solution uses digital identifiers like hashed emails, MAIDs, and CTV IDs and offline identifiers like name and address. This allows advertisers to reach more consumers and enrich their data. Marketers can easily use their first-party data in the cleanroom, and with Experian's Graph, they get higher match rates for more accurate targeting and campaign measurement. The continued partnership between Snowflake and Experian provide advertisers, platforms, and measurement providers a secure and effective way to collaborate. This sets the stage for continued innovation in programmatic advertising, ensuring that our solutions evolve in step with our clients' needs. If you're not utilizing clean rooms for collaboration but have advanced identity needs, you can license our Graph and seamlessly integrate it into your Snowflake account. Reach out to our team to learn more Latest posts