At A Glance
The Device and Account Sharing (DASH) study, developed by the ARF, provides insights into how American households consume TV and digital media. By combining DASH data with Experian Marketing Data, advertisers can create audience segments based on real-world viewing habits, helping campaigns reach the right people with greater accuracy. This collaboration provides a clearer, evidence-based view of how people watch TV today.Viewers shift between streaming services, live TV, and on-demand content across multiple devices, making it harder to know exactly who sees your message. Instead of wondering if your ads are reaching the right viewers, it’s important to have a clearer understanding of viewing behaviors so you can focus your efforts on the audiences that matter most to your campaign.
Experian has collaborated with The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) to create new opportunities for marketers. By combining data from the ARF’s DASH (Device and Account Sharing) study with Experian Marketing Data, we’ve developed a new way for you to understand and reach modern TV viewers. Instead of estimating who might see your message, you gain a clearer view of viewing behavior and can align activation with the audiences that matter to your campaign.
What is the DASH study?
The DASH study, developed by the ARF together with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) and seven industry sponsors, including Experian, provides a detailed picture of how American households consume TV and digital media. This research offers an unbiased and accurate view of media habits, measuring everything from device usage to streaming account sharing.
When this viewership data is combined with Experian Marketing Data, it allows for the creation of unique audience segments. These segments are built on real-world media and device usage, providing a more accurate representation of how people watch, share, and engage with TV content. This combination of identity and connectivity helps marketers understand exactly how people engage with media, technology, and their favorite brands.
“Television viewing behavior has undergone a massive transformation, making it challenging for advertisers to reach their target audience and optimizefrequency. These audiences give advertisers invaluable tools for managing their campaigns in an increasingly fragmented environment.”
ExperianDoug McLennan, Director of Product Management
How do DASH audiences help?
By using the DASH study, Experian developed TV audience segments that reflect how people truly interact with content. These audiences provide the insights you need to align your campaigns with actual media consumption habits, helping you reach viewers with more relevant messages.
This approach moves beyond basic demographics. It allows you to connect with people based on specific behaviors, such as co-viewing, screen preferences, or household streaming habits. The result is a more focused and efficient advertising strategy that delivers better outcomes.
“DASH has established itself as a reliable and unbiased calibration set, a “true North”, for media measurement. Our collaboration with Experian puts the power and precision of DASH in the hands of marketers and advertisers as well.”
ARFPaul Donato, Chief Research Officer
Which audience segments help you target viewers more effectively?
These audience segments make it possible to find specific types of viewers and align your marketing campaigns with their media usage. Whether you’re connecting with people who are receptive to ads, households that enjoy shows together, or individuals who are frequent streamers, you can approach campaigns with greater accuracy and confidence. We’re pleased to introduce these segments and continue our partnership with the ARF, creating new opportunities to help you build effective connections with your target audiences.
Explore some of our key audience segments:
- Ad Acceptors: Viewers who are more open to watching advertisements.
- Ad Avoiders: People who actively try to skip or block ads.
- Co-Watchers: Households where multiple people view content together.
- Solo Watchers: Individuals who typically watch TV by themselves.
- Paid TV High Spenders: Households that subscribe to multiple paid TV or streaming services.
- Large Screen Viewers: People who primarily watch content on large television screens.
- Small Screen Viewers: Individuals who prefer watching on smaller devices like tablets or phones.
How can I use these audiences?
Experian’s DASH audiences are available in your demand-side platform (DSP) of choice, ready for activation across all offline and online channels. This easy access means you can build more effective campaigns without changing your existing workflow.
Using these segments, you can manage your advertising with greater confidence. You gain the tools needed to navigate the fragmented media environment and ensure your campaigns are seen by the right people. This targeted approach helps you maximize the impact of your marketing efforts and achieve your goals. Strengthen your TV planning and activation with DASH audiences.
Are you ready to connect with your audience in a more meaningful way?
FAQs
The DASH study, developed by ARF, provides an unbiased view of how American households consume TV and digital media. It measures device usage, streaming habits, and account sharing to create a detailed picture of media consumption.
Experian combines its Marketing Data with insights from studies like DASH to create audience segments based on real-world behaviors. This allows advertisers to align their campaigns with how people actually consume content.
Audience segments include Ad Acceptors, Co-Watchers, Solo Watchers, Paid TV High Spenders, and Large or Small Screen Viewers, enabling precise targeting based on viewing habits.
By focusing on actual media consumption habits, advertisers can deliver more relevant messages, reduce wasted impressions, and improve the overall effectiveness of their campaigns.
Latest posts
Brands can leverage non-clinical factors, like the social determinants of health, to gain a holistic view of their patients and increase access to care.
Next up in our Ask the Expert series, we hear from Sarah Ilie and Lauren Portell. Sarah and Lauren talk about the internet’s value exchange – what we gain and lose when it’s so easy to share our information. Is convenience hurting or helping us? The age of connectivity Today, it’s almost unimaginable to think about how your day-to-day life would look without the convenience of the internet, smartphones, apps, and fitness trackers; the list goes on and on. We live in the age of connectivity. We have the convenience to buy products delivered to our homes on the same day. We can consume content across thousands of platforms. We also have watches or apps that track our health with more granularity than ever before. The internet's value exchange In exchange for this convenience and information, we must share various kinds of data for these transactions and activities to take place. Websites and apps give you the option to “opt in” and share your data. They also often let you know that they are collecting your data. This can feel like an uncomfortable proposition and an invasion of privacy to many people. What does it mean to opt-in to a website or app’s tracking cookies? What value do we exchange? What opting in means for you Opting in to cookies means that you are allowing the app or website to track your online activity and collect anonymous data that is aggregated for marketing analytics. The data provides valuable information to understand users better to create better online experiences or offer more useful products and content. Granting access to “tracking” offers several benefits to users such as a customized, more personal user experience or advertising that is more likely to be relevant. For example, let’s imagine you have recently been using an app or website to plan a camping trip. By sharing your data, the website or app has visibility into what is interesting or useful to you which can lead to related content suggestions (best campsites) or relevant advertising and product recommendations (tents and camping equipment). It’s important to know that the marketing data collected when you opt in is extremely valuable. The revenue that advertising generates is often very important to websites and apps because this is how they make money to continue providing content and services to consumers. Data privacy practices Privacy concerns regarding how companies and developers use tracking information have risen over the last couple of years and have resulted in additional protection for consumers’ privacy while still allowing companies to improve their products and advertising. One big step in this direction has been simply making people aware that their data is being collected, why it’s being collected, and providing users with the option to share this data for marketing analytics through opting-in or not. Other important steps to maintain online privacy include formal legal legislation and self-regulation. The right to privacy is protected by more than 600 laws between individual states and federal legislation and the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce recently voted to pass the American Data Privacy and Protection Act. Additionally, marketing organizations such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Association of National Advertisers regulate themselves with codes of conduct and standards given there is so much attention on privacy issues. Is the internet's value exchange worth it? The data that we choose to share by opting in has a lot of benefits for us as consumers. There are laws in place to protect our data and privacy. Of course, it’s important to be aware that data is collected and used for marketing purposes, but it’s also reasonable to share a certain amount of data that translates into benefits for you as well. The best data unlocks the best marketing. Contact us to tap into the power of the world’s largest consumer database. Learn how you can use Experian Marketing Services' powerful consumer data to learn more about your customers, drive new business, and deliver intelligent interactions across all channels. Meet the Experts: Lauren Portell, Account Executive, Advanced TV, Experian Marketing Services Sarah Ilie, Strategic Partner Manager, Experian Marketing Services Get in touch
While the weather outside is frightfully hot this summer, it’s never too soon to start thinking about the holidays – and consumers are more likely to start their holiday shopping early this year. To get you ready for the 2022 holiday shopping season, we looked back at consumer shopping trends from 2019-2021. What did we learn and what trends do we expect to see this year? Let’s look back. A look back Over the last three years, average consumer spending has increased. Record 2021 holiday sales came amidst a wave of COVID-19 cases, rising inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain problems. Despite these challenges, consumers continued to let it snow when it came to spending during the holiday season. 2022 has been a year with its own economic roadblocks – the war in Ukraine, rising gas prices, and recession concerns. Yet 2021 was a banner year for holiday sales despite its obstacles, and we predict similar trends in the 2022 holiday shopping season. What trends do we expect to see for the most wonderful time of the year? 2022 predictions While consumer spending remains strong, changing economic conditions continue to shape shopper behavior. To develop our predictions for 2022 holiday shopper behavior, we focused on four key areas: When consumers shop Where consumers shop What consumers purchase Consumer media preferences Now, let's make our holiday campaign planning checklist and check it twice. When consumers shop Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Those aren’t the only ways to know when the holiday season has begun. Shoppers tend to spread out their holiday purchases across multiple months and were more likely to start shopping earlier. To understand holiday retail sales trends from 2019-2021, we identified four shopper segments: Early Shoppers Traditional Shoppers Late Shoppers Random Shoppers What differences did we see between our four shopper segments? Early shoppers made almost half of their holiday purchases in October Random shoppers spread out their holiday purchases evenly across multiple months Late shoppers made almost half of their holiday purchases in December Traditional shoppers made almost half of their holiday purchases in November While December continues to dominate holiday sales, October has started to gain traction over the last three years, and November remains a core shopping month. Everybody knows a turkey and a mistletoe help to make the season bright but knowing when your consumers are most likely to shop will help deck your campaign planning halls. Jingle bell rock your way to holiday sales that shine bright with our tips to prepare for earlier shoppers: Offer targeted promotions earlier in the shopping season Target your ads based on the shopping habits of your customers throughout the season Where consumers shop There’s no place like home for the holidays but most consumers aren’t shopping from home. Despite the rise in online shopping, brick and mortar locations continue to dominate holiday sales. October is the most popular month to take a one-horse open sleigh to a store, and consumers gather around the fire to online shop in November and December. With most shoppers preferring to shop in-store, and e-commerce popularity growing, it’s critical to think about bridging the gap between your online and offline presence for the consumer. Are you offering multiple paths to purchase with solutions such as BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup In-Store)? Go down in history like Rudolph with our tips to prepare for more in-store shopping: Focus on in-store shopping experience technology (self-checkout, VR, QR codes, scan to pay, etc.) Offer multiple paths to purchase to connect your online and physical presence through methods such as BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup In-Store), BORIS (Buy Online, Return In-Store), and ROPO (Research Online, Purchase Offline), etc. What consumers purchase When it comes to holiday gifts, for some, only a hippopotamus will do. Compared to pre-pandemic, shoppers are spending more at apparel stores and mass retailers. Spending at specialty retailers, warehouse clubs, and on office, electronic, and games is almost the same across holiday and non-holiday shopping months. Time for toys and time for cheer may be year-round, but are there any correlations between where consumers shop (online vs. in-store) and what they purchase? Our data found that shoppers who bought from mass retailers were more likely to shop online, while shopping for apparel and warehouse clubs was done at a physical store location. Put this insight to the test by thinking through how you can target your consumer based on where they shop in-store and online. You just might find that hippopotamus at a brick and mortar mass retailer location! Consumer media preferences Do you see what I see? While we are seeing a shift to digital media channel preference, consumers still engage with traditional media channels like direct mail and the traditional newspaper. Successfully connecting with your customers involves capturing their attention through the right channel. We found that our four shopping groups prefer a mix of traditional and digital media channels. What does your media channel mix look like? Hark! The herald angels sing of ways to adapt to the change in holiday spend and media preferences: Align your activation efforts to digital, but don't forget about traditional channels Expand your targeting and activation focus beyond in-store vs. online Download our new 2025 report For a deeper dive into our predictions and actionable insights you can use to take your holiday campaign planning home for the holidays, download our new 2025 report, in collaboration with GroundTruth. Experian data can help you refine your content and creative strategy to achieve maximum ROI for each campaign across all your channels. Download now Get in touch