Neutrality in infrastructure: How commerce media networks should evaluate data and identity partners

Key takeaways

• Commerce media networks (CMNs) hit a growth ceiling when on-site inventory caps out and first-party data only reaches known shoppers.
• Building identity infrastructure in-house can take a year or more before a network has a new audience product to sell.
• Three tests reveal real neutrality in a data partner: revenue source, representation on both sides of a deal, and identifier portability.
• Experian’s neutral infrastructure layer connects identity, activation, and measurement for commerce media networks without competing for advertiser spend.

Most conversations I have with commerce media network leaders open the same way. The advertiser demand is there, the first-party data is there, and a shortlist of three vendors all describe what they do in language that sounds interchangeable. Choosing between them is harder than it should be.

A constraint sits under that shortlist. On-site inventory runs out, first-party data reaches known shoppers and stops there, and advertisers keep asking for proof of incremental outcomes. Growing past all three takes capabilities the network doesn’t own, which makes the partner decision one of the more consequential calls these teams will make this year.

Most networks get sold a construction project

The pitches converge on roughly the same ideas. A network licenses an identity graph, adopts a platform, or takes delivery of components its own engineers assemble into something advertisers want to buy, sometime over the next several quarters. A few of the largest networks have the engineering team and patience for that.

Most do not. Commerce media operations already stretch across e-commerce, merchandising, analytics, legal, and privacy, with audience definitions that drift between teams and workflows that break at the handoffs. The networks taking on these build projects have the least resources and bandwidth to absorb them. I’ve watched networks buy an identity capability and go a full year before they had a single new audience product to sell.

What a network needs on day one is their customer data enriched, identities unified, the activation paths connected, and the measurement loop closed.

Your identity layer shouldn’t become someone else’s ecosystem

The second challenge is control. A media network’s customer data is its one unique asset, and the identity infrastructure decides how far that asset travels. A commerce media network should own its customer intelligence and use identity infrastructure that expands where that intelligence can go.

Identity should make that intelligence more useful and not make you dependent on someone else’s ecosystem. That means retaining control of customer data and choosing infrastructure that can connect it across partners, platforms, activation environments, and measurement providers.

For commerce media networks, independence is commercial infrastructure. Your identity layer should expand your options, not limit them.

Three tests separate structural neutrality from the claim

Independence costs nothing to assert. These three are harder to fake:

Experian clears all three because of how our business is built. We sell no media, own no supply, and represent no buyer, so the incentive to steer a media network’s spend never exists in the first place.

What Experian’s infrastructure layer delivers for commerce media networks

Many clients own their onboarding, data platforms, and clean room relationships, and our work improves the data entering those workflows. Match rates rise, addressable audiences expand, and the existing investment gets more productive.

Choose the infrastructure layer with no stake in your outcome

Run the three tests on every partner currently holding your identity, activation, or measurement. The answers will tell you how much of your business you’ve already made visible to someone who can act on it.

Experian serves as the neutral infrastructure layer for commerce media networks, connecting first-party data, identity, activation, and measurement while competing for none of your advertiser revenue. Bring us your current stack, your match rates, and the advertiser demand you turn away today, and we’ll map which layers close the gap and what that growth is worth.

Watch the conversation

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About the author

Kevin Dunn

Chief Revenue Officer, Experian

Kevin Dunn joins Experian Marketing Services with more than 20 years of leadership experience across marketing and advertising technology, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Brands and Agencies at LiveRamp. In that role, he led growth across retail, CPG, travel, hospitality, financial services, and healthcare, overseeing new business, account expansion, and channel partnerships.

Kevin is known for building cohesive, accountable teams and leading with optimism, clarity, and a strong sense of shared purpose. His leadership philosophy centers on empowering people, driving positive outcomes for clients and fostering a culture where teams can grow, take smart risks, and succeed together.

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