Experian Launches Its First-Ever Third-Party Data Marketplace

The world needs another third-party data marketplace—no, seriously.

At least according to Experian.

This week, Experian launched its own marketplace for third-party data vendors at the Consumer and Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

But an idea they first started germinating last June with the launch of Experian Third-Party Onboarding, a data onboarding service, said Kim Gilberti, CEO of Experian Marketing Services.

Marketers and ad techs have largely curtailed third-party data in light of signal loss and increased privacy regulation, prompting further investment in first-party data products. But Experian’s launch of a data onboarding solution last year proved to be a shrewd move after Oracle — one of the two major onboarding players alongside LiveRamp) — abruptly exited the market in September.

Once Experian incorporated the data vendors and compared them to Experian’s own identity graph, Gilberti said the company decided to “make it a full-fledged marketplace where audiences from other data partners are accessible.”

To begin with, Experian’s new data marketplace will include Attain, Circana, Dun & Bradstreet and Alliant.

Is the party over?

The term “third-party data marketplace” carries heavy baggage, much like calling your own business an “ad network” or “data broker.” Most sellers avoid these terms because they raise red flags.

But Experian does not shy away.

Asked if she would call Experian’s new offering to a third-party marketplace, Gilberti said, “I think that’s fair enough.”

Anyway, third-party data isn’t dead; it was just driven underground.

Marketers are wary of third-party data, which is why so many in the ad industry have embraced first-party data — because it’s seen as higher quality, said Jose Moreira, general manager of advanced TV analytics at DISH Media, one of Experian’s vendors. secondary customers who were testing a new market.

“Having access to additional third-party data is important to us,” added Moreira.

Third-party data marketplaces have a bad reputation because they’ve mostly sold low-quality audiences for years. But now there is a greater need for reliable third-party data to support campaigns, he said.

“You can’t just rely on first-party data,” Moreira said.

Beyond the limited reach, broadcasters and advertisers must look beyond their known or existing customers. Often, point The campaign aims to reach people who are new to the brand, which essentially means using third-party data for attribution and creating lookalike audiences.

Market use cases

For starters, Experian’s new third-party data marketplace is primarily a TV advertising product.

For example, DISH Media will be able to reliably predict audience ratings based on the overlap between DISH data and advertiser data, Gilberti said, with third-party market data layered on top.

This kind of forecasting is specific to TV advertising campaigns.

“Besides the TV operators, the biggest piece of the puzzle [this year] is increasing the number of data partners participating and we have a wide range of categories in which we play,” said Gilberti.

Experian’s two data partners, Attain and Circana, are vendors of shopper marketing and retail purchase data, so it can be applied to online retail media. Meanwhile, Dun & Bradstreet is for B2B marketing.

However, another potential expansion of Experian’s data market could be the introduction of first-party data partners. For example, DISH could join the marketplace as a data seller if other brands or platforms want to use subscriber-based data for their own attribution or analytics.

Well, not really.

The stigma attached to third-party data may be unfair, but first-party data owners still don’t want to be tarred with the same brush—or to have their data co-packaged with aggregated data vendors.

“That’s not something we do,” Moreira said. “That’s something we generally avoid.