What is Location data and why is important for ad buyers?

Location data (LD) is the information on where consumers go daily in their lives.

The most common type is the mobile signal; it tells marketers about the geo positions of devices or structures (buildings, attractions) and it’s used in a variety of ways, including for customer analysis and digital adv.

Today, LD gives marketers real-life insight into consumers’ habits and behavior, but also on competitors, and store performance.

However, LD is only as insightful as it is accurate.
GPS is the gold standard and data sources can be different, such as SDK, Bid Stream, Beacons, Wi-Fi, POI (point of interest), …

For ad buyers programmatic bid stream data is the easiest to find, but it is an unreliable source of LD, because:

– The reliance on pubs to pass on accurate LD to the bid stream;

– It is also only available when the consumer has been exposed to an ad within an app;

– Dwell time at the location is unavailable;

SDK-based data, where location can be collected in the background at regular intervals, have the potential to be very accurate and insightful, but the biggest challenge is achieving scale.

Now, the more sophisticated buyers are starting to ask serious questions about the source, accuracy, and precision of the LD insight they are being provided.

Other sources: see in the LinkedIn comments.

Previously posted by Luca Brighenti via LinkedIn.