Experian supports Audience Activation integrations with leading partners in the industry. Please review the below information throughout this document outlining our standard approach to our integrations via a file-based data delivery method.
Experian delivers three types of audiences through an Activation integration:
For the integration we will send you Experian owned syndicated audiences from our Syndicated Audiences Taxonomy, US only. Our taxonomy has about 4,000 prebuilt segments created by our data scientists to reflect high performing segments in the industry. Our taxonomy contains both modelled and non-modelled audiences covering top advertiser verticals and data categories including demographics, auto, retail, lifestyle and television. To see the full list of categories and segments available, your Experian account representatives can provide the latest Syndicated Taxonomy for review. Our Syndicated standard spec to support this integration is outlined below.
Experian will onboard syndicated audiences for 3rd party data providers. Your Experian account representatives can provide the latest list of 3rd party data providers and their syndicated taxonomies.
Experian can also deliver custom audiences to platform destinations via a custom audience integration. This can be accomplished through two methods based on the client’s use case.
Self-Service
Audience Engine is a self-service tool for audience building that allows clients to combine segments to support their use case. It allows agencies and advertisers to create audiences using Boolean logic to meet the specific needs of their campaigns and deliver these audience segments to integrated activation end points. We can provide a demo of our Audience Engine tool at your request.
Managed Service
We also have a dedicated Experian Operations team to respond to custom audience requests and create any audience needed for a client’s specific use case. We can create combinations of 1st and 3rd party audiences as well as combine Experian’s own 3rd party audiences together.
Our standard specs for the 3 types of integrations are outlined below.
At Experian, we can support most digital ID types via file-based integration.
Multiple ID types:
Please note:
Our standard delivery is via AWS s3.
Partner will host the s3 bucket.
AWS reference document:
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/how-to-use-trust-policies-with-iam-roles/
| Step | Owner | Action |
| 1) | Platform | Provide AWS Partner Account ID, Partner Bucket and Bucket Region |
| 2) | Experian | Experian to use information from step 1 above to File Based Integration and have Role name and ARN generated. |
| 3) | Platform | Experian to send to partner the Role Name and ARN provided by SAA UI. Platform to provide access to: |
| 4) | Experian | Once Partner Channel has confirmed the role has been granted access, Experian can proceed with a test. |
Experian Requirements for delivery to GCS
GCS reference document:
https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/access-control
https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/roles-permissions/storage#storage.objectUser
| Step | Owner | Action |
| 1) | Platform | Platform to provide GCS Partner Bucket |
| 2) | Experian | Enter to use information from step 1 above to File Based Integration and have Service Account Email & Project ID generated. |
| 3) | Platform | Experian to send to partner the Service Account Email provided by SAA UI. Platform to provide access: * List, Read, Write and Delete objects at the bucket level. |
| 4) | Experian | Once Partner Channel has confirmed the role has been granted access, Experian can proceed with a test. |
Our standard spec for file-based delivery method is outlined below. Adhering to the standard methods and file formats for delivery of data to a platform will support standard SLA turn times
We support both primary and alternate formats as part of our standard specifications.
Data File Primary Format:
Our primary format is JSON.
Example:
{“id”:”123456789”,”segment_ids”:[“10114_FL","14574_3","14575_3","14576_3" ]}
Data File Alternate Format:
Our secondary file format is a Pipe delimited, comma separated file format:
id | segment_ID_1, segment_ID_2, segment_ID_3
Example:
123456789|10114_FL,14574_3,14575_3,14576_3
Data File name:
Our standard file naming convention is:
<id_type>_audiencedata_<vvv>.jsonl.gz
<id_type>_audiencedata_<vvv>.csv.gz
File path:
s3://<s3_bucket_name>/experian/YYYYMMDD/<3P_data_provider_id>/syndicated/ <id_type>_audiencedata_<vvv>.csv.gz
Data File update method & delivery cadence:
All data files will be delivered as a full replace of data monthly. Please process the data as an overwrite method of the previous file.
Experian refreshes audiences monthly, however, there may be delays in posting refresh files with the latest audience data. From Experian side it is a requirement that the TTL in the platform should be set to 45 days due to possible delays in audiences refresh on Experian’s end.
We will not be delivering opt-out specific files, but since Experian does full refreshes, we will make sure that any opt-out devices are removed from the monthly refresh.
Our standard digital master taxonomy is formatted to provide a partner the most important metadata on a segment.
The taxonomy file will include the following fields:
SegmentID: A unique ID associated with a segment as identified in our Taxonomy
DataProviderName: for Experian syndicated data, the value will be "Experian"
FolderLevel1: for Experian syndicated data, the value will be "Experian"
FullPath: Full category path separated by “>”
Example: Geography > State > Alaska (AK)
SegmentCPM: Price . Example format: 2.50
SegmentDescription: Additional description further explaining the segment, segment definition
Note: Please let Experian know if you have any character limitations regarding segment names and descriptions for the taxonomy.
Experian default character limits are:
Taxonomy file format:
We support both primary and alternate formats as part of our standard specifications.
Primary format:
{"SegmentID":"10114_AK","FolderLevel1":"Experian","FullPath":"Geography>State>Alaska (AK)","SegmentCPM":0.5,"SegmentDescription":"State abbreviation for consumer address."}
Alternate format:
Csv format
Single file
Not compressed
It is a | delimited file format
Header is included by default
Taxonomy File name
segment_metadata_<vvv>.jsonl
segment_metadata_<vvv>.csv
File path:
s3://<s3_bucket_name_here>/experian/YYYYMMDD/<3P_data_provider_id>/syndicated/segment_metadata_<vvv>.csv
Taxonomy update method and delivery cadence:
Our syndicated taxonomy is updated quarterly where new segments are added, updated or removed, so we will deliver an updated corresponding taxonomy on a quarterly basis. There may be instances where the taxonomy may need to be updated off-schedule, as a result, digital versions of the taxonomy are delivered monthly for consistency. From Experian side it is a requirement that the TTL in the platform should be set to 45 days due to possible delays in audiences refresh on Experian’s end.
Note: Partner will only receive a new taxonomy once segments are changed, removed, or added. However, we will post a taxonomy file monthly with every full refresh.
Experian recommend reading and working with the trigger file as it most effectively communicates the completion of the data delivery.
Experian posts the trigger file once both taxonomy and data files are posted to s3.
File path:
s3://<s3_bucket_name_here>/experian/YYYYMMDD/<3P_data_provider_id>/syndic ated/yyyymmdd_vvv.trigger
Data delivery location:
Note that Experian can support delivery via AWS s3, Google Cloud Storage bucket. See details under file delivery method. Our standard delivery is via AWS s3.
Our standard spec for file-based delivery method for Experian onboarding 3rd party syndicated audiences is outlined below. Adhering to the standard methods and file formats for delivery of data to a platform will support standard SLA turn times.
We support both primary and alternate formats as part of our standard specifications. For 3rd party the same specs apply as for Experian syndicated data.
Primary Format:
JSON format.
Example:
{“id”:”123456789”,”segment_ids”:[“10114_FL","14574_3","14575_3","14576_3" ]}
Alternate Format:
Pipe delimited, comma separated file format:
id | segment_ID_1, segment_ID_2, segment_ID_3
Example: 123456789|10114_FL,14574_3,14575_3,14576_3
Data File name:
Our standard file naming convention is:
<id_type>_audiencedata_<vvv>.jsonl.gz
<id_type>_audiencedata_<vvv>.csv.gz
File path:
s3://<s3_bucket_name>/experian/YYYYMMDD/<3P_data_provider_id>/syndicated/ <id_type>_audiencedata_<vvv>.csv.gz
Data File update method & delivery cadence:
All data files will be delivered as a full replace of data monthly. Please process the data as an overwrite method of the previous file.
Experian refreshes audiences monthly for 3rd party data providers, however, there may be delays in posting refresh files with the latest audience data. From Experian side it is a requirement that the TTL in the platform should be set to 45 days due to possible delays in audiences refresh on Experian’s end.
3rd party taxonomy may be updated monthly where new segments are added, updated or removed, so we will deliver an updated corresponding taxonomy on a monthly basis.
We will not be delivering opt-out specific files, but since Experian does full refreshes, we will make sure that any opt-out devices are removed from the monthly refresh.
The taxonomy is formatted to provide a partner the most important metadata on a segment.
The taxonomy file will include the following fields:
SegmentID: A unique ID associated with a segment as identified in the 3P taxonomy.
DataProviderName: 3rd party data provider name e.g. Webbula
FolderLevel1: 3rd party data provider name e.g. Webbula
FullPath: Full category path separated by a >.
Example: Geography > State > Alaska (AK)
SegmentCPM: Price . Example format: 2.50
SegmentDescription: Additional description further explaining the segment
Note: Please let Experian know if you have any character limitations regarding segment names and descriptions for the taxonomy.
Experian default character limits are:
Taxonomy file format:
Primary format:
{"SegmentID":"10114_AK",”FolderLevel1":"Webbula","FullPath":"Geography>State>Alaska (AK)","SegmentCPM":0.5,"SegmentDescription":"State abbreviation for consumer address."}
Alternate format:
Taxonomy file name:
segment_metadata_<vvv>.csv
segment_metadata_<vvv>.jsonl
Note: The vvv is a version number
File path:
s3://<s3_bucket_name_here>/experian/YYYYMMDD/<3P_data_provider_id>/syndicated/segment_metadata_<vvv>.json
Taxonomy update cadence:
Taxonomy will be posted monthly, and taxonomy changes (add, update, remove) may be made monthly.
There may be new segments added, some segments removed, or segments changed.
Data delivery location:
Note that Experian can support delivery via AWS s3, Google Cloud Storage bucket. See details under File Delivery Method
Our standard delivery is via AWS s3.
If you already have an integration for Experian Syndicated audiences, Experian will post data to the same bucket. However, we will post data for each 3rd party data provider to different folder path.
Example:
s3://<s3_bucket_name_here>/experian/YYYYMMDD/<3P_data_provider_id>/syndicated/
Experian recommend reading and working with the trigger file as it most effectively communicates the completion of the data delivery.
Experian posts the trigger file once both 3rd party taxonomy and data files are posted to s3.
Usage Reporting for 3rd party data
We expect partners to report any audience usage back to Experian on a monthly basis in which the usage report will contain at minimum usage month, platform name (if applicable), 3rd party data provider, advertiser name, agency name (if applicable), campaign name, audience segment name, audience segment ID, gross media spend, percent of gross media spend, CPM, number of impressions, and rev share.
This report should be delivered to Experian Billing and please cc your Experian account representative as well.
We support both primary and alternate formats as part of our standard specifications.
Primary Format: JSON
Header= no header
File extension: JSONL
Compression: gzip
Alternate format: csv
Pipe delimited columns, comma separated segment_id
Header= no
Example: id | segment_id_1,segment_id_2
Data File name: {id_type}_{date:yyyyMMddHHmmss}_{CompanyName}_{PartnerName}_{flowItemName}_{FlowItemId}.csv.gz
{id_type} is the id type we are delivering, idfa, aaid, luid, hem, ctv,ip
Please note that the id_type for a “standard” custom audience integration will be a file set per each id_type (e.g. idfa, aaid, luid, hem, ctv, client_id)
{Date timestamp}: if the same flow were to be sent twice in one day this would be different
{Company Name} is source company / company sending the file (advertiser)
{Partner Name} is the partner or end destination receiving the audience
{Flow Item Name} is the name of the Experian export/ could also be a segment name
{Flow Item ID} is the ID of the export (which is unique for every flow we create in our audience tool)
File path:
s3://<s3_bucket_name_here>/experian/YYYYMMDD/custom_audiences/<Company_Name>/
<Company_Name> is source company / company sending the file (advertiser)
Fields:
Company_name: name of advertiser distributing the audience from Experian UI
Seat_id- an ID that identifies the destination platform account number where the data is sent
SegmentID- it will be system generated format YYMMDD####
SegmentName- user entered segment name it will be prepended with "Experian<SegmentID>" e.g. Custom2504251234Golf Enthusiasts
SegmentDescription- this may be null
SegmentCPM: Example 0.99
If the customer groups distribution of audiences in the same export, several audiences will be included in the metadata and data file.
Primary Taxonomy file format: JSON
Header= n/a
File extension: JSONL
Compression: non compressed
Alternate Taxonomy file format: csv
Header= yes
Delimiter: |
enclosed by- “”,
File extension: csv
Compression: non compressed
Taxonomy file name:
{date:yyyyMMddHHmmss}_{CompanyName}_{PartnerName}_{flowItemName}_{FlowItemId}_metadata.jsonl
{date:yyyyMMddHHmmss}_{CompanyName}_{PartnerName}_{flowItemName}_{FlowItemId}_metadata.csv
File path:
s3://<s3_bucket_name_here>/experian/YYYYMMDD/custom_audiences/<Company_Name>/
Experian recommend reading and working with the trigger file as it most effectively communicates the completion of the data delivery.
Experian posts the trigger file once both taxonomy and data files are posted to s3.
Lists all the data/segment filenames, including the taxonomy (metadata) filename that was delivered.
Single file with NO header
No compression
Filename: {date:yyyyMMddHHmmss}_{CompanyName}_{PartnerName}_{flowItemName}_{FlowItemId}.trigger
Full File path: s3://<s3_bucket_name_here>/experian/YYYYMMDD/custom_audiences/<Company_Name>/{date:yyyyMMddHHmmss}_{CompanyName}_{PartnerName}_{flowItemName}_{FlowItemId}.trigger
File delivery location:
Our standard delivery is via AWS s3. Partner will host the s3 bucket. Please see instructions in section above under File Delivery Method.
File refresh cadence:
We can refresh audiences on a schedule. We can set up a full refresh of the custom audiences on a 30 day refresh schedule if requested.
Upon completion of integration coding, for both syndicated and custom audience delivery, Experian will first deliver test files for partner validation prior to full delivery. See process below:
We expect partners to report any audience usage back to Experian on a monthly basis in which the usage report will contain at minimum:
This report should be delivered to Experian Billing at and please cc your Experian account representative as well
This section outlines questions that would be helpful for Experian to know prior to the integration process as well as post integration troubleshooting steps to follow if needed. For additional questions/support please reach out to your Experian account representative.
For every monthly refresh file you will receive an email notification (please confirm desired recipients) that will tell you the file has been delivered to you.
If for some reason you did not receive an expected refresh of the data please contact your Experian customer success representative. If you have further questions please reach out to emsintegrations@experian.com for support.
For every quarterly update where Experian syndicated taxonomy has new segments or segments have been changed or removed, you will receive an updated taxonomy file to be used.
To request an ad-hoc custom segment if a custom audiences integration is in place, please contact audiences@experian.com to fulfil the request. Please allow up to 5 business days for the audience to reach you.
The following questions allow for us to have a good understanding of what we can expect from the partner once our data has been delivered. We would appreciate time you take to answer the questions ahead of time. Please send the answers to your Experian account representative.