At A Glance
Experian and Index Exchange give media buyers a more connected and simplified way to put audience intelligence to work. Through Index Marketplaces, buyers can access ready-to-activate Experian Audiences or Curated Deals through existing buying workflows while gaining greater visibility into audience, inventory, and campaign performance.Key takeaways
- Index Marketplaces brings audience data closer to media supply by applying audience data on the sell side before the buyer’s DSP receives the bid opportunity.
- Media buyers can activate Experian data through ready-to-activate Experian Audiences or Experian Curated Deals.
- Buyers can combine Experian Audiences with contextual or attention signals based on their campaign goals.
- Experian Curated Deals package audience data and curated inventory into a single deal ID, simplifying setup and fee reconciliation.
- Impression-level reporting can help buyers examine audience selection, inventory, and campaign performance in greater detail and apply those learnings to future campaigns.
Media buyers often select an audience in one system, buy media in another, and reconcile the two after a campaign. Experian and Index Exchange have worked to close that gap. During a Cannes Lions conversation with Paul Zovighian, Vice President of Marketplaces at Index Exchange, we discussed how Index Marketplaces brings audience data closer to media supply and gives buyers more visibility into each activation.
Why fragmented activation creates extra work
US programmatic ad spending will top $200 billion in 2026, and automated buys now often transact through direct deals rather than the open exchange. Programmatic buying gives media buyers broad choice, but each new data source can add setup, maintenance, and reporting work. Buyers often select audience data in one system and buy media in another, making it hard to connect audience intent, inventory, and campaign performance. That creates extra work around a basic question: did the campaign reach the intended audience in the intended media environments, and how did it perform?
What buyers need
For buyers, a useful marketplace starts with three principles: flexibility, customization, and control. Buyers need the freedom to select and combine the options that match each campaign’s goal. Data providers need clear control over how their offerings appear. A fourth principle, interoperability, connects the first three by helping those offerings work across platforms and channels.
Index Marketplaces adheres to these principles by applying audience data on the sell side before the buyer’s demand-side platform (DSP) receives the bid opportunity. Buyers can then use the audience and supply signals through their existing buying workflow.
“Flexibility, customization, control. If you’ve got those three things together, you’re on a good path.”
Index ExchangePaul Zovighian, Vice President of Marketplaces
Designing Index Marketplaces with data providers
Experian has a hand in Index Marketplaces from the start. Index Exchange works with Experian on both ends of the platform: how providers configure and offer their data, and how partners discover, evaluate, and activate it.
Segment discovery and expanded segment attributes came out of that work. Together, they give buyers more information about each segment, so it’s easier to find the data that fits a campaign’s goal. Once a provider’s offering is in Index Marketplaces, media buyers and Marketplace partners can reach it through the programmatic workflows they already use.
“We designed the platform from day one with our partners like Experian. The platform can only succeed if we’re able to help other companies push the envelope on their solutions.”
Index ExchangePaul Zovighian, VP of Marketplaces
Two ways to activate Experian Audiences through Index Marketplaces
Media buyers can activate Experian data through Index Marketplaces in two ways, based on the level of customization they need.
How buyers can combine signals around a campaign goal
Media buyers can start with a campaign goal, then select the audience, contextual, or attention signals that support it. A buyer could pair an Experian Audience with a contextual or attention signal through Index Marketplaces, creating a more customized approach to identifying the impressions that matter for a campaign.
Index Marketplaces gives buyers a consistent activation workflow across supported channels, including web display and video, mobile app, native, and connected TV.
“It’s the sum of the ingredients that are going to really matter. It’s not one solution in a vacuum.”
Index ExchangePaul Zovighian, Vice President of Marketplaces
The reporting value: Impression-level visibility
Paul’s standard is blunt: it’s 2026, and aggregate reporting should be the floor, not the ceiling. Impression-level (or log-level) data records what happened on each impression, rather than summarizing at the campaign or channel level. Impression-level visibility can help media buyers examine audience selection, inventory, and campaign performance in greater detail.
The activation record can connect Experian audience data with Index supply, reducing reconciliation work across separate systems.
Marketers still decide whether a campaign met its goal. Impression-level reporting adds a feedback loop: assess, refine, adapt, and carry what you learned into the next campaign. Each activation becomes a stronger foundation for the next, for human teams and AI-driven optimization alike.
“Log-level detail should be an expectation. You don’t need to use it, but if you want it, you should be able to get it. It’s getting a receipt for every transaction.”
Index ExchangePaul Zovighian, Vice President of Marketplaces
What this means for your next campaign
If you’re evaluating where and how to activate audience data, start with four questions:
Experian Audiences, or Curated Deals options, can give media buyers a more connected path from audience selection to activation through Index Marketplaces. Ready to see what your audiences can do on the sell-side?
Connect with us
About our expert
Paul Zovighian, VP of Marketplaces, Index Exchange
Paul brings more than a decade of industry experience spanning analytics, optimization, and corporate development. Now VP, Marketplaces, he leads the commercial activation of Index’s sell-side decisioning platform, Index Marketplaces.
FAQs
Media buyers can activate Experian data through Index Marketplaces using ready-to-activate Experian Audiences, or Experian Curated Deals. Buyers can access these options through their existing buying workflow based on the level of customization they need.
Experian Curated Deals combine Experian Audiences with curated inventory in a single deal ID that buyers can access through Index Marketplaces. This approach packages data and inventory in one activation, simplifying setup and fee reconciliation.
Yes. Media buyers can pair an Experian Audience with contextual or attention signals through Index Marketplaces. Buyers can start with a campaign goal and select the audience, contextual, or attention signals that support it.
Log-level data records what happened on each impression rather than summarizing results at the campaign or channel level. This reporting can help media buyers examine audience selection, inventory, and campaign performance in greater detail.
Experian Audiences, or Curated Deals options give media buyers a more connected path from audience selection to activation through Index Marketplaces. The activation record can connect Experian audience data with Index supply, reducing reconciliation work across separate systems.
Latest posts
Cross-device matching and pixel-based foot traffic attribution reporting empower digital marketers with greater control of location-based campaigns.RALEIGH, N.C. (PRWEB) AUGUST 04, 2020 Tapad, part of Experian a global leader in digital identity resolution, and Reveal Mobile, a leader in location-based marketing, today announced a collaboration that combines Tapad’s digital cross-device matching technology and pixel-based attribution features with Reveal Mobile’s VISIT Local, the software that hundreds of digital agencies and brands use for location-based analytics. The partnership is designed to drive improved performance by optimizing ad targeting and messaging for location-based campaigns. Powered by Tapad’s privacy-safe cross device matching, marketers using VISIT Local to power location-based campaigns can enhance how they reach shoppers. When one member of a household shops for groceries, clothes, household goods or any other consumer item, a conversation between multiple members of the household typically takes place beforehand. With cross device matching, marketers can reach everyone who has influence over what to buy and where to buy it. VISIT Local users can expand location-based services with a single click to include devices that share the same household, including targeting across multiple devices owned by the same user, allowing advertisers to maximize messaging and increase their share of wallet among consumers. “VISIT Local has always given our customers access to high-intent location-based audiences. With the addition of cross device matching from Tapad, advertisers can boost audience sizes up to 300 percent while maintaining full confidence in quality and relevance,” says Brian Handly, CEO of Reveal Mobile. “VISIT Local users can now apply multiple criteria and attributes to a single location-based audience, giving them the advanced control and transparency they need.” As reliable attribution becomes increasingly complex for marketers and ad buyers who need to prove value, the addition of Tapad’s pixel-based foot traffic attribution to VISIT Local enables the measurement of actual campaign effectiveness by tying ad views to in-store foot traffic. This new feature, which will be available in VISIT Local this fall, lets Reveal Mobile customers understand who visited a retail location as a result of being served an ad, providing a more accurate view into return on ad spend during and after advertising campaigns. “Tapad’s goal is to empower marketers with digital advertising efficiencies at scale across devices,” says Mark Connon, COO of Tapad. “With cross device matching and pixel-based foot traffic attribution, marketers using VISIT Local can better address the consumer’s preferences and habits, and deliver them consistently actionable information on user behavior. These capabilities advance location-based advertising in ways marketers need and want.” In addition to these new features, VISIT Local’s location-based audience builder now enables marketers to create custom audiences made up of people who have visited different places on different dates. This gives VISIT Local users the ability to segment and create the most highly targeted audiences possible. For example, a marketer who wants to advertise for a chain of restaurants can easily target visitors of different competitors in different cities. Or a marketer who wants to advertise vacation destinations can target people who have been to various resorts at different times of year. Or a marketer who wants to advertise the release of new music can target people who have been to concert venues in different cities on different dates. “Many of our customers need to create highly custom audiences so they can run experiments, test messaging, and run increasingly competitive campaigns,” says Handly. “Everyone who uses VISIT Local can now apply multiple criteria and attributes to a single location-based audience, giving them the advanced control and transparency they need.”To learn more about Tapad’s digital identity resolution products, visit our identity solution page. To learn more about Reveal Mobile’s location-based marketing offerings, visit http://www.revealmobile.com. About TapadTapad, Inc. is a global leader in digital identity resolution. The Tapad Graph, and its related solutions, provide a transparent, privacy-safe approach connecting brands to consumers through their devices globally. Our one-of-a-kind Graph Select offering enables marketers the flexibility and freedom of choice to correlate devices to varied objectives, driving campaign effectiveness and business results. Tapad is recognized across the industry for its product innovation, workplace culture and talent, and has earned numerous awards including One World Identity’s 2019 Top 100 Influencers in Identity Award. Headquartered in New York, Tapad also has offices in Chicago, London, Oslo, Singapore and Tokyo. About Reveal MobileReveal Mobile is a leader in location-based marketing, analytics, audiences, and attribution. Creator of VISIT Local, VISIT Match and VISIT Data, the company’s products help digital agencies, brands and retailers of any size leverage location data to understand and reach the right audiences. Reveal Mobile is CCPA compliant and a member of the Network Advertising Initiative, which conducts an annual privacy certification. The company is based in Raleigh, NC. For more information, visit https://revealmobile.com. Contact us today
Overview Chartable leverages The Tapad Graph to improve cross-device attribution rates and remove non-addressable IPs for clients. Challenge Chartable needs to differentiate between consumer and potential business IP addresses to provide accurate household modeling and reduce excess data for their customers. Podcasting generally only has access to IP addresses as a form of digital ID which limits its ability to connect activity to individuals and extend it across all devices. The Tapad + Experian solution Using Tapad, now a part of Experian, Chartable is able to cut through the noise of IP data and discard any addresses deemed a shared IP or business. Then, Tapad + Experian connects individual users to their other digital IDs and users in their household; creating a richer attribution model for Chartable customers. Increase in podcast attribution rates Contact us today
With the growth of digital marketing and the targeting capabilities associated with online outreach, many predicted that this would mark the end of direct mail advertising. But if Millennials have anything to say about it, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Yes, believe it or not, Millennials are driving the resurgence of direct mail advertising, and many leading brands are now pivoting their omnichannel marketing plans to include direct mail. And with the USPS reporting more than 75.7 billion in marketing mail volume in 2019, this trend shows no sign of slowing down. Including direct mail in your plans may give your brand a better chance of reaching your audience. Why? 1. Millennials actually like getting mail.While most of us have decried “junk mail” as being environmentally unfriendly or just a pain to deal with, Millennials actually enjoy physical mail. Valassis recently cited research from USPS Customer & Market Insights stating that Millennials spend the most time sorting mail (about six minutes compared to the average, which is four minutes), plus they’re opening mail and reading it (at eight minutes versus the average of seven minutes). Valassis also conducted a study that showed that 68% of Millennials read print ads or inserts from retailers, and 64% prefer getting them through the mail. So, while digital outreach may be convenient, it hasn’t completely decimated the desire for that old-school, hands-on experience of opening and reading something that’s addressed to you. 2. Millennials respond to a multi-channel approach.Oftentimes, marketers think of omnichannel as being a combination of digital and TV, but when you add print into the mix, it can make an even bigger impact on Millennial audiences. Valassis found that 60% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after seeing an ad when it’s presented across both offline and online channels, while 72% of Millennial parents say print ads encourage them to go online and make a purchase from that retailer. 3. Millennials think physical mail makes for a more personal approach.You’d think that e-mail would feel more personal, but with the influx of spam most people get, that’s just not the case. In fact, 67% of people see physical mail as being more personal than an e-mail, with seven out of 10 saying they prefer receiving actual mail over digital mail. And for marketers looking to make a one-to-one connection, this is music to their ears. With changing marketing plans, the mailbox has less competition than the inbox. Getting a catalog at their door with the perfect offer at the perfect time helps the marketer make the direct connection. 4. Direct mail lasts longer than digital mail.That may seem like an obvious statement, but there’s more to it than you think. When an e-mail arrives in someone’s inbox, it’s easy to ignore it, read the subject line and forget about it, or even just randomly delete it, if spam filters don’t take care of that on their own. But the average lifespan of a piece of direct mail is 17 days, which may account for how direct mail generates purchases five times larger than e-mail campaigns. It’s harder to ignore when it’s in your house and you have to physically handle it as opposed to just clicking a mouse to get rid of it. 5. Millennials trust direct mail.It’s true—research shows that 90% of Millennials think direct mail advertising is reliable. Plus, Millennials are 24% more likely to show mail to others, compared to 19% of non-Millennials… which means if they find a deal they like in the mail, they’re probably going to spread the word. Contact us today