Can sell-side curation solve the cookieless audience problem for advertisers? Monday, September 21st, 2026 - 10:00 am Publishers are sitting on a treasure trove of audience data. But, to turn that data into revenue, publishers must translate it into the ID signals advertisers already use. At least, that's the theory behind Permutive's integration with TransUnion's identity graph, which the companies announced on Monday. The integration addresses the longstanding audience targeting problems from when users opt out of data sharing and cookie tracking. Permutive estimates that only about 30% of web traffic nowadays is addressable either via a third-party cookie or an alternative ID, according to Co-Founder and CEO Joe Root. More generous estimates say about 50% of bid requests include a cookie (in Chrome, that is, since other browsers like Safari and Firefox remove third-party cookies by default). But, while publishers build their audience ID graphs and have 100% visibility into their logged-in users, Root said, the data can only get them so far. Most publishers don't have the ability to match those logins to different email addresses and other identifiers that belong to the same user, or to find lookalike audiences, he said. That limits the scale they can deliver for advertisers. As a result of this addressability gap, when advertisers apply data graphs on the buy side, they run out of high-performing, premium audiences to target, said Jim Williams, president of independent ad agency KWG. And when advertisers activate those data graphs in DSPs or inside walled garden platforms, such as Google or Meta, the data fees pile up, Williams said. For that reason, Williams sees this integration as a way to use TransUnion's data to curate more high-performing inventory on the sell side with better match rates - and with lower data fees to boot. Differentiating a data deal. Meanwhile, buyers might not even know they're missing out on high-value audiences because of the way programmatic buying works in practice. Buy-side platforms and DSPs aren't set up to look for publisher ID signals in bid requests, Root said - they're typically looking for third-party cookies and popular alternative ID graphs like TransUnion's. Now, publishers that use Permutive's data management platform (DMP) can tick a box in the user interface to activate audience matching against TransUnion's ID graph, which provides contact info, demographics and transaction history on 250 million consumers and 125 million households. Because Permutive is already integrated with more than 150 publishers as a DMP - including big names like Hearst, Condé Nast, BBC and Axel Springer - it can match those audiences directly to TransUnion's data graph. But how is this integration different from all the other ID graph deals that power sell-side curation? From TransUnion's perspective, Permutive's direct publisher access helped this integration stand out among its many data partnerships, said Julie Clark, SVP of diversified markets, media and entertainment at TransUnion. "The unique element here is having one key to many different sources, and being able to have that be scaled out across publishers," Clark said. "This is one of the first times that we've scaled in this way where our identity becomes incredibly portable." And KWG's perspective is simple: Permutive and TransUnion still collect their share of media purchased through curated deals, but the curation costs are lower than when data is applied through buy-side platforms, Williams said. He added that his agency has a wealth of transactional data from two major retailers, "and we can certainly deploy those in DSPs and get tremendous scale, but they come at a cost." Williams is also optimistic that a new curation strategy will help KWG's clients target incremental audiences they can't reach otherwise. For example, the agency works with a sunless tanning brand. "It's a pretty niche category, but the users are very valuable," Williams said. "So, if we've done everything that we can do with an Amazon audience, and we're still looking for incrementality, we can go analog and go to sorority parties at college campuses, or we can identify and find those targets with Permutive's database." Plus, Williams added, Permutive hasn't let KWG down yet, unlike other buy-side curation offerings. "We've never had great confidence in the data signals, the match rate and separating the noise from the signal," he said. "And, frankly, I've just never seen the productivity. So we're looking for that measurable and meaningful difference in productivity." Curation and the bottom line. Data, like fresh fish, is always best when closest to its source. For its part, Permutive claims its direct access to publishers' audience data allows it to produce better match rates than basic open web activation in which data is onboarded via a buy-side platform and matched to alternative IDs. For example, when testing the TransUnion integration, a financial services advertiser buying ads from a business publisher saw a 12x increase in addressable impressions, which allowed it to reach 5x more consumers on the site, according to Permutive. The test campaign also exceeded the advertiser's target KPI by 170%. Being able to target TransUnion audiences via Permutive's publisher integrations offers KWG a viable alternative to running scaled campaigns for its CPG clients through walled gardens, Williams said. While "the Googles and Metas of the world are scaled," he said, "we need as much working media as possible, and we need to avoid digital taxes whenever possible." The integration provides benefits for publishers, too, Root said. According to Permutive's data from the last week of August, bid requests that don't have an ID signal attached net 41% lower CPMs. But a curated deal ID - that buyers know was built using TransUnion's ID graph - is a signal that can drive higher bids. So, while publishers might not be monetizing their previously ID-less inventory at top-shelf rates, Williams said, they're still selling impressions they weren't otherwise able to sell. And if premium publishers sell more impressions, he said, that ensures KWG has more high-performing working media to buy before having to dip into the long tail. KWG has already used TransUnion's ID graph for a recent CPG campaign, Williams said, and the agency has also done some beta testing of Permutive's platform during a campaign for a well-known beverage brand. Now, he's excited to see what combining the two offerings on the sell side can do for KWG's curation strategy - particularly when it comes to driving performance for direct-to-consumer businesses that sell products at a higher price point. "If we can go direct to publisher and set up PMPs, and we can access quality content at scale and at a cost advantage," Williams said, "then that's our day job. That's what we've got to do to keep our brands performing." Tagged in:

Permutive and Adform partner to give publishers identity-flexible activation across DSP and SSP. July 22, 2026, 16:00 GMT Publishers using Permutive can now activate their first-party audiences directly in Adform FLOW, spanning DSP campaigns & SSP deals across all major identifiers LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, July 22, 2026 / EINPresswire.com / - Permutive, the leading agentic data collaboration and activation platform, today announced its partnership with Adform, the integrated advertising platform built for the agentic age, to enable the direct activation of publishers' first-party data. The partnership provides a turnkey path for publishers to leverage their owned audiences across programmatic campaigns, with the flexibility to work across every major identifier type in use today. Publishers have invested heavily in building high-fidelity, consented first-party audiences. The ongoing challenge has been activation across fragmented buying environments in a way that maintains flexibility, identity-agnosticism and control. Through a direct integration with Adform FLOW - encompassing Adform's global omnichannel DSP, SSP, ID Fusion identity solution and ad server - the collaboration unlocks end-to-end benefits for publishers: -First-party data activation: Publishers can seamlessly onboard their Permutive segments into Adform for immediate use in programmatic campaigns. No data leak, no intermediaries. -Full-stack activation: Adform FLOW enables publishers to use the same audience segments in both buying and selling environments, creating a unified activation layer for enhanced campaign precision and inventory monetization. -Identity-agnostic by design: Supporting all major identifier types in use today, including third-party cookies, mobile advertising IDs (MAIDs), first-party IDs and IP addresses, the integration allows publishers to maintain audience addressability across devices, browsers, and supply paths. Stefan Sommer, Chief Growth Officer, Adform, comments: "As identity continues to fragment, publisher-owned data becomes increasingly valuable, but only when the infrastructure exists to activate it consistently, safely and at scale. Unlike point solutions, Adform's full-stack technology, including our ID Fusion identity solution, combined with Permutive's data collaboration and activation platform, gives publishers a direct, transparent path from first-party signal to programmatic activation across the open web." Chloe Grutchfield, VP of Product at Permutive, says: "First-party data is only as valuable as a publisher's ability to activate it. By connecting their Permutive audiences directly into Adform FLOW across both DSP and SSP, we're giving publishers one unified way to reach buyers wherever they transact and to maximize the return on the audiences they've worked hard to build." As the leading data collaboration and activation platform among premium publishers, Permutive today has the most supply-side signal in market and the world's largest independent consumer segmentation, with more than 200,000 segments across thousands of destinations. This rich supply-side data powers Permutive's premium programmatic offering and delivers three times the addressability, which improves both advertiser outcomes and publisher monetization. The Adform integration is now available globally to all Permutive publishers. About Permutive Permutive is a data collaboration and activation platform built on edge computing that enables publishers and advertisers to reach 100% of their audience in a privacy-first way. Permutive's technology allows for the processing of user data in real-time, helping the world's leading programmatic buyers and sellers maximize addressability without sacrificing user privacy. About Adform Adform, the powerful and safe media buying platform, has a 20+ year history of delivering service excellence and forward-looking technology. It enables major brands, agencies, and publishers to create, buy, and sell digital advertising globally. Having pushed the boundaries through augmented intelligence and an industry-leading identity solution, Adform has consistently changed the game for digital advertisers. Joe Campbell Bluestripe Group, for Adform [email protected] Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above. You just read: July 22, 2026, 16:00 GMT EIN Presswire's priority is author transparency. We do our best to weed out false and misleading content. The content above is the sole responsibility of the author who makes it available. If you have any complaints, kindly contact the author above. Joe Campbell Bluestripe Group, for Adform [email protected]