Key takeaways
- U.S. retail media ad spend is on track to reach $71.09 billion in 2026, creating more opportunities for CMNs to grow beyond the on-site inventory they own.
- Off-site social and connected TV (CTV) spend are outpacing on-site growth, proving the market is strong for CMNs that extend their first-party data across channels they don’t own.
- CMNs can extend the value of their shopper relationships beyond owned-and-operated (O&O) inventory by strengthening first-party data, building scalable audiences, expanding off-site activation, and connecting data with media through curation.
Amazon and Walmart command much of the market, but billions in retail media spend remain available to other networks. While the other 277 CMNs operating globally may not compete on scale, the playing field is level for using their data off-site.
The opportunity isn’t tied to any one capability. CMNs need infrastructure that connects first-party data and identity to activation and measurement, so they can extend the value of their shopper relationships beyond the data and inventory they own.
What CMNs need to know about moving off-site
O&O placements still offer stronger margins. On-site ad margins can reach 70-90%, compared with 20-40% off-site. But CMNs can sell only so much media across the properties they own. Moving off-site gives them another way to create media opportunities from their first-party shopper data.
Off-site commerce media uses a CMN’s first-party audience data to reach shoppers beyond the network’s O&O properties. That can include social, programmatic, CTV, and other media environments. Commerce media powered social ad spend is projected to reach $7.76 billion in the U.S. in 2026, with CTV close behind at $6.10 billion. For CMNs, that means the value of their shopper relationships doesn’t have to stop at the edge of their owned inventory.
Off-site media can bring those opportunities closer to the physical point of sale, too. Digital screens in places such as gas stations and convenience stores give CMNs another way to connect with shoppers near moments of purchase. Some of this inventory can be available programmatically, connecting these physical environments with a CMN’s broader off-site media strategy.
The infrastructure question: What off-site actually requires
When CMNs make their data available across the open web, CTV, or social media, their first-party signals need to connect with the identifiers used across those environments. Without that connection, less of a CMN’s audience may be available for off-site activation.
The financial stakes continue to grow. U.S. CTV ad spend is expected to reach roughly $38 billion in 2026, with most of it trading programmatically. A substantial share of open CTV programmatic spend currently goes to inaccurate identity data. Advertisers can improve the efficacy of their CTV campaigns by working with CMNs that have a strong identity infrastructure and relevant data.
Identity resolution helps connect a CMN’s first-party signals to additional addressable identifiers, making more of its audience reachable across environments. A consistent identity layer can then connect that audience to activation across channels and tie campaign exposure back to measurable outcomes.
CMNs don’t need to build that infrastructure themselves. Some may develop identity capabilities in-house, and others can work with a neutral infrastructure partner. A neutral infrastructure layer can connect first-party data, identity, activation, and measurement without competing for the CMN’s media or representing the buyers on the other side. That gives CMNs a consistent foundation across media environments without requiring separate data integrations for each partner.
How CMNs can take first-party data off-site
Early off-site activation has shown how CMNs can take their first-party data beyond O&O properties to help brands reach more shoppers across more media environments. To do that, CMNs need a way to connect their audiences to the platforms and media where brands want to reach them. The approach can vary based on how much technology, campaign execution, and media control the CMN wants to manage directly.
Four operating models have emerged:
The operating model may differ, but the underlying requirement is the same: CMNs need to connect first-party data with addressable identifiers so brands can reach those audiences beyond the CMN’s O&O properties. A segment that can’t match to addressable IDs may have limited off-site reach, and lower match rates can reduce the share of a CMN’s audience that a brand can reach across CTV or the open web.
Expanding beyond O&O: Onboarding and the addressability challenge
CMNs looking to extend the value of their data beyond O&O inventory should focus on two connected areas: strengthening their identity foundation, then onboarding and activating their audiences across more environments.
1. Strengthen your identity foundation
Before CMNs can activate audiences off-site, they need accurate, complete first-party data. Experian’s Offline Identity Resolution helps CMNs resolve first-party data to a consolidated consumer profile, reducing duplication and improving the accuracy of their audience data. Offline Identity Append adds additional information such as name, phone, and address to first-party data, helping CMNs build more complete audience profiles.
Together, these capabilities give CMNs a stronger data foundation for audience creation and activation.
2. Onboard, model, and activate audiences
CMNs may have limited direct integrations with the platforms where brands want to activate their audiences, which can restrict where their first-party data can go off-site. Onboarding connects C
CMN audiences to more activation destinations so advertisers can use those audiences across the open web, connected TV (CTV), social media, and other channels. Experian Onboarding connects first-party data directly to more than 70 programmatic, social, and TV platforms instead of routing through intermediaries. It runs on our identity graph with 4.2 billion active digital IDs refreshed weekly.
For smaller CMNs, audience modeling can help address another challenge: audience size. Modeling can expand a CMN’s existing segments to reach more people with similar characteristics, giving advertisers more scale while staying grounded in the CMN’s first-party data.
For CMNs, stronger identity data and broader activation can make more of an onboarded audience reachable, creating more opportunities for advertisers to build awareness, drive sales, and achieve other desired outcomes.
CMNs can pair onboarding with curation to bring data and inventory together, giving them more control over inventory quality and campaign execution. Experian Curated Deals supports this support this approach by helping marketers, platforms, and publishers create media opportunities that combine data and inventory in one place.
This combination gives CMNs a path from stronger first-party data to larger, more addressable audiences and broader activation opportunities.
A playbook for CMNs still building off-site
Networks developing an off-site strategy should focus on four priorities:
Across each of these priorities, the goal is connection. Experian provides the neutral infrastructure layer that connects a CMN’s first-party data and identity with activation and measurement across the media environments where advertisers want to reach shoppers. This approach helps CMNs expand their options while keeping their data and business relationships at the center.
For CMNs that can’t compete on owned inventory alone, off-site activation creates another path to growth. Stronger first-party data, scalable audiences, broader activation, and curated media opportunities can help CMNs make more of the shopper relationships they already have.
Grow your commerce media network off-site with us
About the author
Doug McLennan
Sr. Director, Product Management
Doug McLennan is the Sr. Director of Product Management at Experian Marketing Services where he oversees audience and activation products. His past work includes managing syndicated audiences at Oracle Data Cloud and building personalized video ad products at an agency. Doug lives in Colorado and skis as much as his family will allow.
FAQs
Off-site commerce media uses a CMN’s first-party audience data to reach shoppers beyond the network’s owned sites and apps. That can include CTV, social, and programmatic.
CMNs are investing in off-site advertising because O&O inventory has a natural limit. Off-site activation gives CMNs more opportunities to offer advertisers greater reach by extending their shopper data across channels, helping brands connect with audiences beyond the CMN’s owned properties.
Identity resolution gives CMNs a foundation for connecting first-party data to the addressable identifiers used across off-site media. Experian builds on that foundation as a neutral infrastructure layer, connecting first-party data and identity to activation and measurement without competing for the CMN’s media. This gives CMNs more flexibility in how and where they reach audiences across CTV, social, and programmatic channels.
Audience onboarding connects addressable audience segments to advertising platforms for activation. For CMNs with limited direct platform integrations, Experian Onboarding connects their first-party audiences to more programmatic, social, and TV platforms, giving brands more ways to reach those audiences through off-site campaigns.
A consistent identity foundation and regular audience refreshes can help CMNs maintain addressability as identifiers and household signals change. Experian is the neutral infrastructure layer that connects first-party data and identity to activation and measurement, helping CMNs extend their audiences across off-site channels while keeping their data and business relationships at the center.
CMNs can measure off-site campaigns by connecting media exposure across environments such as CTV and programmatic display to subsequent outcomes. Experian’s consistent identity foundation connects activation to measurement, helping CMNs tie ad exposure to actions such as online purchases, store visits, or other measurable actions and understand what’s driving campaign performance.
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Advertisers continue to increase their spending across addressable TV, connected TV (CTV), and digital. According to IAB’s “2021 Video Ad Spend and 2022 Outlook” report, digital video ad spending is expected to increase by 26% to $49.2 billion in 2022. Understanding who consumers are and how to best reach them in their preferred channel is becoming more complex. Damian Amitin and Colleen Dawe discuss how a seamless identity strategy can address the complexity of the emerging TV space. The evolution of identity resolution Around ten years ago, the idea of digital “identity resolution” or “Device Graphs” was born. This idea connected cookies and MAIDs to understand when many IDs were the same person or household. In more recent years, our industry began to connect that initial understanding to the CTV ecosystem. But, a large part of the TV ecosystem existed in silos, like first and third-party audience data, and the growing advanced TV market. The goal of identity resolution has always been to understand the consumer better. To achieve more accurate targeting and measurement in the CTV ecosystem, we must incorporate the following: What we know about the household and consumer from an ID perspective Who the consumer is as it relates to audience data, as well as the wealth of first-party data in the advanced TV space We know the cookie is a flawed way to collect data. While Google delayed the deprecation of third-party cookies, there are other challenges that we face right now. Such as the glaring gap in Safari traffic and the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) turning to “opt-in.” Understanding consumer behavior across devices and platforms continues to challenge marketers and publishers. These challenges are creating the need to find more stable identifiers. Though the cookie remains valuable, it has an uncertain future. This has led advertisers to place bigger bets on the combination of addressable and CTV. The overlap in addressable and CTV data leads to fragmentation Personally identifiable information (PII) makes up the majority of addressable TV households’ data. Part of the attraction to CTV is that their IDs remain universal, persistent, and stable. Analysts project that CTV ad spending will hit $23B in 2023. Consumers now have an average of 4.7 streaming subscriptions per household. It’s no surprise then, that Disney+, HBO, and Netflix released or announced ad-supported tiers. Addressable TV and CTV are often thought of as distinct markets across the industry. But, in the context of identity, we should look at them through the same lens. Millions of households still consume TV and video content via a set-top box or through apps on CTVs. This is in addition to what they consume on their laptops, tablets, and phones. Of the top 11 cable and satellite providers, 65 million U.S. households still have a box in their homes. On the other hand, approximately 96 million U.S. households have at least one or more Smart TVs and streaming services. With about 126 million total U.S. TV households, that’s a lot of overlap. There are still significant numbers of both addressable and CTV homes. How can we address fragmented TV consumption? Through a holistic and comprehensive approach to identity. An approach that captures addressable TV, CTV, and digital identifiers. An approach that captures all audience attributes inside of a single identity graph. This is the ideal approach for publishers, AdTech vendors, and brands. Discover how to unlock holistic identity How can we achieve a holistic identity? Through a three-pillared approach: First-party data onboarding Digital identifiers Consumer data First-party data onboarding Bringing offline data from a brand’s consumers is very valuable due to the quality of the data. Because the data is being collected right from the source, you know it’s accurate. It provides the foundation you can build your identity strategy from. Digital identifiers Once you create a foundation with first-party data, you need to connect it. Either with an internal or licensed digital ID graph. Then you can understand the connections between all devices within the household. Consumer data After you know which devices tie to a single consumer, you’ll want to act on that knowledge. The next step is to partner with a data provider that can help you understand your consumers. Establishing this partnership will help improve targeting, measurement, and the customer experience. To achieve a well-rounded customer view tomorrow, we need to start today The three-pillared approach bridges the gap between the offline and online worlds. This provides a well-rounded view of customers and audiences. However, the ability to tie these aspects of identity together still presents several challenges. To achieve the three-pillared approach today, you need to use many vendors and fragmented data sources. Often with conflicting data. As we look forward, the tools to do this are becoming more advanced and unified. The players in our ecosystem should adopt a seamless identity strategy. One that provides a privacy-safe yet full-picture solution. That means capturing and unifying all devices within a household. While also understanding the consumer behaviors and profiles behind those devices. Keep up with your customers and their data Once we create an informed identity strategy, we can begin to understand the makeup of each household and the individuals within. In this new world, personalizing the experience for an audience is key. Where do they prefer to spend their time? What type of content are they most engaged in? Only then can we as an industry provide an optimal experience for each consumer. All while driving greater ROI for advertisers and publishers. Are you ready to know more about your customers than ever before? Let’s get to work together to achieve your marketing goals. Contact us to learn how we can connect the complex dots of identity resolution. About our experts Damian Amitin, VP of Enterprise Partnerships, Experian Marketing Services Damian Amitin is the VP of Enterprise Partnerships and joined Experian during the Tapad acquisition in November 2020. Damian is a senior sales and partnerships executive, specializing in the identity resolution and marketing data ecosystem. Damian helps brands, publishers, and technology vendors enable enhanced ID resolution through The Experian/Tapad platform to attain a 360 view of the customer across targeting analytics, attribution, and personalization. Colleen Dawe, Senior Account Executive, Experian Marketing Services Colleen Dawe is a Senior Account Executive on the Advanced TV Team within Experian Marketing Services. With 15 years of experience working within the television ecosystem, Colleen works with clients to bring the value and expertise of Experian to support their objectives in the areas of data, identity, activation, and measurement. Get in touch