Getting Started with Data Buying
The LiveRamp Data Marketplace allows data buyers to gain access to third-party data from over 160 top data sellers, each offering a wide range of segment types, including behavioral, geographic, demographic, and more. You can utilize this comprehensive data across diverse technology and media partners, agencies, analytics environments, and TV partners. Use the sections below to understand the data-buying process.
Note
For instructions on the various steps of the process, see "Buying Segment Data from the Data Marketplace".
To see a list of data sellers by category, see our Data Seller Directory.
If you don't have access to the Data Marketplace tab in Connect, contact your LiveRamp representative or email DataMarketplace@liveramp.com.
If you ever see a segment you believe does not meet the Data Marketplace policies for acceptable data listed in "LiveRamp's Data Marketplace Data Policy", please notify the Data Marketplace operations team so they can review by sending an email that includes the full name of the segment to datamarketplace-compliance@liveramp.com.
For more information on the benefits of buying data with the Data Marketplace, see this one pager.
Types of Segments You Can Buy
In the Data Marketplace, there are two types of segments you can buy: “standard” and “custom”.
Standard segments: These segments have been prebuilt and are available to all data buyers. These segments are generally available to send to all destinations that accept Data Marketplace data.
Custom segments: These segments are built based on request from a specific data buyer. These segments are only able to be used by the approved data buyer at the destination platforms approved by the data seller. For Advertiser Direct destinations, the seller shares the segments to you in Connect so that you can distribute the segments yourself. For non-Advertiser Direct destinations, the seller distributes the segments to your seat at the destination platform so that you can access the segments there. For more information, see the "Requesting Custom Segments" section below.
Overall Data Buying Steps
The overall process to buy and use standard Data Marketplace segments consists of the following steps:
Search for your desired standard segments in the LiveRamp Data Marketplace and then request (“buy”) them (for more information, see "Buying Segment Data from the Data Marketplace").
Note
To utilize custom segments that are shared by a data seller to your Connect account, wait until you’ve been notified that the segments have been shared and then distribute them to your desired destinations. For more information, see the "Requesting Custom Segments" section below.
Activate any needed Data Marketplace destination accounts for the destinations you want to send the segments to (for more information, see "Activate a New Destination Account").
Distribute segments to the desired Data Marketplace destination accounts (for more information, see "Distribute Data Marketplace Segments").
Activate the segments at the platform(s).
Report Usage for any Data Marketplace segments activated at Advertiser Direct platforms (for more information, see the "Distributing to Social Media Platforms Through LiveRamp's Advertiser Direct Solution" section below and "Report Usage for Data Marketplace Distributions to Advertiser Direct Destinations").
LiveRamp invoices you for your activated segments on a monthly basis (for more information, see the "How You’re Charged" section below).
Data Marketplace Segment Pricing Models
When you browse for Data Marketplace segments in Connect, you’ll see several pricing columns with information on the price you’ll pay to activate a particular segment, which depends on the destination platform:
Programmatic Standard: This is the pricing model used by most programmatic platforms who are not part of our Advertiser Direct program and who do not use Programmatic Hybrid pricing. Within Programmatic Standard, the following pricing metrics might apply, depending on the destination:
Digital Ad Targeting Price (CPM): This is the most common pricing option for basic ad targeting in the digital space where advertisers are charged based on the number of impressions.
TV Targeting Price (CPM): This the CPM used when distributing to TV/CTV destinations.
Cost Per Click: This is another pricing option used for platforms that base data costs on the number of ad clicks instead of ad impressions.
Programmatic Hybrid: This pricing model is only used for segments distributing to The Trade Desk that have a Programmatic Standard CPM of less than $5. Hybrid pricing means that segments are billed at the percentage of media entered unless that amount exceeds the CPM cap entered, in which case the CPM cap rate is used. For more information, see “Distribute Data Marketplace Data to The Trade Desk”.
Advertiser Direct: This pricing model is used for LiveRamp's Advertiser Direct platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and TikTok. Segments distributed to these platforms are billed at the Advertiser Direct percentage of media listed. For more information, see the "Distributing to Social Media Platforms Through LiveRamp's Advertiser Direct Solution" section below.
Viewing Data Seller Profiles
To find Data Marketplace segments, buyers ca first begin by looking at the LiveRamp Data Marketplace Storefront. Each LiveRamp data seller has a storefront profile in LiveRamp Connect that lists detailed information about the seller’s data offerings, including information about how they source the data for their segments.
Reviewing the data seller’s storefront can help you decide if the seller’s standard segments will be a good fit for your advertising campaign. If you’re looking for a data seller to build custom segments for you, the storefront can also help you decide if the seller might fit your needs. For more information, see "View the Storefront for Data Marketplace Buyers".
You can also see a list of data sellers by category in our Data Seller Directory.
Distributing Data Marketplace Segments
Not all destinations accept Data Marketplace data, and some destinations (such as Google) require the seller to send the segments to your account.
Typically, if you see a Data Marketplace integration option when you’re attempting to activate a destination account for a particular destination, that means that the destination accepts Data Marketplace data.
For more information, see "Distribute Data Marketplace Segments").
How You’re Charged
You are not charged to distribute Data Marketplace segments. You are only charged once you activate those segments at a destination platform, based on the pricing model used at that platform (for more information, see the "Data Marketplace Segment Pricing Models" section above).
If you are using multiple segments that are priced differently in the same audience or group at the destination platform (such as within one ad group or ad set, depending on the platform’s terminology), the price for the highest-priced segment that each consumer matches to will be applied to the impressions for that consumer (no matter what pricing model the platform uses). For example, if you are using segment A which is priced at 250% PoM and another segment B which is priced at 15% in the same audience or group, the 250% would apply toward the impressions for any consumers who were included in segment A.
For segments activated on Advertiser Direct destinations (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, or GCM), you will either self-report usage or the platform will report usage automatically (automated reporting is available for Facebook and Twitter and will soon be available for Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Snapchat). After the reporting is complete, LiveRamp will then invoice you for the data usage fee. For more information, see the "Distributing to Social Media Platforms Through LiveRamp's Advertiser Direct Solution" section below.
For segments activated on non-Advertiser Direct destinations, the destination will charge LiveRamp the data usage fee (for example, the CPM or percentage of media depending on the platform) during the campaign. LiveRamp will then invoice you directly for the data usage fee.
Data Marketplace Options
See the sections below for additional Data Marketplace options, such as using custom segments, distributing to social media platforms, and using Customer Profiles to use Data Marketplace segments to perform overlaps and build combination segments.
Requesting Custom Segments
For custom segments, you can reach out directly to a data seller to request that they provide a quote for building a custom segment. This might be a data seller that you have worked with before or a data seller with standard segments similar to what you’re looking for.
You can also email datamarketplace@liveramp.com to ask the LiveRamp Data Marketplace team to request a segment quote from various data sellers who have segments that meet your needs. In this case, the email should contain the client and advertiser the segment will be used by, the campaign start and end date, the goals and KPIs for the campaign, the campaign budget, the platform that will be used for ad targeting, and any details around the custom audience that they want to be built out.
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While LiveRamp doesn’t require minimum spend commitments or build fees for custom segments, building custom segments requires a reasonable amount of time, effort, and resources. We ask that you only request custom segments if you intend that they will be used for running or testing a live campaign.
If you've arranged to receive a custom segment from a data seller, you will need to have LiveRamp allowlist the data seller so that they can share custom segments to your Connect account. Use the Data Marketplace Allowlist / Sharing Request quick case to create a support case or contact your LiveRamp CSM to initiate the allowlisting request. Once the allowlisting has been performed and you've received notification that the custom segments are available in Connect, you can distribute the segments to your desired destinations.
Distributing to Social Media Platforms Through LiveRamp's Advertiser Direct Solution
LiveRamp's Advertiser Direct solution (fka "Consumer Social") allows brands and agencies to use third-party data across a wide variety of verticals from the LiveRamp Data Marketplace for optimization on designated destination platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and TikTok.
When you activate a Data Marketplace segment on an Advertiser Direct platform, you’re billed directly by LiveRamp at the Advertiser Direct percentage of media listed for your license of that segment from the Data Marketplace data seller and based on usage. For more information, see “Implementing LiveRamp's Advertiser Direct Solution”.
Distributing Data Marketplace data to Advertiser Direct destination platforms requires a separate agreement with LiveRamp. If you're interested, contact your LiveRamp representative.
Customer Profiles
If you’re a Customer Profiles customer, there are various ways you can use third-party Data Marketplace data:
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Only Data Marketplace segments that data sellers have enabled for overlap stats can be used in Customer Profiles.
Overlaps: To understand the relationship between any segments enabled for Customer Profiles (including your first-party segments and certain Data Marketplace segments), you can overlap those segments. This allows you to get a real-time estimate of the percentage of records in the base segment that are also present in all of the comparison segments, as well as the estimated segment size if you were to build a new segment out of the overlapped segments. For more information, see “Perform an Overlap Analysis”.
Combination segments: You can build a combination segment that combines your first-party segments and certain Data Marketplace segments. Once a combination segment has been built, you can distribute it to your desired destinations. For more information, see “Build a Combination Segment with Customer Profiles”.
Data Marketplace-Filtered Segments for Google Customer Match: You can use Data Marketplace segments to filter your first-party, PII-based data and then distribute those segments to Google Customer Match (GCM). For more information, see “Build a Data Marketplace-Filtered Segment for Google Customer Match”.