Getting Started with Data Selling
Use the sections below to understand the data-selling process. For instructions on the various steps of the process, see the links in this article and the articles in the "Selling Data with the Data Marketplace" section of this documentation site.
LiveRamp’s Data Marketplace empowers data sellers to maintain full control of their data and easily navigate emerging market challenges. This results in increased data usage for segmentation, measurement, and activation across 600+ platforms.
Note
In APAC countries and regions, data sellers are referred to as “data partners”.
Use the sections below to understand the data-selling process. For instructions on the various steps of the process, see the links in this article and the articles in the "Selling Data with the Data Marketplace" section of this documentation site.
Data Marketplace segments can be based on offline data (PII identifiers, such as name, postal address, email address, and phone number) or online data (such as mobile device IDs or cookies).
You can sell Data Marketplace segments in both the LiveRamp Data Marketplace and in destination platforms that accept third-party segments for syndication. In addition, you can use the Data Marketplace to create and share custom segments for specific data buyers.
Note
For more information on the benefits of selling data with the Data Marketplace, see this one pager.
If you don't have access to the Data Marketplace tab in Connect, contact your LiveRamp representative or email DataMarketplace@liveramp.com.
Data sellers cannot distribute directly to Advertiser Direct destinations, due to third-party data regulations, but can direct data buyers to "Implementing LiveRamp's Advertiser Direct Solution" for more information on how data buyers can distribute to those destinations.
Overall Steps to Sell Data
Once you've completed all the pre-contract activities, selling data with the Data Marketplace involves these basic steps:
If you're selling your Data Marketplace segments in the LiveRamp Data Marketplace, you begin creating your Storefront profile to highlight the unique products and services you offer for buyers.
Note
If you're only going to be selling your Data Marketplace segments in other platforms, you can skip this step.
You create files with your segment data for uploading into LiveRamp.
You upload the files into our system.
LiveRamp uses the data in your files to create segments in your Connect account.
You provide LiveRamp with the required Data Marketplace segment information to enable the segments as Data Marketplace segments (such as segment name, permitted use cases, and price).
LiveRamp performs a privacy review and approval of the Data Marketplace segment information you’ve submitted (usually takes 1-2 days).
Once the segments have been approved for the Data Marketplace, the segments appear on the Data Marketplace - My Segments page.
You perform one or both of the following steps, depending on your situation:
If you're selling your Data Marketplace segments in the LiveRamp Data Marketplace, finalize your Storefront profile.
If you're selling your standard Data Marketplace segments in another platform: Distribute the segments to that destination once the segments are live in the LiveRamp Data Marketplace.
Data buyers activate your segments: Data buyers in Connect request your segments, distribute them to their desired destinations, and then activate that data at the destination platforms. Data buyers at platforms you’ve distributed your segments to find and buy your segments in the platform’s UI, and then activate those segments.
Tip
To stay abreast of when segments have been requested: Follow the instructions in "Changing Notification Settings" to enable Data Marketplace notifications, and check out the information on the Distribution Status page.
Note
Data buyers are not charged for segment usage until they activate those segments at a destination platform.
The platforms report usage for your segments to LiveRamp.
LiveRamp sends you a Data Marketplace Revenue and Usage Report at the end of the month after the month in which usage has occurred (for example, you would get the May usage report on June 30).
You send LiveRamp an invoice based on the report.
LiveRamp pays you according to the terms agreed to in your contract.
See the appropriate sections below for more information about these steps.
The Types of Segments You Can Sell
In the Data Marketplace, there are two types of segments you can sell: “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 you‘ve approved. For Advertiser Direct destinations, you share the segments to the data buyer in Connect so that the data buyer can distribute the segments themselves. For non-Advertiser Direct destinations, you distribute the segments to the data buyer’s seat at the destination platform so that they can access the segments there. For more information, see “Distribute Custom Segments to Data Buyers”.
Caution
All custom Data Marketplace data shared with other accounts must adhere to LiveRamp policies, and you must have a direct agreement in place with receiving accounts for the relevant data and use case(s).
The default setting for data seller accounts is that any allowlisted platform that is also a data buyer can view and distribute the custom segments to themselves in Connect. To change this setting so that allowlisted platforms cannot view and distribute the custom segments where they've been allowlisted, create a support case (using "Data Marketplace - Seller" as the product type). You can view the current allowlisting setting on your contract page in Connect (for more information, see "View Data Marketplace Contract Information").
Key Implementation Decisions
Work with your LiveRamp Implementation manager to determine your initial choices in these areas:
How you’ll send files to LiveRamp: There are many options to get your data into LiveRamp. For more information, see “Getting Your Data Into LiveRamp”.
Which field you’ll use for the audience key: The audience key field in your file is used to deduplicate the rows in your file, so the column values should be unique. A client customer ID, or something similar, is usually the best audience key. If you aren’t able to provide a client customer ID, you can also use an identifier field, such as email address, as an audience key. For more information, see “Audience Key”.
Whether any fields will be multi-value fields: By default, all fields are ingested as single-value fields, where each consumer record can only be a member of one segment in that field (such as "Favorite_Pet=Dog"). However, you might have fields that will continue multiple values per consumer record (such as "Pets_Owned=Dog, Cat, Hamster"). For more information, see "Multi-Value Fields".
Which precision level to use: Each audience uses a specific match precision level, which is usually “individual” or “household”. For more information, see “Precision Levels”.
Which audience update method to use: Each audience uses a particular update method to determine how we handle new data that is uploaded. For more information, see “Ways to Update an Existing Audience”.
Whether to remove or adjust the default import recency filter: By default, new audiences are configured with an import recency filter that deletes files automatically once they reach 360 days of age. For more information, see "Automatically Delete Older Files".
Create Files for Uploading
In addition to following the guidelines in "Uploading Data", keep the following guidelines in mind when creating files for Data Marketplace segments:
Make sure not to include segments that target on prohibited topics, such as sexual orientation, firearms, health or medical conditions. For more information and a complete list of prohibited topics, see “LiveRamp's Data Marketplace Data Policy”.
Include only one identifier type per file (either PII, mobile device ID, or cookie)
PII is name and postal address, email address, or phone number
Note
We can use the following individual PII and PII combinations for matching:
Name and Postal (full address is needed)
Name and Phone
Phone
Email
IDFA (iOS) and AAID (Android) mobile device IDs can be in the same file
If sending cookies, make sure LiveRamp has set up a cookie sync
Include only one identifier (cookie, mobile device ID, or PII) per row. All PII for one person should be in the same row.
Include headers for each column.
Use one of the allowed file types (.csv, .tsv, .psv, .txt).
To minimize delays and ensure maximum performance, follow our recommended file limits, including the following guidelines:
Include no more than 500 million rows per file (100 million for UK data files and 30 million for French data files)
Include no more than 500 segment data columns (segment categories, such as “Gender”) per file
Include at least 25 records per segment
Include no more than 250 unique values per segment
Make sure files are smaller than 50GB (uncompressed)
Make sure that each segment has values (empty segments will not appear in the Data Marketplace).
Once you’ve determined the file format you’ll use and once your LiveRamp audience has been configured for that format, do not change the format without letting LiveRamp know. This includes the headers of your identifier and audience key columns, as well as the file upload location. Your LiveRamp Implementation manager will provide a configuration document that you can reference to make sure the formatting stays consistent.
If you change the format without letting LiveRamp know, the file will fail ingestion. For more information, see “Avoiding File Ingestion Failure”.
Upload the Files
Once your files are ready, upload them to the appropriate audience (created by your Implementation team) to get the data into LiveRamp. See "Getting Your Data Into LiveRamp" for information on the various methods available to upload your files. Your Implementation team will work with you to configure your upload method.
Once the files have been uploaded, the segments will usually be available in Connect after 1-3 days. Once they’ve been fully ingested and are available in Connect, you can enable them as Data Marketplace segments by providing Data Marketplace segment information.
Provide Data Marketplace Segment Information
Once your segments have completely ingested and are available in Connect, you need to provide additional information on the segments you'd like to sell (such as segment name, permitted use cases, and price) to enable them as Data Marketplace segments.
You do this via a Data Marketplace segment metadata file, which is a spreadsheet file that you download via Connect, update with the desired information, and then re-upload to Connect.
Note
You can also enable segments individually in the Connect UI. For instructions, see “Enable an Individual Data Marketplace Segment”.
Once you've provided segment information, if you need to edit that information the process varies depending on whether the segments have already been distributed to any destination platforms. For more information, see "Edit Existing Data Marketplace Segment Information".
If you want to disable your enabled Data Marketplace segments so that buyers no longer see them in the list of available Data Marketplace segments, see "Disable Data Marketplace Segments".
See the sections below for more guidelines and instructions.
Segment Information Guidelines
When you provide segment information, you populate a number of categories of information in the segment metadata file. See the guidelines listed below for more information on populating the main categories:
Naming segments: Make segment names descriptive and self-explanatory, and follow the guidelines in “Naming Data Marketplace Segments”. Because segment names cannot be changed once a Data Marketplace segment has been distributed, we recommend that you do a thorough audit of your segment names before submitting those segment names.
Providing segment descriptions: Make sure to include appropriate segment descriptions for all standard segments (descriptions are optional but recommended for custom segments). Make sure to include descriptions with enough clarity that a reasonable consumer can understand the segments, especially when distributing to platforms with additional restrictions (such as Google and Amazon). Standard segments that do not have segment descriptions will fail the segment review and approval process. Follow the guidelines on segment descriptions, including avoiding problematic segment descriptions, in “Data Marketplace Segment Review and Approval”.
Specifying the use cases the segments are available for: Common use cases are digital ad targeting and TV targeting. For more information on the available use cases, see “Data Marketplace Permitted Use Cases”.
Setting pricing: Include Programmatic Standard pricing information for any use cases you’ve made the segment available for, as well as pricing for distributions to Advertiser Direct platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and TikTok) and The Trade Desk. Because pricing information is difficult to change once segments have been distributed, we recommend that you include all possible pricing information when you enable the segments. For more information, see “Data Marketplace Pricing Options”.
Note
You must include Advertiser Direct pricing for all of your Data Marketplace segments. For more information, see "Data Seller Guidelines for Advertiser Direct Pricing".
Specify which segments are custom segments and which platforms those segments are allowed on: A custom segment is a segment that is created for a particular campaign for a specific advertiser and is not accessible to other data buyers in the Data Marketplace. You’ll need to specify which segments are custom segments (if any) and provide a list of the platform IDs for the platforms the segments are allowed to be distributed to. A list of platform IDs can be found by downloading the Data Marketplace reference sheet in Connect (for instructions, see “Download the Data Marketplace Reference Sheet”).
Block any advertisers from accessing your standard segments: If there is a group of standard segments you want to block a particular advertiser from being able to access, list that advertiser in the segment metadata file (for instructions, see “Block an Advertiser from a Group of Segments”.
Note
If there is an advertiser that you want to block from accessing any of your segments, you can block them globally (for instructions, see “Globally Block an Advertiser”). For more information, see “Blocking Advertisers from Data Marketplace Segments”.
Enable segments for use in Customer Profiles: Data buyers using Customer Profiles in Connect can use their first-party data and any Customer Profiles-enabled Data Marketplace segments to perform overlaps (to make sure a Data Marketplace segment fits their use case) or build a combination segment. Use of Customer Profiles can increase the demand for your Data Marketplace segments. If you’ve had LiveRamp opt in your PII-based segments for Customer Profiles, you can specify which specific segments to make available for Customer Profiles.
For a full list of the metadata that can be included, see "List of All Segment Metadata File Columns".
Note
Make sure that any recently-uploaded segments have been completely ingested by checking their ingestion status on the Files page (for more info, see "View File Ingestion Info for Activation Audience Files").
For distributions to social media platforms: For distributions to social media platforms (such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and TikTok), make sure you are opted in by having the "Direct to Buyer" media channel enabled in your contract settings (see "View Data Marketplace Contract Information" for instructions). If that channel is not enabled, contact your LiveRamp representative.
Caution
Once one of your Data Marketplace segments has been distributed to another destination platform (either by you or by a data buyer), you cannot edit segment information (including pricing information) directly. See "Edit Existing Data Marketplace Segment Information" for more information on how to edit segment information for segments that have been distributed.
Steps to Upload a Segment Metadata File
The steps to provide information via a segment metadata file are:
Download a Data Marketplace segment metadata file via Connect.
Update the file with the appropriate information (for complete instructions and a list of all columns in the file, see "Update a Data Marketplace Segment Metadata File").
Upload the segment metadata file back to Connect.
After segment information has been provided, LiveRamp performs the privacy review and approval, which usually takes 1-2 business days. Once a segment has been approved, the status column for that segment on the Data Marketplace - My Segments page will display a green dollar sign.
Note
Need to disable a segment? Once a segment has been enabled, you can disable it (to remove it from the Data Marketplace ) by checking the check box for the segment and then clicking Disable.
Complete Your Storefront Profile
If you're selling your Data Marketplace segments in the LiveRamp Data Marketplace, your Storefront profile provides you with an opportunity to highlight the unique products and services you offer for buyers browsing the Data Marketplace Storefront. This is highly recommended to generate maximum buyer interest. See "View or Edit Your Data Marketplace Storefront Profile" for more information on viewing and editing your profile.
Syndicate Your Segments on a Destination Platform
The LiveRamp Data Marketplace enables data sellers to sell their standard segments not only in the LiveRamp Data Marketplace but also in certain other platforms. This process is referred to as “syndication” and allows data buyers to view and buy your sellable data in those platforms. This is sometimes also referred to as “stocking the shelves”.
The platforms listed below allow syndication:
Note
The syndication process varies by platform and there might be an approval process. Contact your LiveRamp CSM for more information.
Adswizz
AdTheorent
Amazon
Google
iHeart Media
Oneview (Roku)
Pandora
Samsung
Simpli.fi
Stackadapt
The Trade Desk
Viant
Xandr Invest
Yahoo
To syndicate standard segments to a platform:
Contact your LiveRamp CSM to coordinate the syndication process with the platforms you’re interested in.
Follow any necessary steps to get pre-approved by the platform (some platforms do not require pre-approval).
Follow the steps in "Activate a New Destination Account", keeping the following in mind:
Most destinations will have a first-party (Activation) integration and a Data Marketplace integration. Make sure to choose the Data Marketplace integration.
In some cases, there are different integrations for custom and standard segments.
Follow the steps in "Distribute Data to a Destination".
Note
If you don’t see your Data Marketplace segments available, make sure you’ve allowed the destination in the permissions page and/or check that you’re looking at Data Marketplace segments instead of first-party segments in the destination account.
Segments will typically show up at the destination within 1-3 days.
Get Paid for Usage
Here's an overview of the usage reporting and payment process:
All usage reporting is self-reported by the platforms the segments are distributed to.
Usage reporting is due by the 15th of the month following the actual usage. For example, April usage is due by May 15.
LiveRamp collects the usage for your segments from all platforms and aggregates that information into a data seller statement illustrating impressions and revenue by segment. We also include advertiser and agency when available (varies by platform).
Data seller statements are sent on the last billing date of the month following usage. For example, April usage will be reported to data sellers on May 31.
After LiveRamp takes the contractual revenue share amount, data sellers are paid on a net revenue basis by the third week after data seller statements are sent out. In the previous example, data sellers would get paid by the third week of June.