TCF consent string
In practice, for a UK buyer
The paragraph above is the neutral answer. This is the part a vendor glossary leaves out.
The mechanism by which 'consent-chained' becomes checkable rather than asserted. AdBuyMCP's policy engine attaches a standing condition to every consent-chained data source requiring that the supply chain be framework-validated and that the vendor attestation be verified on connection. That is a condition you still owe rather than a box already ticked, which is the honest description of what a lawful-basis manifest produces.
What this one connects to
Most confusion in media buying comes from two adjacent terms being used interchangeably, so these are the neighbours worth reading next.
Lawful-basis manifest
A record attached to every compiled channel plan naming each data source used, the lawful basis it relies on, the conditions that come with it, and the warnings raised while compiling — produced automatically rather than assembled on request.
UK GDPR
The United Kingdom's data protection regime, retaining the structure of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Requires a lawful basis for processing personal data and gives individuals rights over data about them.
Consent
A freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication that someone agrees to their data being processed. Must be as easy to withdraw as to give, and cannot be inferred from silence or inactivity.
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.
More on targeting and identity
How an audience is described to a seller, and how much of the description survives. Most of the honest difficulty in media buying lives here.
45 minutes. Bring a real brief and we compile it live. You describe one audience and watch it compile into seven targeting specifications, each with the score for how much of the definition survived.
Talk it through