Under the Hood: Traffiq’s DataTree

The DataTree details relationships in Traffiq’s third party data network as well as allows clients to view exactly how to apply that data to audience buys. Traffiq’s listed third party data provider network includes Proximic, Tumri, Media6Degrees, Lotame and Exelate among others. Providers are categorized according to the type of  targeting data that they provide such as demographic, semantic, or behavioral.

“With the growing demand for RTB inventory, we’ve seen the landscape shift from aligning brands with their endemic sites to targeting their specific audience regardless of vertical,” John Yang, Traffiq’s trading desk director said. “To that end, brand safety has become even more essential.”

The DataTree is integrated into Traffiq’s suite of audience buying tools, so clients who use it can connect with a data provider and execute buys via the trading desk with a deeper knowledge of where their data is coming from and what company is providing it.

According to Yang, the advertisers engaged in audience buying need more efficient tools to understand and engage in intelligent real-time bidding, not more elaborate ones. “The data space is very crowded and it is necessary to streamline this crowded landscape to present solutions to advertisers in the simplest form possible,” Yang stated. “That means eliminating a lot of the bells and whistles that seem to always follow learning about something relatively new like real-time bidding.”

Traffiq’s DataTree doesn’t venture into the analytic core of third-party data collection by its partners, but does list general methodologies and data interpretation perspectives, which may aid advertisers in making judgement calls about chosen providers. “Data transparency only goes as far as how well you understand a data provider’s methodology and whether you believe it or not,” said Yang.

The DataTree is a good primer tool for ad buyers and works as a valuable cheat-sheet for those already well-informed on leading data provider’s collection practices. It’s not going to demystify a data provider’s algorithms or serve as a evaluation tool for an analysis method’s validity. Most audience buyers won’t need that level of hand-holding anyway.

“The end-game of digital advertising is to have advertisers and publishers connect as efficiently as possible,” Yang stated.