Targeting and identity
What is first-party data?
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what it means here
Here is what the term means for a UK buyer
The definition above holds anywhere. Buying media in the UK adds the detail below, including where AdBuyMCP does something different.
It is the most valuable targeting asset most advertisers own and the hardest to activate on premium channels, because getting a list from your database onto a television requires an identity bridge that keeps the list private. Consent-chained identifiers such as EUID are built to be that bridge. AdBuyMCP's compiled CTV plans carry an empty EUID audience list, so that bridge is designed and unused. The EUID client behind it is built, and it waits on an EUID participation agreement before any real identity goes through it.
Where can you use first-party data in the UK?
Social platforms make it straightforward, because they already hold matching identifiers for a hashed customer list. Connected TV, audio and out-of-home need an identity bridge that keeps the list private, which in the UK and Europe means a consent-based identifier derived from a hashed email or phone number, such as EUID. That route needs a participation agreement, and a configuration change will not stand in for one.
The data is accurate because it comes from people you have a direct relationship with, and the terms on which they shared it limit what you can do with it.
What should you check before a customer list leaves your hands?
Check the terms on which your customers shared their data. Check which lawful basis each use relies on, and whether a legitimate interests assessment is on file where the basis is legitimate interests. And check what the receiving platform keeps, and for how long.
AdBuyMCP's own rule is to hold hashed advertising identifiers for at most 90 days, after which the hash is stripped from the exposure event and the event is re-graded to a coarser key. Exactly one module in the product performs identity joins, the key-translation service, so the rule has one place to be enforced and one place to be audited.
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related terms
These terms sit next to this one
Most confusion in media buying comes from two adjacent terms being used interchangeably, so these are the neighbours worth reading next.
Third-party data
Audience data collected by one organisation and licensed to another for targeting, with no direct relationship between the licensee and the people described. Sold as segments through data marketplaces attached to buying platforms.
European Unified ID (EUID)
A consent-based identifier for European advertising, derived from a hashed email or phone number provided with consent, designed to let first-party audiences be addressed across publishers without third-party cookies.
Identity resolution
The process of deciding that two different identifiers refer to the same person or household, so that behaviour seen under one can be joined to the other.
Lookalike audience
An audience built by finding people who resemble a seed group (usually the advertiser's existing customers) on whatever signals the platform holds. The resemblance model is the platform's and is not disclosed.
same group
These terms are also in Targeting and identity
How an audience is described to a seller, and how much of the description survives. Most media-buying problems start at this translation step.