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Start the year off right with our top 10 audiences to target in Q1

by Lucy Simmonds, Content Marketing Specialist 5 min read December 11, 2024

Kick start Q1 with Experian's top 10 must-target audiences

At Experian, we understand the importance of audience targeting when it comes to crafting a successful marketing campaign. 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 and improved audience segments we recommend for Q1 campaigns

Q1 is the ultimate season for TV, with the NFL playoffs, Super Bowl, College Football playoffs, award shows and so much more capturing viewers’ attention. That’s why we’re excited to introduce 14 new and 8 updated television audiences. Recently released on major platforms, these new television audiences offer unique opportunities to align your campaign planning with the latest viewer behavior trends.

  • Cable Satellite or Streaming Network Subscribers
  • Satellite Service Subscribers
  • Mutli Brand TV Owners

Seasonal audiences for Q1

New Year’s audiences

As the new year approaches, it’s the ideal moment to connect with consumers inspired by their New Year’s resolutions. In 2024, one-third of U.S. adults set goals for the year, focusing on key areas like healthier living, getting organized, exploring new experiences, and improving financial wellness. Experian’s New Year’s resolution audiences provide valuable insights into these aspirations, allowing you to tailor your messaging and engage with consumers determined to make positive changes in 2025. From promoting healthy lifestyles and travel to supporting organization and financial goals, Experian’s data-driven solutions help you capture these motivated audiences with precisely targeted messaging.

Football audiences

Football season presents an unmatched opportunity for brands to connect with one of the most engaged audiences in the U.S. As in-game ad costs continue to rise and slots fill up quickly, brands are seeking innovative ways to reach passionate football viewers beyond the game. Experian’s specialized football audience segments allow advertisers to engage with fans across categories like NFL stadium visitors, college football enthusiasts, beer drinkers, and dedicated TV viewers, ensuring your brand connects meaningfully with consumers throughout the season.

Financial audiences

With tax season just around the corner, brands have the opportunity to connect with financially engaged audiences in the U.S. Whether your goal is to reach self-starters managing their own returns or high-net-worth individuals seeking advanced tax solutions, Experian can ensure your brand connects meaningfully with the right financial audience at the right time.

Experian’s specialized financial audience segments empower brands to engage with key groups, such as:

  • Tax Return – Self prepare user
  • Tax Return – Online tax software user
  • Tax Return – Professional Service Preparer user
  • Savvy Sounding-Board Seeking Investor
  • Price Sensitive, Self-Directed Investor

Top recommendations for Q1

Based on the top Experian audiences activated in Q1 of 2024, our top 10 list is designed to assist agencies and media buyers plan data-driven advertising campaigns.

Occupation

  • 1) Small Business Owners: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be small business owners.
  • 2) Military – Inactive: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be inactive in the military.
  • 3) Legal/Education and Health Practitioners: This segment contains consumers who are likely to have an occupation in Legal/Education and Health Practitioner.
  • 4) Technical: Computers/Math and Architect/Engineering: This segment contains consumers who are likely to have an occupation in Computers/Math and Architect/Engineering.

Consumer Lifestyles

  • 5) Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Weekend Getaways: This segment contains consumers who are likely high spenders or frequent purchasers of weekend getaway travel.
  • 6) Women’s Sleepwear and Lingerie: High Spenders: This segment contains consumers who are likely high spenders at women’s sleepwear and lingerie stores (e.g., Soma, Victoria’s Secret).
  • 7) Smart Investors: This segment contains consumers who are likely actively seeking out as much information about an investment as possible before committing, shopping around for the best investment deal, and aversion to financial debt.
  • 8) Computers/Software Frequent Spenders: This segment contains consumers who are likely frequent spenders of computer software.

Life Events

  • 9) New Movers: High Spenders: This segment contains consumers who are likely new mover high spenders.
  • 10) New Parents: Child Aged 0-36 Months: This segment contains consumers who are likely to be new parents for children aged 0-36 months.

You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix.

Activate the right audiences with Experian

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.


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Appendix

Here are the complete audience segment names (taxonomy paths) for all audience segments discussed in this blog post.

TV Audiences

  • Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cable Satellite or Streaming Network Subscribers
  • Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Discount Holiday Shoppers
  • Television (TV) > Brand Owners > Multi Brand TV Owners

Financial Audiences

  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Financial Behavior > Tax Return – Self prepare user
  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Financial Behavior > Online Tax Software user
  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Financial Behavior > Tax Return –Professional Service Prepare user
  • Financial Personalities > Investments Financial Personality > Savvy Sounding-Board Seeking Investor, Average Investable Assets
  • Financial Personalities > Investments Financial Personality > Price Sensitive, Self-Directed Investor, Very High Investable Assets

Occupation

  • Consumer Behaviors > Occupation: Small Business Owners
  • Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Occupation > Military – Inactive
  • Demographics > Occupation > Professional: Legal/Education and Health Practitioners
  • Demographics > Occupation > Technical: Computers/Math and Architect/Engineering

Consumer Lifestyles

  • Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Weekend Getaways
  • Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Apparel > Women’s Apparel (Clothing): Women’s Sleepwear and Lingerie: High Spenders
  • Financial Behavior > Smart Investors
  • Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Technology/Telecom > Computers/Software Frequent Spenders

Life Events

  • Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Shopping Behavior > New Movers: High Spenders
  • Life Events > New Parents > Child Age 0-36 Months

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A deep dive with an Experian partner, ARF

In our Ask the Expert series, we interview leaders from our partner organizations who are helping lead their brands to new heights in AdTech. Today’s interview is with Samantha Zhang, Senior Data Scientist, and Jim Meyer, General Manager of the DASH TV Universe Study at the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). DASH is an annual tracking study conducted by the ARF to define and better understand TV audience behavior and household dynamics. What does DASH measure, and how does it help the industry understand TV consumption today?  By capturing hundreds of individual- and household-level data points from each respondent in a rigorous and nationally projectable sample, DASH creates a comprehensive picture of U.S. consumer TV “infrastructure” – how America watches.  Core elements in DASHElements that create context in DASHTV setsLocation | brand | smartness | service modes | sources DemographicsConnected devices Game consoles |video players | streaming devicesYesterday viewing Daypart | TV/device genre | Out-of-home viewingMobile devicesOwners | sharing usersShoppingOnline and in-store | Exposure to major RMNsInternet serviceModes | ISPs | connectivity by device Streaming audio Streaming TVSVOD/AVOD tiers and sharing | FAST Email accounts and apps Live TV Modes of access | including casting from devices Social media For example, DASH gathers: Data on every TV set, including brand, room location, age, “smartness,” and connection devices and modes  Household connectivity and video service data, even in homes with no TV set Internet Service Providers (ISP) and TV service usage, including Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs), virtual vMVPDs, streamers (ad-supported and premium), and Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) channels  Person-level ownership and usage of video-capable mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops  Measures of viewing and co-viewing across dayparts, devices, and services  Additional modules covering shopping and retail media networks, streaming audio, social media, email, and apps Broad coverage and granularity make DASH a uniquely robust source of truth for practitioners across the industry, including measurement experts and ad programming strategists. DASH also reports regularly (and publicly) on key industry dynamics. DASH identified a growing segment of device-only viewers – now nearly 9 million households that watch TV, but do not own a TV set – and highlighted the implications of that trend for traditional ratings systems based only on households with TV sets.  Households (HHs – million)2025 HHs (M) U.S. penetrationChange vs. 2024 (M)Total US134.8100%+2.7Connected TV (CTV)114.685%+2.1TV (Set)124.292.2%+1.1Device-only8.86.6%+1.6TV-Accessible133.198.7%+2.7 DASH called out the rise in app-based pay TV and proposed a new connection framework that better represents the modern TV world, in which linear and streaming overlap. DASH also defines the universes of households reachable with advertising. This graphic, for example, shows how all ad-supported linear and streaming properties in aggregate define the true scale of TV advertising. While 35 million households (and growing) are reachable only with streaming ads and 13 million (and falling) only with linear ads, most households are reachable with both, underscoring the importance of understanding the “overlap.” Who uses DASH data, and what decisions does it help inform? There are three primary users of DASH, each with its own use cases: Measurement providers, including Nielsen, use DASH to calibrate viewership data, turn household data into persons data (and vice versa) and estimate potential reached audiences–what the providers call media-related universe estimate (MRUEs)–for the calculation of ratings. Not surprisingly, measurement companies were the first to see the value that an independent TV universe study could provide. Media companies, including major broadcasters and streamers, use DASH to add context and color to their ad sales presentations – and to track the measurement providers, whose ratings play a major role in valuing ad inventory. AdTech companies, including Experian, use DASH to create high-value audience segments for activation. The recent accreditation of DASH by the Media Rating Council (MRC) and adoption by Nielsen as an input to its TV ratings have generated interest from a broad range of companies. We are actively pursuing new licensees and partners to make DASH more useful within, and even outside, the TV ecosystem. What does MRC accreditation signify, and why is it meaningful for DASH?  MRC accreditation means DASH passed a rigorous audit conducted by Ernst & Young over many months, which validated our methodology, controls, and data quality. MRC accreditation establishes that DASH is an industry-standard dataset.  While the service provider normally announces its own accreditation, the MRC took the unusual step of issuing its own release on DASH, announcing the accreditation of DASH for TV universe estimation and endorsing the study for broader, cross-media use. How does Experian use DASH data to build audiences?  The segments combine specific TV usage habits and behaviors from DASH with Experian data on demographics, spending, and other contextual inputs to create a fuller view of consumer viewing behavior. They are designed to be valuable to advertisers in many categories and planning contexts – and to be customizable to fit advertisers’ media targets. The segments can be used to: Apply or suppress audiences to improve target coverage across a campaign  Better align media and creative  Reach elusive but high-value viewers, such as Ad Avoiders  Drive valuable consumer behavior  Achieve specific advertising objectives What are some practical use cases for DASH-based audiences?  Here are some practical use cases for four different kinds of DASH segments in five different advertiser categories.  Travel Co-WatchersA couples-only resort uses TV Co-Watching Households without Children to strengthen target reach and ad memory recallA big theme park destination uses TV Co-Watching Households with Children to reach families in moments of togetherness Home Entertainment TV Owners and Brand LoyalistsA premium TV manufacturer uses the overlap of Multi Brand TV Owners and Single Brand TV Loyalist Households to market its newest TV model to its most loyal consumers. Fast Food Screen Size ViewersA fast food chain with a high-impact new brand campaign uses Large Screen TV Viewers to better align the media and  creativeThat same fast food chain uses Small-Screen TV Viewers to drive store traffic by increasing exposure of its retail campaign among on-the-go viewers Financial Services Cord Cutters A personal cost management app and a cash-back credit card target Streaming-First Cord Cutter Households to reach young, tech-savvy, cost-conscious consumers Thanks for the interview. Where can readers learn more about DASH? We started work on DASH seven years ago, and it’s been fun to watch it “grow up.” Our partnership with Experian is a big step toward putting DASH to work for advertisers and agencies. To learn more, visit our site at https://theARF.org/DASH or contact us at DASH@theARF.org. Contact us About our experts Samantha Zhang, Senior Data Scientist at ARF Samantha Zhang is a Senior Data Scientist at the Advertising Research Foundation working on the DASH TV Universe Study, with additional research spanning areas including attention measurement, digital privacy, and artificial intelligence.  Jim Meyer, General Manager, DASH, at ARF Jim Meyer is general manager and co-founder of the ARF DASH TV Universe Study and managing partner of Golden Square, LLC, which advises media and research technology companies on growth strategy and development. Latest posts

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At Experian Marketing Services, we use data and insights to help brands have more meaningful interactions with people. As leaders in the evolution of the advertising landscape, Experian Marketing Services can help you identify your customers and the right potential customers, uncover the most appropriate communication channels, develop messages that resonate, and measure the effectiveness of marketing activities and campaigns.

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