Experian offers a suite of next-generation tools built on the Experian Digital Graph to help marketers adapt to ongoing signal fragmentation and privacy regulation. These solutions enable brands to maintain behavioral targeting and campaign performance even as traditional signals decrease.
Through Experian’s integration with Audigent, we now offer early access to Curated Deals, contextually-indexed audiences, and Geo-Indexed Audiences that help advertisers test privacy-first audience activation in a period of accelerating signal fragmentation.
Experian and Audigent offer a data management platform (DMP) that enables publishers to collect, manage, and understand their first-party data, while also accessing third-party data, to better monetize their data assets.
At the same time, Experian continues to advance its signal-agnostic Digital Graph, which already covers industry-standard universal IDs, like Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) and ID5, as well as both IPv4 and IPv6, which are becoming more and more prevalent.
Together, these updates give marketers a reliable, privacy-forward foundation for audience reach, cross-device targeting, and measurement as signal fragmentation continues to reshape digital advertising.
How is Experian’s Digital Graph evolving in a multi-signal world?
Signal fragmentation is reshaping how marketers reach and measure audiences, so we continue to strengthen the Experian Digital Graph to keep performance steady across channels. Recent updates focus on improving connectivity, accuracy, and durability:
- More signals to keep reach strong: We added IPv6 and phone-based UID2s to our Digital Graph, building on the hashed email (HEM)-based UID2s we already support.
- Better AI models for cleaner identity data: We improved our AI clustering and device classification models to sharpen ID resolution.
- More stable customer profiles: We enhanced stability in our Digital Graph by tying it more closely to our Offline Graph, ensuring more complete customer profiles that last over time.
Together, these updates give marketers a more resilient identity foundation and help maintain performance in a market defined by rising signal fragmentation.
How is Experian advancing contextual targeting and geo-based targeting with our partners?
AWith more signals in market and traditional identifiers becoming less reliable advertisers are returning to tactics that don’t rely on cookies. Contextual targeting and geo-based targeting have both delivered results for years, and are becoming even more important as marketers look for consistent ways to reach audiences without relying on ID-level data.
Experian is modernizing these approaches by pairing Experian Marketing Data with contextual and geographic signals to create privacy-first activation paths that hold up as identifiers fade.
With our acquisition of Audigent, we’re expanding the ways marketers can activate privacy-forward audiences at scale. Together, these capabilities strengthen how brands reach people with relevant experiences, even as traditional IDs fade:
- Contextually- Indexed Audiences: We index Experian’s syndicated audiences against contextual signals inside private marketplace (PMP) deals using Experian’s Digital Graph and Audigent’s Hadron ID. In a 15-day test with a national advertiser, this ID-less approach exceeded click-through rate goals by 25% while matching the scale and delivery of ID-based campaigns.
- Geo-Indexed Audiences: We also offer Geo-Indexed Audiences that use location-based signals to reach consumers in the right places and moments, providing another durable option when IDs are unavailable or restricted.
- Evolving toward more intent-rich signals: Looking ahead, we are developing ways to incorporate additional intent indicators, such as content consumption patterns and repeated contextual behaviors, to give marketers stronger cues about where their audiences are in their decision process, all without relying on user-level identifiers.
Together, these tactics make contextual and geo-based targeting more measurable, scalable, and privacy-safe, helping marketers keep performance steady as signal fragmentation accelerates.
Which alternative IDs does Experian’s Digital Graph support?
Experian’s signal-agnostic Digital Graph is designed to interoperate across identity frameworks and connect digital identifiers into a single, privacy-compliant system. It now supports alternative IDs such as:
- UID2s
- ID5 IDs
- HEMs
- Connected TV (CTV) IDs
Our Digital Graph is rebuilt weekly to maintain high accuracy and addressability across campaigns. These capabilities ensure marketers can continue cross-device activation and measurement as legacy signals decline.
“Experian is a valued partner in Nexxen’s unified identity graph powering the Nexxen data platforms, which bring us the ability to seamlessly onboard client data, activate campaigns, and measure performance while maximizing biddable opportunities for our advertisers. They help ensure our clients can continue reaching audiences at scale and successfully execute campaigns.”
NexxenChance Johnson, Chief Commercial Officer
What’s next for Experian’s identity and connectivity roadmap?
As digital signals change and CTV viewership grows, we continue to expand the identifiers supported within the Experian Digital Graph. Recent additions such as IPv6 and phone-based UID2s, alongside existing IPv4 and email-based IDs, help marketers and platforms understand the full customer journey across screens and households within a privacy-first framework.
We are committed to maintaining and increasing connectivity in the digital world, ensuring that clients can reach their audiences even as familiar signals decline. A core part of that commitment is strengthening the overlap between our Offline and Digital Graphs. This work improves cross-channel consistency and gives marketers more reliable links between individuals, households, and devices.
As we keep investing in identity resilience, clients can expect ongoing innovation that supports addressability and performance despite evolving privacy constraints.
How can marketers maintain addressability at scale today?
Experian’s connected toolkit of signal-agnostic advertising solutions empowers brands to continue reaching audiences with confidence:
- Identity resolution through Experian’s Digital Graph
- Curation via Audigent
- Cross-device measurement built for privacy compliance
- Universal ID interoperability across platforms
As the industry adjusts to signal fragmentation, Experian provides the scale, trust, and connectivity required to sustain effective targeting.
A resilient path forward for addressable advertising
As the AdTech industry continues to evolve, Experian’s Digital Graph continues to power interoperability, scale, and privacy-safe measurement.
With data ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, collaborations across the AdTech ecosystem, and ongoing support for universal IDs, Experian gives marketers a reliable path to addressable, measurable, and privacy-first advertising.
Connect with our team
About the author
Budi Tanzi, VP of Product and Solution Engineering, Experian Marketing Services
Budi Tanzi is the Vice President of Product at Experian Marketing Services, overseeing all Identity Products. Prior to joining Experian, Budi worked at various stakeholders of the ad-tech ecosystem, such as Tapad, Sizmek and StrikeAd. During his career, he held leadership roles in both Product Management and Solution Engineering. Budi has been living in New York for almost 11 years and enjoys being outdoors as well as sailing around NYC whenever possible.
FAQs
Experian’s Digital Graph enables consistent audience targeting and measurement across browsers and devices using privacy-compliant identifiers. It connects verified digital data, giving advertisers continuity as traditional IDs become less reliable.
Experian’s Digital Graph supports consistent audience targeting and measurement across browsers and devices using privacy-compliant identifiers. By connecting verified digital data, the Digital Graph gives marketers continuity as signals such as cookies, device IDs, and IP-based identifiers become less reliable. Recent updates, including IPv6, phone-based UID2s, and improved AI clustering, help you maintain reach and accuracy even as digital signals shift.
Experian works with a variety of partners to source digital IDs. We work with The Trade Desk and ID5 to incorporate their universal IDs into our Digital Graph. Additionally, Audigent, now a part of Experian, offers Curated Deals, which are a non-cookie dependent way to provide reach and relevance.
Yes. Experian’s identity and data solutions align with IAB Data Privacy Standards and regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), ensuring transparent and compliant data use.
Our current focus is to increase the overlap between our Offline and Digital Graphs, enabling more cross-channel addressability for our clients. We also continue expanding supported identifiers and improving our AI models to maintain performance as signal fragmentation grows.
You can reach out directly to explore privacy-first activation options, including contextual, geo-indexed, curated deals, and ID-based strategies supported by the Experian Digital Graph.
Latest posts
Study reveals that brands with more mature identity programs were significantly more likely to be successful in achieving their key objectives Tapad, a part of Experian, a global leader in cross-device digital identity resolution and a part of Experian, has commissioned Forrester Consulting, part of a leading research and advisory firm, to conduct a new study that evaluates the current state of customer data-driven marketing and explores how marketers can use identity solutions to deliver privacy safe and engaging experiences, in an evolving data landscape. The study highlights the changing ground rules for digital marketing and the threat that poses to marketers’ ability to deliver against long standing KPIs and campaign goals. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents said that the forces of data deprecation will have a significant (40%) or critical (21%) impact on their marketing strategies over the next two years. Among those surveyed, identity resolution strategies have surfaced as an opportunity to create more powerful customer experiences, with 66% aiming to have it help improve customer trust and implement more ethical data collection and use practices, while nearly 60% believe it will point the way to more effective personalization and data management practices. Although organizations are eager to implement identity resolution strategies, a complex web of solutions and partners makes execution a challenge. For example, respondents report using at least eight identity solutions on average, across nearly six vendor partners, and they expect that fragmentation to persist in the ‘cookieless’ future. Additionally, brands’ identity resolution technologies typically represent a patchwork of homegrown and commercial solutions. Eighty-one percent of respondents use both in-house and commercial identity resolution tools today, and 47% use a near-equal blend of the two. Despite the challenges, many brands have the foundation for a strong identity resolution strategy in place, and they are thriving as a result. Specifically, more mature brands were 79% more successful at improving privacy safeguards to reduce regulatory and compliance risk, 247% more successful at improving marketing ROI, and over four times more effective at improving customer trust compared to their low-maturity peers. Additional insights include: Marketers Are Increasingly Playing a Key Strategic Role Within the Organization, But There is a Mandate to Demonstrate Value. Nearly three-quarters of respondents in our study agree the marketing function is more strategically important to their organization than it used to be, while almost two-thirds agree there’s more pressure than ever to prove the ROI or business performance of their activities. Consumers Expect Brands to Deliver Engaging Experiences Across Highly Fragmented Journeys: Tapad, a part of Experian found that 72% of respondents agree that customers demand more relevant, personalized experiences at the time and place of their choosing. At the same time, 67% of respondents recognize that customer purchase journeys take place over more touchpoints and channels than ever, and 59% of respondents agree that those journeys are less predictable and linear than they once were. Marketing Runs on Data, But the Rules Governing Customer Data Usage are Ever-Evolving: According to the study, 70% of decision-makers agree that consumer data is the lifeblood of their marketing strategies – fueling the personalized, omnichannel experiences customers demand. At the same time, 69% of respondents recognize that customers are increasingly aware of how their data is being used. At least two-thirds agree that data deprecation, including tighter restrictions on data use (66%), as well as operating system and browser changes impacting third-party cookies (68%) means that legacy marketing strategies are unlikely to remain viable in the long-term.“ Our latest survey findings give us a better understanding of how our customers and other companies around the world are trying to master the relationship between people, their data and their devices,” said Mark Connon, General Manager at Tapad, a part of Experian. “This research shows why it's fundamental for the industry to continuously work to develop solutions that are agnostic. Tapad, a part of Experian has worked tirelessly to deliver on this with our Tapad Graph, and by introducing solutions like Switchboard to help the evolving ecosystem and in turn helping customers reap the benefits of better identity in both short and long-term.” The study is founded on an online survey of over 300 decision-makers at global brands and agencies, which was fielded from March to April, 2021. Data deprecation and identity are fast-developing, moving targets, so this study delivers targeted insights and recommendations for how to prepare for coming shifts in customer data strategies – whether they manifest tomorrow or a year from now. Get in touch
Third-party cookies have been a crucial component in people-based advertising and digital identity. With Google's recent announcement of delaying third-party cookie deprecation to 2024, the industry has more time to rethink how to effectively identify and communicate with consumers when the time comes. Preparing for cookie deprecation Solving for the post-cookie world is mission critical, particularly as consumer expectation for a relevant digital experience is heightened. We’ve seen a number of industry participants, including brands, publishers, data providers and technology platforms, work around the clock to find an alternative to third-party cookies—one that amasses the same scale and reach but also maintains consumer privacy. In fact, industry insights echo that sentiment. According to a white paper from Winterberry Group, Collaborative Data Solutions: The Evolution of Identity in a Privacy-First, Post-Cookie World, sponsored in part by Experian, one of the most frequently heard comments was the urgency for the industry to develop post-cookie, privacy compliant solutions that work in a more integrated manner. And if there was one overarching position regarding the research into the future of identity, it’s that collaboration is key. Participants in the white paper expressed that with the elimination of third-party cookies, there will be a surge in collaborative solutions across and within companies to accommodate changes in the digital marketplace. Collaborative data solutions must move beyond new post-cookie identity replacements and encompass more holistic approaches, including first-party data. First-party data sharing Currently, 64.3 percent of organizations in the US collaborate with other organizations to share first-party data for insights, activation, measurement or attribution, and 16.7 percent in the U.S. have plans to. Virtually all US companies surveyed were aware of the option to collaborate with other organizations and expressed openness to discussions around sharing first-party data. What is the solution to third-party cookie deprecation? The deprecation of third-party cookies is creating a shock in the marketing and advertising world because there has been an over-dependence on one type of identifier. Therefore, the solution to identify consumers across the digital ecosystem will not come from a single replacement for third-party cookies. Instead, it will rely on a combination of solutions, including collaborative data between organizations and implementation of proprietary first-party data strategies, as well as a framework that can connect all these touchpoints together. Experian can help you navigate the cookieless future Experian is focused on building a more effective advertising ecosystem that promotes the interoperability of digital touchpoints while enabling and fostering new innovations in a privacy forward way. Contact us today and get started with building connected identity in the ever-changing data landscape. To learn more, watch the recording of our webinar with The Vitamin Shoppe where we discuss identity and how you can drive more addressable audience strategies amidst diminishing data signals. Get in touch
As today’s digital landscape gets more and more complicated there are more ways for brands to connect with users and drive purchases and more ways for ad tech to target and measure those touch points. As in-person shopping picks up steam due to the re-normalization of society post-COVID 19; the connection between digital ads and in-person purchases needs to be made once again. With the rise of Connected TV throughout the pandemic there are even more digital opportunities to target a user. But how do you make sure that those brand engagements are captured and correctly attributed to offline purchases and conversions? The answer lies in a holistic identity resolution strategy. Cross-device identity resolution with The Tapad Graph connects the identifiers and devices of individuals within a household to each other; enabling targeting, frequency capping, extension, segmentation and measurement or attribution between devices; including Connected TV and hashed (privacy-protected) email addresses along with Cookies, Mobile Ad Ids and IP Address. Brands can join their first-party data to The Tapad Graph to execute strategies that connect online and offline data for pre, mid and post-campaign efficiencies. Let’s imagine a scenario in which an outdoor retail brand is targeting users watching specific content on a Connected TV device. Powered by identity resolution, they start with a general ad on CTV and continue targeting down individual paths with each user. When one of them converts in store and makes a purchase; the outdoor retailer can connect that action through location and in-store traffic data with the cross-device identity resolution used to execute the digital campaign. Now the actions of the user online and offline are resolved for more accurate measurement and attribution after the campaign ends. But it doesn’t stop there– the brand's CRM data can be reactivated for the next digital campaign and leveraged to capitalize on the most effective media mix for the user who made the purchase previously. These combined insights can be invaluable in shaping up future campaign strategies with geo-contextual ads, recommended additional products and personalization to help drive more conversions and purchases in-store or online. As in-person shopping picks back up and marketers are tasked once again with balancing online and in-store KPIs, the right identity resolution strategy can unlock necessary efficiencies for retailers, ad tech vendors and agencies tasked with supporting these initiatives. Get in touch