At A Glance
Your audience strategy works like a story. First-party data sets the outline, but scale and relevance come from connecting additional signals such as contextual, geographic, and behavioral data. Experian helps CMOs unify these inputs through identity, enabling consistent activation, privacy-forward targeting, and measurable outcomes as marketing strategies evolve in 2026.How should CMOs think about data as part of their audience strategy?
The best digital marketers possess excellent storytelling capabilities—and they fuel the plot with data.
When you think about it, your audience strategy is the whole story, and the type of data you use helps create each chapter. Just as any good book incorporates numerous literary devices, you must use more than one type of data to develop a dynamic, relevant, and timely narrative that captures your target users’ attention.
In 2026, marketers should prioritize and invest in data and targeting strategies beyond just first-party to drive growth, improve efficiency, and strengthen customer relationships.
Our 2026 Digital trends and predictions report is available now and reveals five trends that will define 2026. From curation becoming the standard in programmatic to AI moving from hype to implementation, each trend reflects a shift toward more connected, data-driven marketing. The interplay between them will define how marketers will lead in 2026.
Why is first-party data not sufficient on its own?
First-party data provides a strong foundation for targeting and measurement. It reflects information consumers have shared directly through brand interactions. That makes it reliable and central to audience strategy.
That foundation alone does not tell the full story. First-party data defines known customers, but limits reach and frequency. Growth depends on expanding beyond existing relationships.
Think of first-party data as a way to create an outline, not the whole story, about your target audiences—the main characters in your marketing. To flesh out the entire narrative about them, you must source, connect, and activate additional data.
The ability to unify different data sources with accuracy, scale, and privacy at the forefront sits at the core of Experian’s business. We unify household, individual, device, demographic, behavioral, and first-party signals, along with contextual and geographic data points, to build a reliable view of consumers, even when specific signals are missing. This clarity helps you personalize, target, activate, and measure with confidence.
By layering third-party data, contextual data, and geolocation data onto your first-party data foundation, your advertising strategies become stronger than if you used any of these sources as standalone solutions.
How do different types of third-party data add depth to audience profiles?
Third-party data expands understanding beyond known customers. If first-party data is the outline, third-party data helps with “character development”—a.k.a., addingdetailto your audience profiles. Good third-party marketing data complements first-party insights with demographic, behavioral, and transactional context, providing the missing puzzle pieces to complete the full customer profile. Filling in gaps in customer understanding helps youidentify, reach, and engage current and new customers more effectively. Third-party data allows brands to build loyalty with consumers by speaking to their interests and intent behind purchases.
Third-party data opens up new targeting tactics for advertisers, such as:
In addition to targeting, third-party data also remains critical to AI models, which must train on both structured and unstructured data. At Experian, our AI-powered technology interprets live bidstream data, device activity, content, and timing to optimize in the moment, ensuring campaigns deliver meaningful relevance, not just broader reach.
How are contextual and geographic approaches reshaping audience targeting?
Contextual and geographic approaches to targeting focus on environment and behavior rather than identifiers. Regulatory scrutiny, stricter and more fragmented compliance standards, and rising consumer expectations are transforming how marketers approach third-party data targeting. Evolving privacy laws and inconsistent identifiers across environments require new approaches that balance performance and privacy.
Contextual and geographic targeting help marketers reach relevant audiences while maintaining privacy.
What is data-informed contextual targeting?
Contextual targeting connects audience attributes to the content environments people choose. It helps determine the setting of your story—where your characters spend their time.
Solutions like Experian’s Contextually-Indexed Audiences harness advanced machine learning technology to combine contextual signals (a tried–and-true targeting tactic) with third-party targeting to ensure marketers reach their target audiences on the content they tend to consume, regardless of environment or location. What’s excellent about data-informed contextual targeting is that it moves beyond traditional keyword-based strategies to reach consumers on websites that over-index for visitors with the demographics, behaviors, or interests they are looking to target.
What is data-informed geotargeting?
Geotargeting uses shared location patterns to support relevance at scale. Geotargeting is another possibility for further developing the scene of your story.
People with similar behaviors and interests tend to live in similar areas, which is why so much effort goes into location planning for brick-and-mortar stores. Data-informed geotargeting combines geos with third-party data to make more informed media buys based on common behaviors within a geographic location.
We launched our Geo-Indexed audiences, which use advanced indexing technology to identify and reach consumers based on their geographic attributes. These audiences help marketers discover, segment, and craft messaging for consumers without relying on sensitive personal information, enabling them to reach target audiences while maintaining data privacy confidently.
What role does AI play in third-party data targeting?
AI acts like an automated editor of your book, refining and finding new ways to put valuable third-party audiences and data to work without relying on segments linked to known or disparate identifiers.
We’ve used AI and machine learning at Experian for decades to bring identity, insight, and generative intelligence together so brands and agencies can reach the right people, with relevance, respect, and simplicity.
Why does a balanced, integrated approach that combines first-party, third-party, contextual, and geo-targeting data matter?
The combined effects of integrating third-party, contextual, and geotargeting data (and the marketing tactics it underpins) with first-party data will drive your success.
Think of how any good author crafts a story. Regardless of whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, they draw on both first-person experience and external research and sources to develop their plot. No single data source tells the full story. Integration allows marketers to understand audiences more completely and act with confidence.
Pooling these inputs together moves you closer to your goal of understanding the whole story about your target customers. In fact, an almost even number of marketers plan to use contextual targeting (41%) and first-party data (40%) as their main targeting strategies, amid privacy laws and the loss of persistent advertisers.
| Primary data strategy | Percent of marketers that plan to use this data strategy |
| Contextual targeting | 41% |
| First-party data | 40% |
A brand with strong first-party insights can extend reach by layering in additional signals. For example, a nutrition brand that knows who purchases protein supplements can expand prospecting by combining:
By connecting these inputs, the brand can identify new health-conscious audiences with similar interests and behaviors. This approach supports privacy-safe targeting while improving engagement and performance.
How can marketers build an integrated data strategy in 2026?
An integrated data strategy reduces friction and supports scale. The right data partner offers a unified solution that helps unify data, activate audiences, and adapt as the ecosystem evolves. Here’s how:
Marketers who want to create and activate campaigns more efficiently and effectively in 2026 need an integrated approach that combines first-party, third-party, contextual, and geotargeting data. Streamlining data integration and activation positions brands and agencies for sustainable growth and stronger consumer relationships in a privacy-conscious marketplace.
Build your next chapter on a connected data foundation
As audience strategies evolve, connection and interoperability matter more than ever. Connect with our team to learn how Experian helps marketers unify data, identity, and activation across channels.
About the author
Scott Kozub
VP, Product Management, Experian
Scott Kozub is the Vice President of the Product Management team at Experian Marketing Services working across the entire product portfolio. He has over 20 years of product experience in the marketing and advertising space. He’s been with a few startups and spent many years at FICO and Oracle Data Cloud heavily focused on loyalty marketing and advertising technology.
FAQs
In 2026, CMOs should prioritize and invest in data and targeting strategies that combine first-party, third-party, contextual, and geographic data to drive growth, improve efficiency, and strengthen customer relationships.
First-party data is not sufficient on its own because first-party data defines known customers but limits reach and frequency. Growth depends on expanding beyond existing relationships. The ability to unify different data sources with accuracy, scale, and privacy at the forefront sits at the core of Experian’s business. We unify household, individual, device, demographic, behavioral, and first-party signals, along with contextual and geographic data points, to build a reliable view of consumers, even when specific signals are missing. This clarity helps you personalize, target, activate, and measure with confidence.
Third-party data expands understanding beyond known customers. Third-party data opens up new targeting tactics for advertisers, such as:
– Location: Where people live, work, or spend large amounts of time
– Health: A combination of demographics, behaviors, and health needs
– Purchases: Using previous purchase behavior to identify the right audiences
– Behavioral: How people engage with brands or how they use social media
– Interest: Delivering ads based on interests, hobbies, or online activities
– Psychographics: Shared characteristics like attitudes, lifestyles, and interests
– Demographic: Age, gender, education, income, and religion
In addition to targeting, third-party data also remains critical to AI models, which must train on both structured and unstructured data. At Experian, our AI-powered technology interprets live bidstream data, device activity, content, and timing to optimize in the moment, ensuring campaigns deliver meaningful relevance, not just broader reach.
Data-informed contextual targeting connects audience attributes to the content environments people choose. It helps determine the setting of your story—where your characters spend their time. Experian’s Contextually-Indexed Audiences harness advanced machine learning technology to combine contextual signals (a tried–and-true targeting tactic) with third-party targeting to ensure marketers reach their target audiences on the content they tend to consume, regardless of environment or location.
Data-informed geotargeting uses shared location patterns to support relevance at scale. Experian launched our Geo-Indexed audiences, which use advanced indexing technology to identify and reach consumers based on their geographic attributes. These audiences help marketers discover, segment, and craft messaging for consumers without relying on sensitive personal information, enabling them to reach target audiences while maintaining data privacy confidently.
In third-party data targeting, AI refines and finds new ways to put valuable third-party audiences and data to work without relying on segments linked to known or disparate identifiers. We’ve used AI and machine learning at Experian for decades to bring identity, insight, and generative intelligence together so brands and agencies can reach the right people, with relevance, respect, and simplicity.
Latest posts
RampUp 2025 brought together some of the smartest minds in AdTech to talk about the future of our industry. I had the opportunity to ask attendees key questions about AI, data collaboration, and the challenges they wish they could solve instantly. Here’s what they had to say. Watch my interviews here AI is everywhere in ads—How is it changing things? AI’s influence on advertising is undeniable, and industry leaders at RampUp 2025 emphasized how it is transforming the way data is used across marketing workflows. The increasing presence of Generative AI like ChatGPT is making it easier to stitch together data from various sources and act on insights, helping marketers execute campaigns with more efficiency. AI is no longer just about automation; it is now deeply embedded in audience building, personalization, and measurement, enabling marketers to optimize every step of the customer journey. What’s the one AdTech headache you’d fix forever? AdTech leaders agreed that some industry challenges have lingered for too long. Many expressed frustrations with the ongoing conversation about unifying cross-screen targeting and measurement. While the technology exists, aligning business priorities remains a roadblock. Others highlighted issues like the complexity of billing and reporting, which still needs to be faster and more reliable. There was also a strong push to educate brand marketers on the continued impact of offline media, such as billboards, and how data-driven strategies can enhance the effectiveness of out-of-home advertising. Beyond these operational challenges, another recurring theme was the increasing importance of identity as the backbone of effective advertising. While brands are focused on collecting first-party data, the true challenge lies in activating that data at scale. Without a strong identity resolution strategy, first-party data alone is not enough to create meaningful audience connections across multiple platforms and devices. What's one AdTech tool or strategy you can’t live without? When it comes to must-have tools and strategies, data collaboration and clean rooms emerged as essential. These solutions help companies, agencies, and publishers work together seamlessly while maintaining security and efficiency. Another key strategy discussed was traffic shaping, which allows advertisers to push activation closer to publishers, reducing data leakage and improving overall performance. Both of these approaches are critical for advertisers aiming to scale. However, as brands continue to seek more flexibility and efficiency, the conversation at RampUp expanded beyond individual tools toward a broader industry transformation. Interoperability has become a top priority, with brands, platforms, and data providers focused on ensuring seamless connectivity across clean rooms, customer data platforms (CDPs), and activation partners. The days of being locked into a single walled garden are over—the future is about data portability. "RampUp made it clear that the industry is shifting toward curated, interoperable, and always-on identity solutions—and Experian is perfectly positioned to lead this next phase of growth."Suzanna Stevens, Sr. Enterprise Partnerships Manager This shift is also driving changes in how brands manage identity. Rather than relying on one-off data onboarding, companies are increasingly adopting subscription-based identity solutions that provide an always-on, continuously refreshed identity graph. This model ensures that brands have up-to-date customer profiles while reducing inefficiencies associated with batch processing. What privacy regulations should marketers be watching? Privacy remains one of the most pressing concerns in AdTech, and industry experts highlighted the need for a better approach to regulation. Consent management was identified as a major priority since it is fluid and directly impacts how marketers engage with consumers. There was also a strong sentiment that the current state-by-state approach to privacy regulation in the U.S. is unsustainable. Instead, the industry would benefit from a national framework that simplifies compliance and ensures more consistent data governance across all states. Final thoughts from RampUp 2025 RampUp 2025 showcased the rapid shifts happening in AdTech, from AI-driven efficiencies to the growing importance of data collaboration and privacy-first strategies. As the industry works to solve long-standing challenges, such as unification and regulatory fragmentation, innovation continues to drive new opportunities. Experian remains committed to helping advertisers and marketers navigate these changes by enabling smarter, more connected, and privacy-conscious advertising solutions. We’re excited to see how these themes evolve throughout the year and look forward to collaborating with our partners to shape the future of digital advertising. Follow us on LinkedIn or sign up for our email newsletter for more insights on the latest industry trends and data-driven marketing strategies. Contact us Latest posts
Originally appeared in AdExchanger Navigating the world of data and identity partners feels like scrolling through a dating app: a sea of options, but only a select few worth swiping right. To find your perfect match, look for a partner who ticks all the right boxes. Here’s your guide to finding your perfect match. 1. Identity resolution: It all starts with a strong foundation Great identity resolution depends on a rock-solid foundation. The best partners rely on offline data—like names, addresses, and emails—that rarely change, ensuring a consistent view of households, individuals, and their devices over time. You want someone who gives you the same understanding of your audience across every stage of a campaign. 2. In search of: A well-rounded, reliable identity partner When evaluating identity graphs, it’s essential to distinguish between digital-only graphs, offline graphs, and those rare gems who combine both. Digital graphs rely on digital identifiers, while offline graphs are grounded in persistent identifiers like name, address, and phone number. A partner who offers both creates a more complete and reliable view of consumers across channels, resulting in more effective targeting and measurement. 3. Match rates are like dating profiles—don’t be fooled by the numbers Match rates can look impressive, but they’re often misleading. They can also vary widely depending on the methodology and the IDs being tested. Some providers inflate match rates by limiting the scope of comparison or tweaking their standards. The real indicators of quality are the depth of the data, the quality of matches, and how often the graph is refreshed. Ideally, your partner updates their graph weekly or monthly. The inclusion of inactive IDs may inflate the perceived scale without reflecting the true addressable audience. It's like having a profile photo from ten years ago–a major no-no. 4. Authentic origins: Is their data genuine or just a catfish? Look into your partner’s data sources and place a premium on those with public records or direct to consumer relationships. Ask if they have the experience and expertise when it comes to all aspects of data processing from accuracy to privacy and security. Look for some clear third-party indicators for accuracy, like ratings from Truthset, but there is also a basic reality: either your partner is focused on privacy and accuracy, or they are just playing the scale game. Swipe left on those playing games. 5. The breadth to impress Depth matters as much as quality. Seek a partner with wide-ranging attributes that span key audience categories like demographics, interests, and purchase behavior. They should offer the flexibility to deliver both granular data scores and broad audience segments, empowering you to reach the right consumers across channels effectively. 6. The total package: Does your partner really have it all? A true, lifelong partner connects the dots seamlessly, offering a blend of data and identity that link households to devices while layering in rich marketing insights. This approach helps advertisers better understand their customers, reach the right audiences across channels, and measure the impact of their campaigns. The right partner is well-connected and ensures that all the pieces—identity, data, and activation—work in harmony. 7. Future-proof charm: Will they ghost you when cookies crumble? With the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFAs) gone, cookies on the wane, and IP addresses under scrutiny, a partner’s ability to adapt is critical. The most future-proofed solutions are based on offline identifiers like names and addresses, which are user provided and consented data points–making them more resistant to privacy changes. Additionally, look for partners who have made the necessary investments and are prepared to support the new wave of addressable IDs emerging as alternatives to traditional signals. 8. Privacy savvy: Do they respect boundaries? As privacy laws evolve, you need a partner with a strong history in privacy compliance and proactive leadership in navigating new regulations. Strong and transparent privacy policies and participation in privacy organizations are a good indicator of trustworthiness, especially as new rules emerge across different states. Look for a partner who takes data privacy as seriously as you do and gives you peace of mind when handling sensitive information. 9. Seamless connectivity: Do they play well with others? Data is only as useful as it is actionable. Connectivity across platforms is essential, so choose a partner with seamless integrations into the major platforms you rely on for advertising. This ensures your data quality and identity resolution remain intact throughout your campaigns, avoiding loss from multiple handoffs. 10. Killer customer service: Are they in it for the long haul? A great partner collaborates to solve challenges, not just to sell or upsell. Long-standing partnerships and testimonials about strong customer service are key indicators of reliability. Choose a partner who educates and guides you through technical and strategic challenges, fostering an environment where problem-solving and innovation thrive. Keep your standards high Only a handful of companies can meet these rigorous criteria, and you should refuse to settle for a partner that lacks any of these key dimensions. Successfully navigating signal loss, privacy compliance, and seamless omnichannel integration requires extensive resources, robust infrastructure, and years of expertise. Download our full matchmaking guide So, swipe right on a partner who can handle the complexities of modern marketing and deliver consistent, scalable successful marketing outcomes. Could we be your perfect match? Find out if it's a match today Latest posts
Delivering personalized customer experiences is essential, with 81% of customers preferring a personalized approach to their relationships with brands. However, 80% of consumers are concerned about how their data is used, presenting businesses with the challenge of balancing data collection and privacy with personalization. Despite consumer appetite for personalization, many organizations lack the data to make data-driven decisions: 68% of businesses don't understand how their customers think, and 82% don't confidently know their customers' pain points. Without this critical data, businesses cannot effectively create personalized consumer connections. Experian offers businesses robust and unique data through our Marketing Attributes to empower businesses with the insights required to derive accurate insights into consumers and drive personalized experiences. How Experian can help businesses with their data acquisition needs through Marketing Attributes Experian's Marketing Attributes allow businesses to license Experian's data attributes in part or full to provide reliable and accurate data solutions. These solutions assist companies in finding, reaching, and influencing their customers. They are supported by rigorous quality and privacy controls which has earned Experian a #1 data accuracy ranking by Truthset helping our clients reach people based on who they are, where they live, and what they do. Download our Marketing Attributes one sheet Experian has built a strong foundation of consumer behavioral and demographic data with over 5,000 attributes available across over 15 categories and verticals, helping our clients gain deep insights into their consumers. Below we go through five common use cases we have seen using Experian’s data to power various business initiatives. Exploring everyday use cases for Experian's Marketing Attributes 1. Understand areas of the country where your products or services are underserved For instance, a brand offers a diverse range of products that cater to various market segments and audience personas. They seek to gain a deeper understanding of geographic distribution to refine their marketing strategies. Specifically, they aim to identify which market areas are currently underserved, presenting a valuable opportunity for targeted marketing campaigns to boost product adoption in regions that have not fully embraced their offerings. Utilizing Marketing Attributes from Experian, the brand can access detailed data aggregated at the geographic level. This data provides crucial insights into markets where their products have seen limited adoption yet show a strong potential for success based on the preferences of their target audiences. This approach will help the brand strategically direct its marketing efforts to areas with high growth potential. Learn how Swiss Sense drove market-specific growth strategies with Experian 2. Better understand consumers who purchase within a category Brands frequently operate based on assumptions regarding their customers' preferences and interests, yet they may lack the comprehensive data necessary to substantiate these beliefs. Experian's Marketing Attributes provides brands with access to extensive data across 15 diverse verticals and categories. This wealth of information allows businesses to develop a holistic understanding of their customer base, enabling them to validate their assumptions and uncover valuable insights into customer behaviors. By utilizing this data, brands can significantly enhance their marketing strategies, refine their product offerings, and implement personalized tactics that resonate with their audiences on a deeper level. 3. Reach a new segment of the market for a new product offering Introducing a new product to a new segment of the market presents unique brand challenges. Without any historical customer data to draw upon, companies lack vital insights that could help them identify and reach their target audience. This absence of foundational knowledge makes it challenging to understand consumer preferences, craft suitable messaging, or determine the most effective channels for connecting with potential customers. To navigate these hurdles, brands frequently turn to Marketing Attributes for consumer research within the new segment. Analyzing demographics, common behaviors within a geographic region, or previous purchase behaviors can uncover patterns and preferences among potential customers. This deeper understanding enables them to create tailored audience models, allowing brands to develop and activate customized messaging based on common interests, identify channels consumers are most likely to engage by using TrueTouch data from Experian. 4. Create custom lookalike models based on your current customers We have found brands trying to launch an acquisition campaign to look at consumers whose behaviors and interests closely mirror those of their highest-converting customers. However, they often lack the necessary data to find new customers that look like their most loyal base. To address this gap, they turn to Marketing Attributes in combination with Experian’s Offline Graph or Digital Graph, which allow them to pinpoint and analyze the key characteristics and behaviors that define their top customers and reach these consumers on digital or offline channels. Marketing Attributes power the insights into their client’s behaviors and Experian’s Offline or Digital Graph create the linkage to their customer base. Using these insights, the brand can develop a distinct audience model tailored to reflect their most successful customers' unique traits and preferences. This customized approach will help them reach potential new customers who will likely engage and convert. 5. Develop unique audience products We have seen clients use their own first-party data alongside Experian Marketing Attributes and other data sets they own or lease. With Experian's Offline Graph or Digital Graph, they can connect the different data sources together to create a tailored audience solution that meets the specific needs of the brand's clients and the requirements of their market segment. Exploring joint solutions Combining Experian’s Offline Graph with Marketing Attributes Many customers use Experian’s Offline Graph with Marketing Attributes to connect Experian’s data to the brand’s offline marketing strategy. Experian’s Offline Graph offers companies a license of stable offline data points, like name, address, phone number, email, geographic, date of birth, and more that provide a complete view of household and individual identities. Powering use cases like: Regional consumer insights for marketing strategy, media activation, product and location planning Offline media activation, including direct mail, telemarketing, out-of-home, and more Client-driven enrichment The combination of Offline Graph and Marketing Attributes provides unmatched consumer connectivity, enabling clients to generate custom insights, inform product strategy, and activate marketing campaigns. Offline Graph acts as the link between consumers insights and activation. Download our Offline Graph + Marketing Attributes one sheet Combining Experian's Digital Graph with Marketing Attributes The uncertainty around third-party cookies in Chrome and the overall decline in signal complicates the industry’s ability to reach the right consumer. Omnichannel media consumption results in scattered data, making it harder for marketers and platforms to understand consumer behavior and reach them across channels. These challenges call for a comprehensive solution. Our Digital Graph and Marketing Attributes solution addresses these challenges by providing identifiers for seamless cross-channel engagement. By adding Marketing Attributes, like demographic and behavioral data, marketers and platforms also gain a better understanding of their customers. This solution uses Experian’s Living Unit ID (LUID) to combine offline and digital data, giving customers deeper insights into consumer behavior, greater audience reach, and improved cross-channel visibility. Transform insights into loyalty with Experian’s Marketing Attributes Experian's Marketing Attributes enable businesses to gain valuable insight into their prospects and customers. Through this deeper understanding, they can deliver personalized experiences while successfully navigating the complexities of data acquisition and privacy. This helpful information allows brands to make strategic, informed decisions that enhance their marketing efforts. Ultimately, these insights foster more substantial, meaningful connections between businesses and their customers, leading to enhanced customer satisfaction. Get started today Latest posts