Originally appeared on Total Retail
Retail media networks (RMNs) continue to demonstrate how they can be a powerful monetization driver for retailers, creating a win-win-win for everyone involved. Retailers can monetize their valuable first-party data as well as their online and in-store inventory, while customers benefit from timely, relevant content that enhances their shopping experience. At the same time, advertisers can reach highly targeted audiences at critical moments near the point of purchase
Achieving this type of success requires overcoming challenges around fragmented and incomplete first-party data, which can limit a retailer’s ability to organize and use their data effectively. Additionally, many RMNs lack the analytical capacity to generate customer insights, build addressable audiences, and accurately measure success. To realize the full potential of their platforms, RMNs need partners that provide complementary data, strong identity solutions, and the expertise to transform insights into actionable strategies. This allows RMNs to drive winning outcomes for themselves, marketers, and their customers.
Here are the five steps an RMN should consider when selecting the right partner.
1. Build an identity foundation
First, the right partner needs to be able to organize and clean customer data. Given the millions of customer records and data points that a retailer has, RMNs need to make sure their data is highly usable. Whether it is a known customer record or an unknown customer with incomplete data, partners should fill in missing information and connect fragmented customer records to a single profile. For example, RMNs need to know that a purchase made in-store is by the same customer who bought online. The best partners will then organize those profiles into households since targeting (and purchasing) is often done at the household level. Without a strong identity foundation future steps of segmentation, insights, audience creation, and activation will not be successful.
Experian identity
Experian’s identity solutions provide RMNs with a comprehensive and accurate view of their customers across both offline and digital environments. We clean an RMN’s first-party data and organize their customer records into households since targeting is often done at the household level and purchases are made at the household level.
Using Experian’s Offline and Digital Graphs we work with the RMN to fill in the missing information they have on their customers (e.g. name, address, phone number or digital IDs like hashed emails, mobile ad IDs, CTV IDs, Universal IDs like UID2 or ID5 IDs). This ensures that the retailers’ entire customer base can be reached – and measured – across devices and channels.
2. Segment your customers
An RMN’s ability to segment its customer base and derive insights depends on the availability and usability of their data assets – not to mention some serious analytical chops. Some RMNs will split their customers into different product segments based on what’s relevant to an advertiser. For example, a home improvement retailer may segment customers by who is buying DIY supplies versus improvement services. Other RMNs may develop custom segments from their customer data and third-party data sources, so that advertisers can personalize their marketing based on life stage, age, income level, geography, and other factors. Either approach is effective but requires working with a partner who has high quality data and deep analytical expertise to develop those segments.
Segment with Experian
Experian Marketing Data helps an RMN learn about their customer beyond their first-party data. With access to 5,000 marketing attributes, RMNs can fill in the holes in their understanding of a customer. We provide them with demographic, geographic, finance, home purchase, interests and behaviors, lifestyle, auto data and more. RMNs can use this enriched data set to create addressable audience segments.
3. Generate actionable insights about these segments
Once the RMN determines how they will segment their customers, they can utilize demographic, attitudinal, interest, and behavioral data from a trusted partner to develop a customer profile that compares its customers against a relevant sample of consumers. Here, the RMN will gain insight that will help them answer questions about its customers. Examples include:
- What age and income groups are more likely to purchase my product?
- What is the current life stage of my customers – do they have children, are they married, are they empty-nesters?
- Is price or quality more important to customers in their decision-making process?
- What sort of activities do my customers enjoy?
- How frequently do my customers shop for similar merchandise?
- What media channels do my customers use to get their information?
Expanded insights with Experian
With Experian’s advanced customer profiling, RMNs can go beyond basic customer segmentation. We build detailed customer profiles by utilizing accurate, attribute-rich consumer data, so RMNs can gain a more comprehensive understanding of their customer’s preferences, life stages, and purchasing behaviors. Having this insight enables the RMN to:
- Design a targeted email campaign promoting home essentials to recently married new homeowners.
- Develop a social media post announcing the opening of a new hardware store to users within a specific location interested in do-it-yourself products.
- Create brochures and flyers at a local community event tailored towards parents with small children that promote equipment for youth sports leagues.
4. Create high quality lookalike audiences
The RMN now knows what distinguishes their customers from other consumers and can create audiences that enable advertisers to run personalized marketing campaigns at scale. RMNs can do this in several different ways:
- Work with a data provider who can create custom audiences for the RMN (e.g., Ages 40-49 and Leisure Travelers and past purchase of travel item)
These custom audiences are created by joining multiple first- and third-party data attributes found to be significant in the customer profile or using machine learning techniques to develop a custom audience unique to the advertiser.
Custom audiences with Experian
With an enriched understanding of their customers, RMNs can create addressable custom audience segments, including lookalike audiences, for advertisers.
5. Expand addressability of audiences and activate on multiple destinations
Once audiences are created, RMNs will want to increase a marketer’s reach across on-site and off-site channels. With the right identity graph partner, an RMN can add digital identifiers to customer records that enable activation across media channels, including programmatic display, connected television (CTV), or social. RMNs should work with identity providers that are not reliant on third-party cookies. They should select partners that offer more stable digital IDs in their graph like mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), hashed emails (HEMs), CTV IDs, and universal IDs like Unified I.D. 2.0 (UID2).
Experian powers data-driven advertising through connectivity
Using Experian’s Digital Graph, RMNs expand the addressability of their audiences by assigning digital identifiers to customer records. Marketers will be able to reach an RMNs customers onsite as well as offsite since Experian provides several addressable IDs.
Audiences can be activated across an RMNs owned and operated platform as well as extended programmatically to TV and the open web through Experian’s integrations across the ecosystem.
Maximize your RMN’s revenue potential with Experian
Organizing customer data, segmenting customers, generating insights, creating addressable audiences, and activating campaigns are all critical steps for an RMN to realize that revenue potential. RMNs should select a partner that provides the data, identity, and analytical resources to create the winning formula for marketers, customers, and retailers.
Experian’s data and identity solutions are designed to help RMNs maximize their revenue potential.
Reach out to our team to discover how we can support your path to RMN success.
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With over one billion shoppers eagerly preparing to shop for gifts, decorations, and seasonal essentials, now is the perfect time to refine your marketing tactics and connect with these shoppers. With holiday retail sales set to reach $1.37 trillion, it’s time to unwrap holiday spending insights to ensure that your holiday advertising campaigns light up the festive season. The holiday shopping frenzy offers marketers and retailers a chance to capture attention, drive sales, and build lasting customer relationships. In this blog post, we’ll reveal holiday shopping audiences, including 19 new audiences, designed for you to reach the most relevant shoppers for your campaigns. These audiences are available for activation on-the-shelf of most major ad platforms, including TV and programmatic. You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix. 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report Download our latest report for data-driven insights you can use to refine your messaging and reach the right audience in their preferred channels this holiday season. Download now 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. Download our 2024 holiday shopping report Holiday shopping styles It's important to understand how your holiday shopper “shops,” with individual shopping styles varying from a last-minute dash to the store to the one-stop shopper. One in three consumers anticipate beginning their holiday shopping before October this year, with Millennials and Gen Xers being the most proactive, due to concerns about items running out of stock. In contrast, 42% of Boomers are generally less inclined to shop early, wanting to start their holiday shopping in November or December. All generations are motivated to shop early by discounts.1 By choosing and activating the right audience segments, you can deliver messages that resonate with the consumer's preferred shopping style, ensuring your holiday campaign will align with their shopping preferences and behaviors. Here are five audiences that you can activate based on shopping style: Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers One Stop Holiday Shoppers/Power Shoppers: In-Store or Online Impulse Buyers eCommerce Diehards Brick & Mortar Diehards Discount-seeking shoppers The holiday season is a time of giving, but also saving! Consumers are driven to shop early by discounts and early sales — 52% of consumers said discounts are their biggest motivator to shop early. Price is another crucial factor — 47% of consumers said price is the most important factor when deciding where to shop during the holiday season. Major holiday shopping events, such as Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, are expected to attract a significant portion of consumers this upcoming year.2 Here are eight audiences you can activate to reach discount-seeking shoppers: NEW! Discount Holiday Shoppers NEW! Cyber Monday Holiday Shoppers NEW! Black Friday Holiday Shoppers NEW! Big Box/Club Stores Holiday Shoppers NEW! Online Coupon Users TrueTouch: Online Coupon Site Department Store Deal Shoppers: In-Store or Online Post Holiday Shoppers Gift givers Holiday shoppers are torn between saving and splurging. Nearly a third of consumers anticipate spending more on holiday shopping this year, while the same number of consumers say they’ll be spending less. Boomers anticipate spending the most on gift cards, Gen Z on clothing, and Millennials on toys, electronics, and experiences.3 Given holiday shoppers' varied spending habits, it's important to target the right audience segments to maximize your impact. Targeting specific audience segments allows advertisers to better reach those most interested in their products. Here are six audiences you can activate to target gift givers: NEW! Luxury Gift Shoppers NEW! Holiday Shopping High Spenders NEW! Holiday Shopping Moderate Spenders NEW! Holiday Charitable Donations High Spend Gift Shoppers Heavy Buyer/Spenders Holiday Shoppers: In-Store or Online Holiday travelers In 2023, nearly three million travelers passed through airports on the Sunday after Thanksgiving alone. Take advantage of the busy travel season with our audience segments. By targeting specific travel preferences and behaviors, you can capture the attention of individuals planning trips this holiday season. Here are seven audiences to tailor your campaign according to travel preferences: NEW! Holiday International Travelers NEW! Holiday Travel-Train NEW! Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Domestic Trips Air Travel (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly)4 Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Frequent Spenders Hotels: Frequent Spend When you work with Experian, you work with a single data provider that gives you access to audiences across multiple verticals and categories, such as travel and retail. Targeted advertising this holiday season with Experian audiences The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for advertisers. Experian's data, ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, allows advertisers to reach people based on demographic, geographic, and behavioral attributes (e.g. websites visited and purchase history). 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, with the right strategy, your holiday advertising campaigns can capture the right shoppers this holiday season. 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. Additionally, work with Experian’s network of data providers to build audiences and send to an Audigent PMP for activation. Connect with our audience team You can activate our syndicated audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide. Explore our other seasonal audiences that you can activate today. View now Download our 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report This holiday season is about more than just transactions – it’s about cultivating meaningful connections with your audience. Download our 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report, in collaboration with GroundTruth, to access all of our predictions for this year’s holiday season. Download now Contact us Footnotes Online survey conducted in June, 2024 among n=1,000 U.S. adults 18+. Sample balanced to look like the general population on key demographics (age, gender, household income, ethnicity, and region). n = 204 Gen Z, n = 234 Millennials, n = 270 Gen X, n = 272 Baby Boomers. Online survey. Online survey. “Fair Lending Friendly” indicates data fields that Experian has made available without use of certain demographic attributes that may increase the likelihood of discriminatory practices prohibited by the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”). These excluded attributes include, but may not be limited to, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, disability, handicap, family status, ancestry, sexual orientation, unfavorable military discharge, and gender. Experian’s provision of Fair Lending Friendly indicators does not constitute legal advice or otherwise assures your compliance with the FHA, ECOA, or any other applicable laws. Clients should seek legal advice with respect to your use of data in connection with lending decisions or application and compliance with applicable laws. Appendix Here are the complete audience segment names (taxonomy paths) for all audience segments discussed in this blog post. Holiday shopping styles Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: One Stop Holiday Shoppers/Power Shoppers: In-Store Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: One Stop Holiday Shoppers/Power Shoppers: Online TrueTouch: Communication Preferences > Purchase Behavior > Impulse buyers Retail Shoppers: Purchase behavior > Shopping Behavior > In-Store vs. Online: eCommerce Diehards Retail Shoppers: Purchase behavior > Shopping Behavior > In-Store vs. Online: Brick & Mortar Diehards Discount-seeking shoppers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Cyber Monday NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Black Friday NEW! Retail Shopper: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Big Box/Club Stores Shoppers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based >> Discount Holiday Shoppers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Shopping Behavior > Online Coupon Users TrueTouch: Communication Preferences> Purchase Behavior > Online Coupon Site Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Shopping Behavior > Department Store Deal Shoppers Online Spenders Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Shopping Behavior > Department Store Deal Shoppers In-Store Spenders Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Post holiday Gift givers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Luxury Gift Shoppers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: High Spenders NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Moderate Spenders NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Charitable Donations Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Shopping Behavior > Gift Shoppers High Spend Spenders Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Heavy Buyer/Spenders: Online Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Heavy Buyer/Spenders: In Store Holiday travelers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday International Travelers NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal> Holiday Travel-Train NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Domestic Trips Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Travelers > Air Travel (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly) Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Frequent Spenders Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Hotels: Frequent Spend Latest posts
In our Ask the Expert Series, we interview leaders from our partner organizations who are helping to lead their brands to new heights in ad tech. Today’s interview is with Jordan Feivelson, VP, Digital Audiences at Webbula. Jordan is a 22-year advertising industry veteran who has worked for media properties such as WebMD and Disney. Over the past ten years, he has transitioned to the data and programmatic space, including growing the data business for Kantar Shopcom and Adstra. What types of advertisers might benefit from utilizing Webbula audiences across various verticals? Can you provide examples of how different industries successfully leverage your data to achieve specific campaign goals? Most advertisers can leverage Webbula’s award-winning attributes for their activation initiatives. Webbula offers approximately 3,000 syndicated segments covering categories such as Demographics, Automotive, Political, Mortgage, B2B, Hobby/Interest/Lifestyle, and Interests & Brand Preferences (brand name targeting). Audience insights and marketing strategies What specific types of audience segments does Webbula provide? How can advertisers leverage these segments to craft more effective, personalized marketing strategies? Webbula has incredible depth and breadth within its verticals, giving marketers the tools to deliver targeted messaging effectively. Our Demographic, B2B, Mortgage, Automotive, and Interest and Brand Preferences segments each contain 500-1,000 segments, all built on deterministic, self-reported, and individually linked data. We ensure the best accuracy with multiple deterministic data points tied to the real world (ex., first name, last name, postal address, and email address). Some examples of our unique syndicated audience types: B2B: A view of the latest industry trends with detailed cuts of the professional world, such as companies with and not within the Fortune 500 companies and job positions that are directors and below. This also includes custom capabilities, including ABM (list of target companies in an activation campaign or by industry code (ex. NAICS, SIC). Interest and Brand Preferences: Consumers who have shown interest and affinity to hundreds of brands (ex., Nike), genres (ex., comedy, hip hop), sports teams, and more. Mortgage: A detailed view of homebuyers’ purchase range, loan type (ex. jumbo loan, standard loan), mortgage amount, interest rate, and more. With Webbula’s audience data, brands can create a comprehensive picture of their audiences down to the individual level and reach them accurately. Data quality, sourcing, and differentiation How is consumer data sourced and curated at Webbula? Are there data quality standards that Webbula establishes for consumer data, and how do you ensure your sources and methods meet these standards consistently? Webbula’s data is aggregated from over 110 trusted and authenticated sources, including publishers, data partners, social media, and more. The data collected comes directly from consumers who self-report information through surveys and other methods. We apply our hygiene filters to mitigate fraud and accurately score the data. Data Collection: The data collected comes directly from consumers who self-report information through surveys, questionnaires, transactions, and sign-ups. This ensures that brands display ads to audiences based on self-identified, cross-channel behaviors, not modeled assumptions. Hygiene Solutions: Webbula applies multi-method hygiene solutions to mitigate fraud and accurately score the data before onboarding, ensuring that all data meets the highest quality standards. Examples of Data Sources: Questionnaires: Self-reported data through surveys, offer submissions, and telemarketing. Transactions: Deterministic data from aftermarket parts, online purchases or services, and more. Sign-ups: Individually linked data from information entered through sweepstakes, infomercials, newsletters, and forms. What differentiates Webbula's data from other data providers in the market? Can you explain the unique value proposition that Webbula offers in terms of data depth and breadth? Due to our extensive experience in data cleansing, we provide the most accurate data within the programmatic ecosystem. TruthSet, the leading programmatic accuracy measurement company, has ranked Webbula as having the highest number of top attributes compared to other data providers with 150M+ HEMs. Additionally, Publicis Groupe and Neutronian further validate Webbula's data quality, underscoring its position as a leader in the industry. Webbula's data stands out in the market due to its unmatched accuracy and quality, achieved through years of expertise in data cleansing. Unlike other providers, Webbula’s foundation lies in its robust email hygiene process, ensuring that all data entering the programmatic ecosystem is thoroughly cleansed. Privacy, compliance, and future-proofing What measures does Webbula take to maintain data privacy and compliance? How do these efforts benefit advertisers in an evolving regulatory landscape and ensure ethical standards? Webbula was created over a decade ago with a future-proof, privacy-compliant foundation. We understand the industry’s rapid changes, including government and state legislation and cookie depreciation. Our goal has always been to build long-term partnerships and ensure we are prepared for industry changes. We rely on validated offline data sources, making us resilient to external influences. Success stories Can you share success stories where advertisers saw significant campaign improvements using Webbula’s data? What were the key factors that contributed to these successes? Our success is measured by client feedback and increased client spend. Webbula has helped several key advertisers achieve six-figure monthly thresholds by providing the most accurate data to meet campaign KPIs. Clients consistently return to use our data, validating our belief that “the proof is in the pudding.” Thanks for the interview. Any recommendations for our readers if they want to learn more? For those interested in learning more about Webbula, reach out for a personalized consultation. Contact us Latest posts
This holiday shopping season, marketers will look to take advantage of the surge in spending across channels like connected TV (CTV), programmatic, and mobile. Despite challenges such as privacy regulations and Google's new cookie deprecation plan, this moment presents a unique opportunity for marketers to reshape their traditional approaches to consumer engagement and capitalize on these changes. As we approach the holiday season, understanding how consumers spend, where they shop, and how their shopping habits are changing are key components to consider when crafting your holiday advertising campaigns. Our 2024 Holiday spending trends and insights report utilizes our expertise in data and insights to highlight emerging consumer behaviors and spending patterns. In our report, we share what these trends mean for marketers and how Experian can help, so you can refine your messaging and target the right audience through the best channels. Download our 2024 report In this blog post, we cover three insights from our report. Watch our video for a recap below. 1. Consumers are shopping evenly throughout the holiday season 35% of holiday shopping was done in December, peaking at 9% of total holiday sales the week before Christmas. Cyber Week, the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, and the week before Christmas brought the highest weekly sales for the past two holiday seasons. What this means for marketers Prepare for an extended promotional period. Schedule your marketing campaigns and sales initiatives to maximize impact during the extended season, focusing on the peaks of Cyber Week and the week before Christmas. How Experian can help you target these shoppers Experian's data, ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, offers advertisers the ability to reach people based on demographic, geographic, and behavioral attributes (e.g. websites visited and purchase history). Our audiences are available on-the-shelf of most major platforms, making it easy for you to activate and target holiday shoppers. We recently released 19 new holiday-focused audience segments. Here are a few you can activate: Black Friday Shoppers Cyber Monday Shoppers Big Box/Club Store Shoppers Luxury Gift Shoppers Discount Holiday Shoppers Holiday Airline Travel 2. Online shopping is leveling out Online holiday spending continues to remain around a third of all holiday shopping spending. We are starting to see online shopping slow and level out – people are going back in-store. The high amount of online shopping we saw during the pandemic is starting to return to pre-pandemic behaviors. Consumers are spending more in-store at department and discount stores but are shopping online for office/electronics/games, mass retailers, and apparel. 84% of holiday shopping was done in-store for discount stores. 79% of holiday shopping was done in-store for department stores. 64% of holiday shopping was done online for office, electronics, and games stores. What this means for marketers Digital and physical experiences work together. Retailers should have a multi-channel plan to reach consumers, tailoring their approach to their target audience and product and creating engaging in-store experiences to drive visitors. How Experian can help you target and measure across channels We connect online and offline data to enable precise targeting and measurement of marketing efforts across multiple channels. Read our case study with Cuebiq to learn how they used our Activity Feed solution to deliver in-store lift analyses to their clients. 3. CTV is the top channel to reach consumers Over two-thirds of the U.S. population now use CTV, and the average time spent among adults is expected to surpass two hours per day in 2024. CTV offers a creative ad experience similar to its linear counterpart but provides more sophisticated targeting and analytics capabilities. What this means for marketers As CTV viewing continues to dominate, the importance of cross-device targeting and measurement increases. How Experian can help you reach shoppers across devices Later this year, we’ll add support for IPv6 in our Digital Graph as well as phone-based UID2s. This is in addition to our current coverage of IPv4 and email-based UID2s. As a result, all IP signals and UID2s will be resolved back to Experian’s household and individual profiles and their associated devices, which means marketers and platforms can better understand the full customer journey and reach people across their devices. Download our 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report This holiday season is about more than just transactions – it’s about cultivating meaningful connections with your audience. Download our 2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report, in collaboration with GroundTruth, to access all of our predictions for this year's holiday season. Download now When you work with Experian for your holiday shopping campaigns, you're getting: Accurate consumer insights: Better understand your customers' behavioral and demographic attributes with our #1 ranked data covering the full U.S. population. Signal-agnostic identity solutions: Our deep understanding of people in the offline and digital worlds provides you a persistent linkage of personally identifiable information (PII) data and digital IDs, ensuring you accurate cross-device targeting, addressability and measurement. Secure connectivity: Bring data and identity to life in a way that meets your needs by securely sharing data between partners, utilizing the integrations we have across the ecosystem, and using our marketing data in flexible ways. Make the most of this holiday shopping season with Experian. Contact us today to get started. Contact us Latest posts