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1st Party Data Onboarding FAQ

Commerce Grid's Data Marketplace allows publishers to boost yield and attract demand by leveraging data from various sources to create unique supply packages.

The following guide outlines some commonly asked questions around 1st Party Data onboarding. Please reach out to your Commerce Grid customer service team for additional support!

Q: What is the difference between 1st and 3rd-party data?

A: 1st Party Data (1PD) is observed or owned data. 1PD is typically the most valuable data source because a pub knows precisely the behaviors and attributes of these users. ​

  • Examples:​

    • A publisher's logged-in users​

    • Users who have signed up for a pub's email list ​

    • An advertiser's purchasers and site visitors 


3rd Party Data (3PD) is data collected by another company and licensed for use. Useful when 1PD isn’t available or when broad categories will work. Many data provider companies exist and provide access to 3PD. ​

  • Examples:​

    • Modeled demographic data segments from a large data provider

    • Shopping Data from a credit card company

Q: Will my first-party data be available to other publishers?

A: No. When a publisher distributes their first-party data to Commerce Grid via Liveramp, Permutive or via Direct S2S, that data is handled on a 1:1 basis, and the associated data taxonomy will only be exposed in the publisher’s seat of the Commerce Grid UI. 

Q: Will PII data get passed in the bidstream? 

A: No. PII associated with a publisher’s first-party data will never be passed in the bidstream, nor is it handled by Commerce Grid. 

When a publisher partners with LiveRamp or Permutive as data onboarding partners, those partners manage PII, and the matching process. Commerce Grid receives matched users which are free of any PII data.

Q: What are the different types of 1st-party data supported by C-Grid? (SDAs? Users? Cookies? etc)

A: The Data Marketplace was designed with the flexibility to accommodate a host of different addressability and ID solutions. 

Different data onboarding options make use of different solutions. Here are the underlying methodologies for each onboarding option: 

  • LiveRamp

    • LiveRamp RampIDs: Live Ramp data is matched to their proprietary RampID, and then matched to Criteo’s identity graph of users, which contains cookies, mobile IDs, and other identifiers. 

  • Bid-enrichment with cohort data: Bid enrichment leverages the Prebid Real-Time-Data module to pass cohort information directly in the bidstream. The following onboarding solutions make use of the RTD module:

    • Permutive

    • Seller-Defined Audiences

Q: Is there a fee associated with using 1st-party data?

A: No, there is no fee associated with onboarding your 1st party-data. When onboarding via LiveRamp or Permutive, you will hold a contract with those providers.

Q: Can I combine 1st-party and 3rd-party data segments in one deal?

A: The Data Marketplace technically supports layering of 1PD and 3PD in some cases (i.e. when LiveRamp is the 1PD onboarder). However, we encourage publishers to limit the layering of 3PD onto 1PD to avoid reducing scale and to ensure buyers can properly maximize reach against your valuable first-party users.

If you have a specific use case where 1PD and 3PD layering is critical, please reach out to your Commerce Grid customer service team to discuss technical viability. 

Q: Can I use my 1st-party audience data for audience extension campaigns? If so, how?

A: Yes! Audience extension is a key use case for publishers looking to extend their valuable 1st-party audiences onto 3rd-party supply. 

For publishers who have contracted to act as curators, you will find the ability to package third-party supply (supply that is not owned and operated by you) in the Supply Package workflow. 

If you aren’t currently contracted to act as a curator, or would like more information about curation, please contact you Commerce Grid commercial team.

Q: Are there any geo-restrictions applied?

A: All 1st-party data onboarding options are available globally to all publishers. 

Q: Does this require any additional contracting?

A: No. 1st-party data onboarding is covered by your existing Commerce Grid contract. You will need to have an active agreement with LiveRamp or Permutive to use those solutions.