Data powers programmatic advertising and can be a powerful tool for improving performance. We’ve built a guide to help with data basics and strategies for maximizing data for Programmatic Direct campaign success.
Most types of targeting data can be classified into two categories:
Behavioral data usually comes from the user’s actions and content consumption. This can include data collected from page visits, visits to the advertiser’s site, visits to other sites, ad clicks, videos viewed, apps used, games played, social posts, and more.
The data is often collected via a DMP or DSP tag, which is served by publishers or advertisers using tag manager solutions. On mobile apps, instead of cookies, the data is associated with mobile device IDs: AAID for Android and IDFA for iOS.
Profile data includes age, gender, ethnicity, family & parenting status, income, net worth, product ownership, political affiliation, and many other characteristics.
It’s usually either collected online via site or app registration forms, or onboarded by connecting the person’s or household offline profiles to cookies and mobile device IDs.
Profile data, whether derived from online registrations or off-line sources, can be very effectively combined with contextual targeting or 3rd party behavioral data.
An example would be showing Tesla Model S ads on luxury car pages to users who are known to have high disposable income and confirmed interest in protecting the environment.
Ways to do this:
*Disclaimer: The above are suggested best practices to be used with discretion. Online behavioral advertising should follow all applicable Digital Advertising Alliance self-regulatory principles, including all opt-out requirements.
As a best practice, ask your data providers whether their data collection practices are compliant with all applicable data privacy laws and regulations.