Back to Blog

Data-Driven Media Buying: How Data Collaboration Helps

  • LiveRamp
  • 3 min read

Media buyers can now take control of their data destiny with access to more granular data and insights via data collaboration and modern data clean room software.

Media buyers are increasingly in a bind — with increased pressure to influence sales in spite of data regulations cutting into their use of cookies to track ad performance and algorithms on platforms providing lower quality, more expensive leads. Whether a media buyer is working with a platform like Facebook, Amazon, or Google, a retail media network, CTV, or a niche publisher, it can seem like an uphill battle to collect enough insights to efficiently evaluate performance across platforms. Without large datasets of their own — or the means to easily share data — media buyers may think they have little leverage with media publishers. They are tasked to perform and optimise campaigns with scant insights, and they miss out on opportunities to experiment with new audiences, channels, and brand partnerships. Limited access to data also holds them back from innovating and extending learnings into other parts of the business.

However, a new way of working is emerging, one which leverages data collaboration and data clean rooms to enable marketers to become “empowered” media buyers.

Empowered Media Buyers: Building A Stronger Relationship With Media Companies

What’s the difference? Empowered media buyers bring their own first-party data to the partnership with media companies — achieving a collaborative relationship in which each side benefits from greater access to data. Let’s look at three key advantages of data collaboration:

  • Improved top line. According to a 2024 commissioned study, conducted by Forrester Consulting, 93% of enterprises agree data collaboration is critical to driving revenue growth. And marketers have got the message: across industries, over 80% of organisations want to collaborate with other businesses to share data in the next 12 months.
  • A more balanced relationship. Media buyers recognise their own data has value, and that enables a move from a simple user (and payer) relationship with media companies to a mutually beneficial one in which both sides are peers. Buyers can supply insights that enable media companies to develop stronger performance, advertising, and development capabilities.
  • Enriched data. Media buyers can enrich their first-person data with data from media companies. The customer journey insights stemming from that enrichment often spark innovation that goes beyond marketing and into other areas of the business — think product development, supply chain, production, and other core business functions. At the same time, media companies understand that the benefits of data collaboration apply to their data operations as well.

For Data Collaboration, A Modern Data Clean Room Solution Is A Must

Data collaboration is the key to unlocking more strategic decisions and adding value to your company. But accessing simple, secure, scalable data collaboration that enables your media buyers to become empowered and gain control of their campaigns requires a modern data clean room solution.

At a high level, the advanced clean room solutions deliver three essential capabilities for marketing organisations:

  • Privacy and governance. Media companies will not share data absent a secure, privacy-preserving data clean room that gives them confidence in the safety of their data.
  • Interoperability. A modern data clean room solution enables marketing organisations to connect to CTV providers, media networks, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and other partners with premium data sources.
  • Ease of use. The best data clean room software is simple enough for non-technical teams and lines of business to use — accelerating time to insight and ROI.

Optimise Advertising Across Your Media

LiveRamp’s Clean Room, powered by Habu allows marketers to access and optimise advertising across media channels. Accelerate time to value with a business-friendly solution that allows marketers to select from a library of pre-built queries in natural language to gain relevant business insights. Maximise ROAS with a centralised view of performance across media plans.