• DE&I Commitment
  • Careers
  • Locations
  • Book a Meeting
    Book a Meeting
  • Company
    Learn a little more about us, our values, and our team
    Our Values
    We don't just talk the talk; we live by our core values
    About Us
    Empowering brands to realize their potential with data, insights, and technology
    Leadership
    Meet our leadership team
    Secure Data Architecture
    Our promise of data security and privacy. We keep your data safe from publishers, competitors and bad actors
    Corporate Social Responsibility
    We are committed to making a positive impact on our communities and our planet
  • Platform
    Plan, manage, optimize, and measure your campaigns with our omnichannel platform
    Our Platform
    A platform that connects all walled garden media
    Connected Media
    Create and manage campaigns across search, social, retail media and apps, in one platform
    Connected Data
    Make data-driven decisions as you plan and strategize
    See the industries we serve
    Learn how our customizable solutions can help with your unique needs
    Explore our partner integrations
    See the media, retailer, and data partners we work with
  • Clients
  • News and Events
    Check out recent announcements and see what we’re up to
    News
    Check out our recent media coverage
    Events
    Join us for our next conference or webinar
    Quarterly Trends Webinar
    Get the latest insights on digital marketing campaign performance for Q4 2022
    Retail Media for Grocery Webinar
    Join us to dig into trends and challenges shaping the industry in 2023
  • Resources
    From new releases, to industry trends and best practices, Skai has you covered
    Blog
    Read the latest insights and thought leadership from our industry experts
    Capabilities
    Take your campaigns to the next level by enhancing your platform capabilities
    Research
    Explore our reports and whitepapers so you can keep up on the latest industry trends
    Subscribe
    Sign up to get the latest updates straight to your inbox
    Quarterly Trends Report
    Learn digital advertising campaign performance trends from Q3 2022
Back to Blog

Is Third-Party Data Dead? We Don’t Think So and Here’s Why

Skai™

November  19, 2018

This week, Skai releases enhancements to its audience data hub, Skai Audience Manager, for more support of third-party data, including a new partnership with Experian that allows advertisers to target Experian’s renowned audience segments within the Skai suite. Initially, advertisers can use Skai to target the audience segments via Facebook advertising, but Skai plans to extend this targeting to Amazon and Google soon.

Over the last few years, industry buzz has lauded the value of first- and second-party data, while third-party data has been somewhat called into question. Skai’s new investment to tap the power of third-party data in today’s digital world shows a vote of confidence in this tactic even as some marketers continue to debate its effectiveness.

In short order, we aim to prove at scale what we’ve already seen unfolding: that applying third-party data like Experian’s audience segments with second party data from top publishers takes targeting to new and impressive heights. Consider the path to this point …

First- and second-party data is thriving

At the beginning of the programmatic era a decade ago, third-party data was the fuel that powered the channel. After a few years, however, marketers collectively realized the real value of leveraging their first-party data. The consensus perception of first-party data is that it’s extremely credible (a marketer knows where it comes from and how it was processed), it is free (for targeting, but still a cost to capture and harness it), and it is more relevant to a marketer’s own customers because it is inherently a customer-centric dataset.  

According to eMarketer, “In an April 2018 survey of 522 brand marketers in the US, the UK, France, and Germany conducted by Sizmek, 85% of US respondents and 75% of respondents in Western Europe said that increasing their use of first-party data is a high priority.”

Second-party data, too, has been on the rise. Defined as first-party data leveraged by a second party, the data collected and leveraged by walled-garden heavyweights is clearly resonating with advertisers. Marketing budgets are flowing at an unprecedented rate to Google, Facebook and others, because they offer advanced targeting data on audiences at scale for free as part of the advertising fee with market-dictated pricing via their auction-based media marketplaces. “After all,” marketers reason, “Who has more data on consumers than Google or Facebook?”

The value of third-party data continues to be challenged. Take, for example, the argument presented in the Forbe’s article, Brands Are Wasting Money On Third-Party Data: “Advertisers have no idea where the data is coming from, and if they don’t know where the data is coming from, they also can’t know how accurate it is. This leads to massive cost inefficiencies: Brands need data to conduct advertising campaigns, but if the data is poor quality, then brands are wasting money on something that won’t do them much good. In order to combat this, brands need to bypass third-party data sellers…”

first second third party data

So, if advertisers have become skilled at leveraging their first-party data and are increasing marketing spend to second party-driven advertising outlets, what is third party data’s role in the marketing portfolio?

3 reasons why third party data is still viable

Third party data viability evidence #1 – First and second party data are great but have limitations.

Ultimately, third-party data is simply a tool in the marketer toolbox along with first- and second-party data. Just like a screwdriver is better for screws than a hammer, third-party data is the right tool for some use cases where first- and second-party data fall short.

For example, first- and second-party data rely on data gathering within the confines of owned web properties, i.e. when a consumer comes to your website, you can retarget them or if they visit Google, Google can retarget them on your behalf. But what if you are looking for a niche’ audience such as in-market auto shoppers? Some, but certainly not all of them, can be found on your site or exhibit the proper signals or cues to be identified within walled gardens.

Third party data vendors act as an agent on behalf of marketers to gather audience data at scale from across the web and can help them use various methodologies and sources to find people clearly researching their next car purchase.

Maybe it’s not free like first-party data, but—especially for smaller brands challenged with undersized first-party audience pools—marketers cannot rely on first-party data alone for all of their data needs.

As long as third-party data is collected in a strict-PII way—and can be used to drive business goals in combination with first- and second-party data sources—it can clearly provide value. We’re applying it with Experian to offer advanced forms of targeting on Facebook, one of the world’s top providers of second party data.

Third party data viability evidence #2 – Marketers are still increasing spending 

If the old adage that marketers vote with their wallets is true, then the vote is already settled, third-party data is still alive and well. In an August survey of 324 US marketers conducted by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, American Marketing Association (AMA) and Deloitte, a clear majority of marketers (90.7%) have either increased or kept their third-party data usage the same over the last two years and 86% of marketers surveyed plan to either keep their investment in third-party data the same or increase it in the next two years.

third party data spending

In a big industry study done at the end of 2017, U.S. firms invested a total of $20.18 billion on third-party audience data and activation solutions that support their advertising, marketing, and media‐related data initiatives. Commenting on these findings at the time of the survey’s release, Tom Benton, CEO, Data & Marketing Association said, “This research demonstrates that modern marketers are strategically investing in solutions to ensure their third-party data is not only ethical and secure, but effective and accurate.”

third party 2017 spend

And, according to a report earlier this year by WBR Insights and Future Stores, nearly eight in 10 retailers now partner with third-party data providers to drive in-store traffic. In fact, versus all of the other data tactics in the survey—including retargeting and marketing automation—relationships with third party data providers was at the top of the list.

tactics used by retailers

Third party data viability evidence #3 – It can be used in numerous data tasks.

One of the hallmarks of third-party data is how rich it can be—both in depth and breadth. For example, it can be used to qualify leads coming from a website to fill in data gaps so that brands can score those leads better and know which to route to their fast response teams and which to deprioritized.

In a post by Axciom, “Leveraging third-party data is becoming even more valuable, expanding the realm of possibilities with audience segmentation, modeling, and personalization. Use cases for audience data continue to expand, providing fertile ground for marketers to supplement their rapidly growing first-party data sets to guide marketing strategy.”

Axciom offers innovative suggestions for leveraging third-party data that include:

  • Unlocking hidden insights and adding context to first- and second-party datasets
  • Enhancing geo-targeting with third-party audience signals
  • Creating customized audiences when combined with first- and second-party data

As data continues to drive an increasing percentage of business decisions, there are many uses for third-party data beyond the marketing team across the wider organization. For example, Third-party data can be used by client support teams to enhance service by enriching customer profiles with data that can be used to better understand their needs. It can also be used by product teams to help segment user feedback and product usage by audience type to drive the right roadmap decisions.

Certainly, the age of audience data is upon us. But as far as the marketing industry has come in a relatively short time, the deep understanding of the right way to utilize data is still a nascent practice and being figured out. It seems that marketers are clearly interested in being data-driven, and third-party data can be a great tool when used for the right task.   

Book a Meeting of Skai

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email
  • Copy Link
    Copied!
Tags: Audience, Create, Data, experian, Plan, Social, Target, xPAx, xTLx
  • Previous Post
  • Next Post

Subscribe to Updates

Media that matters.
Marketing that works.
© 2023 Kenshoo, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Recruitment Privacy Policy.
  • Connected Data
    • Market Intelligence
    • Our Approach
    • By Need
    • By Solution
  • Connected Strategy
    • Dynamic Marketing Mix
    • Budget Forecasting
    • Strategic Consulting
  • Connected Media
    • Overview
    • Retail Media
    • Paid Search
    • Paid Social
    • App Marketing
    • Auditing
    • Expert Services
  • Measurement
    • Incrementality
    • Experiments
    • Cross-Channel Attribution
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Glossary
    • Case Studies
    • Training & Enablement
    • Developer Hub
Privacy Preference

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others help us to improve this website and your experience.

Privacy Preference

Save All

Save

Accept Only Essential Cookies

Manage Cookie Preferences

Cookie Details Privacy Policy Imprint

Privacy Preference

Here you will find an overview of all cookies used. You can give your consent to whole categories or display further information and select certain cookies.

Save All Save Accept Only Essential Cookies

Back

Privacy Preference

Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.

Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

Name
Provider Owner of this website, Imprint
Purpose Saves the visitors preferences selected in the Cookie Box of Borlabs Cookie.
Host(s) .skai.io, skai.io
Cookie Name borlabs-cookie
Cookie Expiry 1 Year
Name
Provider Owner of this website
Purpose This cookie stores selections made by the user in the Accessibe tool in order to maintain those settings on future visits. These cookies help us make our website compliant with our obligations under US law.
Privacy Policy https://accessibe.com/privacy-policy
Cookie Name acsbState, acsbReset
Cookie Expiry n/a
Name
Provider Owner of this website
Host(s) skai.io
Cookie Name wordpress_sec_,wordpress_test_cookie,wp-postpass_*, wordpresspass_*, wordpressuser_*
Cookie Expiry Session / 1 Year

We use these cookies to enhance functionality and allow for personalisation, such as live chats, videos and the use of social media.

Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

Accept
Name
Provider Owner of this website
Host(s) .chilipiper.com, skai.chilipiper.com
Cookie Name fs_uid, CHILI_PIPER_CLUSTER, guest-session, _sp_ses*, _sp_id*
Cookie Expiry Session / 2 Years
Accept
Name
Provider Owner of this website
Host(s) .comeet.co, www.comeet.co
Cookie Name visid_incap_, nlbi_#######, incap_ses_, referrer22_00a, incap_ses_1364_2167377
Cookie Expiry Session / 1 Year
Accept
Name
Provider Owner of this website
Host(s) skai.io
Cookie Name moduleFormPardotDownload
Cookie Expiry 30 days

Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us to understand how our visitors use our website.

Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

Accept
Name
Provider Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
Purpose Cookie by Google used for website analytics. Generates statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.
Privacy Policy https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en
Cookie Name _ga,_ga_*,_gat,_gat_*,_gid
Cookie Expiry 2 Months
Accept
Name
Provider Hotjar Ltd., Dragonara Business Centre, 5th Floor, Dragonara Road, Paceville St Julian's STJ 3141 Malta
Purpose Hotjar is an user behavior analytic tool by Hotjar Ltd.. We use Hotjar to understand how users interact with our website.
Privacy Policy https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy/
Host(s) *.hotjar.com
Cookie Name _hjClosedSurveyInvites, _hjDonePolls, _hjMinimizedPolls, _hjDoneTestersWidgets, _hjIncludedInSample, _hjShownFeedbackMessage, _hjid, _hjRecordingLastActivity, hjTLDTest, _hjUserAttributesHash, _hjCachedUserAttributes, _hjLocalStorageTest, _hjptid, _hjSessionUser_2229986, _hjIncludedInPageviewSample, _hjIncludedInSessionSample, _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress, _hjFirstSeen
Cookie Expiry Session / 1 Year

Marketing cookies are used by third-party advertisers or publishers to display personalized ads. They do this by tracking visitors across websites.

Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

Accept
Name
Provider Linkedin
Cookie Name lidc, li_gc, lang, AnalyticsSyncHistory, UserMatchHistory, li_sugr, bcookie, TDCPM, TDID, bscookie, ln_or
Cookie Expiry Session / 1 Year
Accept
Name
Provider Skai
Accept
Name
Provider 6sense
Cookie Name _gd_session, _an_uid, _gd_visitor, _gd_svisitor, 6suuid
Cookie Expiry Session / 400 Days
Accept
Name
Provider Pardot
Purpose Cookie name associated with services from marketing automation and lead generation platform Pardot. The visitor value is the visitor_id in your Pardot account. This cookie is set for visitors by the Pardot tracking code.
Host(s) .pardot.com, pi.pardot.com, skai.io
Cookie Name pardot, visitor_id*, lpv*
Cookie Expiry Session / 10 Years
Accept
Name
Provider Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
Purpose Cookie by Google used for conversion tracking of Google Ads.
Privacy Policy https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en
Cookie Name IDE, 1P_JAR, NID, SOCS, CONSENT, AEC, _gcl_au, OTZ, test_cookie
Cookie Expiry Session / 400 Days
Accept
Name
Provider Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland
Purpose Cookie by Facebook used for website analytics, ad targeting, and ad measurement.
Privacy Policy https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies
Cookie Name _fbp,act,c_user,datr,fr,tr,m_pixel_ration,pl,presence,sb,spin,wd,xs
Cookie Expiry Session / 1 Year

Content from video platforms and social media platforms is blocked by default. If External Media cookies are accepted, access to those contents no longer requires manual consent.

Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

Accept
Name
Provider Wistia
Host(s) .wistia.com
Cookie Name cb_anonymous_id, _sp_ses.2b40, _li_dcdm_c, __hssrc, _gcl_au, _clsk, hubspotutk, _sp_id.2b40, __hssc, __hstc, _uetsid, _uetvid, _gid, _ga, _ga_GQR109DZ3Y, _lc2, fpi, _ex-pricing-cta, _fbp, cb_group_id, cb_user_id, _clck
Cookie Expiry Session / 400 Days
Accept
Name
Provider Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland
Purpose Used to unblock Instagram content.
Privacy Policy https://www.instagram.com/legal/privacy/
Host(s) .instagram.com
Cookie Name pigeon_state
Cookie Expiry Session
Accept
Name
Provider Openstreetmap Foundation, St John’s Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge CB4 0WS, United Kingdom
Purpose Used to unblock OpenStreetMap content.
Privacy Policy https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_Policy
Host(s) .openstreetmap.org
Cookie Name _osm_location, _osm_session, _osm_totp_token, _osm_welcome, _pk_id., _pk_ref., _pk_ses., qos_token
Cookie Expiry 1-10 Years
Accept
Name
Provider Twitter International Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07, Ireland
Purpose Used to unblock Twitter content.
Privacy Policy https://twitter.com/privacy
Host(s) .twimg.com, .twitter.com
Cookie Name __widgetsettings, local_storage_support_test
Cookie Expiry Unlimited
Accept
Name
Provider Vimeo Inc., 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA
Purpose Used to unblock Vimeo content.
Privacy Policy https://vimeo.com/privacy
Host(s) player.vimeo.com
Cookie Name vuid
Cookie Expiry 2 Years
Accept
Name
Provider Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
Purpose Used to unblock YouTube content.
Privacy Policy https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en&gl=en
Host(s) google.com
Cookie Name CONSENT
Cookie Expiry 6 Month

Borlabs Cookie powered by Borlabs Cookie

Privacy Policy Imprint