Glossary of All Terms

An alphabetical listing containing brief definitions of most LiveRamp terms.

AbiliTec ID

The type of identifier tied to a record in our AbiliTec offline identity graph.

Android Advertising ID (AAID)

The mobile device ID for Android devices.

Android device

A mobile device that uses Google's Android operating system. Each Android device has a unique Android Advertising ID (AAID).

Apple mobile data

Mobile device IDs accessible in-app on Apple devices that use the Identifier for Advertisers, or IDFA (iOS).

audience

In the context of LiveRamp Safe Haven an audience is a grouping of segments that are distributed together or are used for modeling (or other uses).

basket-level data

A type of conversion data that is calculated on a “per basket” (or “per transaction”) basis. So fields like “transaction amount” would reflect the transaction amount for the entire transaction, rather than the transaction amount for a specific item within a “basket” (as is done with “item-level data”).

column-based file

A type of file where every row has the same number of fields and the field names are contained in a header row, as opposed to a key/value file.

cookie

A packet of data sent by an Internet server to a browser, which is returned by the browser each time it subsequently accesses the same server and used to identify the user or track their access to the server.

cookie reach

The estimate of the number of cookie IDs that will be matched as part of a distribution to a destination.

custom IDs (CIDs)

Identifiers that are assigned to users by a specific platform, such as Google or Facebook.

custom segment

A segment that a data seller has created with a specific campaign in mind (as opposed to a standard segment).

data services

Data services include customization, reach expansion, quality testing, and more.

data type

The type of data, based on who collected the data, such as first-party data that your company has collected themselves, or second-party data that your company received from a partner company.

delimiter

A character (such as a comma or pipe) that acts as a separator between two values in a data file.

derived identifier

The identifier (such as a derived RampID) created for a given PII touchpoint (such as an email address or phone number) when there is no maintained record in the AbiliTec Identity Graph.

destination

A LiveRamp partner that can receive data from LiveRamp, which is usually a media platform where you buy advertising.

destination account

A set of configurations that allow you to distribute data to a particular seat at a destination.

deterministic matching

Deterministic matching relies on directly observed data (e.g., device to PII linkages) to tie devices to individuals or household groups.

device ID

The ID for a particular device, such as a computer, tablet, or cell phone. Device IDs include cookie IDs, mobile device IDs, and IP addresses.

device identifiers

A category of identifiers where the identifiers are based on digital devices (for example, cookie IDs or mobile device IDs).

direct integration

A type of destination integration where distributions to a particular platform are delivered directly to the customer’s account on that platform. Almost all of LiveRamp’s platform integrations are direct integrations, with the exception of platforms such as Facebook, where customers can choose between a direct integration and a managed integration.

distinct value

A value or set of values that are distinct from all other values for a given field in a data file.

estimated reach

The estimated device or custom ID reach for a particular field or segment. Represent the projected number of devices or custom IDs LiveRamp estimates can be targeted, either across all platforms or at a specific platform.

field

A set of segment data that holds a specific category of values, such as "Car_Owned."

field name

The name of a particular field, and a trait category that describes a group of users (i.e., "Gender").

file-wide field

A way to send data where all the records in the file are members of one particular segment. The name of the file indicates the segment name for the file-wide field.

first-party data

Data that a company has collected themselves, as opposed to second-party data or third-party data.

fixed-width file

Fixed width text files are special cases of text files, which are not supported by LiveRamp, where the format is specified by column widths, pad character, and left/right alignment. Column widths are measured in units of characters. For example, if you have data in a text file where the first column always has exactly 10 characters, and the second column has exactly 5, the third has exactly 12 (and so on), this would be categorized as a fixed-width text file.

hashing

A cryptographic operation that is performed on variable-length data strings, such as email addresses or phone numbers, to convert them from plaintext to bit strings of a fixed length through the use of a specific algorithm. Hashing of a particular data string with a particular algorithm always produces the same result. Hashing is designed to be a one-way function so that it is very difficult to reverse. Common hashing algorithms include MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256.

header

A field name entry for a particular column of data in a column-based file.

header row

The first row of a column-based file, where the entries of that row indicate the field name for each column.

household precision level

A matching precision level where a record that is onboarded is matched to all records in the Identity Graph that share the same household and show a persistent relationship.

identifier

Data that are used to identify something, such as a person, mobile device, computer browser, or household.

identifier data

Data LiveRamp uses to match your records to other identifiers in our Identity Graph, such as name and postal address, email address, RampIDs, cookie IDs, or mobile device IDs.

Identifier For Advertising (IDFA)

The mobile device ID for Apple/iOS devices.

individual precision level

A matching precision level where a record that is onboarded is matched only to records in the LiveRamp Identity Graph that correspond to that individual.

ingestion

The process through which customer files are uploaded and properly formatted in LiveRamp's system.

iOS devices

Mobile devices that use Apple's iOS operating system. Each iOS device has a unique Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) ID.

iOS reach

The estimated number of iOS devices in a particular segment.

item-level data

A type of conversion data that is calculated on a “per item” ( or “per SKU”) basis. So fields like “transaction amount” for item-level data would reflect only the transaction amount for a specific item (SKU) within a “basket”, rather than the transaction amount for the entire transaction (as is done with “basket-level data”). Attribution programs that accept item-level data require that you break each transaction into multiple rows so that each item in the transaction has its own row. Also referred to as “SKU-level data”.

key

In a key-value file, the category for a particular value (for example, a key of "gender"). Similar to a header in a column-based file.

key-value file

A type of data file where each row contains key/value pairs in the form of "key=value" (for example, "gender=female").

known identifiers

Identifiers that have been derived from, and/or can be associated with, PII (and are therefore considered PII) and that have not been pseudonymized yet. In addition to PII-based identifiers (such as name and postal address or email address), known identifiers also include AbiliTec IDs, client customer IDs, and (in some cases) custom IDs and IP addresses. Sometimes referred to as "offline identifiers."

LiveRamp cookie

A cookie that LiveRamp sets on a browser.

lookalike-modeled audience

A modeled audience consisting of the consumers in a reference data set pool who share the characteristics of your seed audience.

lookalike modeling (LAL modeling)

The process of creating a model of your current customer data to enable the targeting of people with similar behavior, demographics, or preferences.

maintained identifier

In the context of LiveRamp, a maintained identifier, such as a maintained RampID or a maintained AbiliTec ID, represents a person that LiveRamp can fully recognize. A maintained identifier is the identifier associated with a given record when there is a maintained record in the AbiliTec Identity Graph (our PII-based offline identity graph) for the input data provided.

managed integration

A type of destination integration where first-party data distributions are delivered to LiveRamp’s account, and then shared by LiveRamp to the customer’s account (as opposed to a “direct integration”).

match partner

A partner that LiveRamp receives match data from.

mobile device IDs (MUID, MAID)

Unique identifiers that are given to mobile devices. This category of IDs is sometimes referred to as Mobile User IDs (MUID) or Mobile Advertising IDs (MAID).

numeric field

A type of data field that only contains numeric values.

OAuth

OAuth (Open Authorization) is an open standard for token-based authentication and authorization.

offline identifiers

Usually refers to PII identifiers such as name and postal, email address, and hashed email address. These identifiers are also referred to as "known identifiers."

onboarding

Activation is the process of connecting your customer data to digital marketing applications and media platforms. Within LiveRamp, the typical onboarding workflow involves uploading customer data, such as PII identifiers and segment data, which is then connected to device identifiers and activated at the desired destinations.

online identifiers

Usually refers to device identifiers such as cookies and mobile device IDs. These identifiers are also referred to as "pseudonymous identifiers."

partner cookie

A cookie that a LiveRamp partner sets on a browser.

Passthrough Activation

A type of first-party data distribution integration where LiveRamp takes the input PII and passes through hashed PII in a privacy-safe and compliant manner to the destination platform with no leveraging of the LiveRamp Identity Graph.

personably-identifiable information (PII)

Data (such as name and postal, phone number, or email address) which, on its own or when combined with some other data, can be used to identify an individual. For EU and UK customers, this type of identifier data is called “directly identifiable personal data”.

PII

Personally identifiable information (such as name and postal, phone number, or email address) which, on its own or when combined with some other data, can be used to identify an individual.

PII identifiers

A category of identifiers where the identifiers consist of PII (personally identifiable information). PII identifiers are sometimes also referred to as "offline identifiers."

placeholder identifier

In the context of LiveRamp, a placeholder cookie RampID or placeholder mobile RampID is the identifier provided for a cookie or mobile device ID that LiveRamp has not identified.

plaintext

Data that has not been encrypted or hashed.

precision

In lookalike modeling, indicates how good the lookalike segment is at only including consumers similar to the seed segment members (determined by the number of true positives divided by the total number of predicted positives and false positives).

precision level

The audience precision level determines whether a record that is onboarded is matched to records in the LiveRamp Identity Graph on an individual level or a household level (for offline-based data) or on a device level or individual level (for online-based data).

probabilistic matching

A type of matching that relies on models to tie devices to individuals, households, or other groups. Associations between devices are not observed directly (unlike deterministic matching) but are inferred from mathematical models that evaluate the probability of one or more devices belonging to a given individual, household, or to another group (e.g., geography-based).

pseudonymous identifiers

Identifiers that can't be directly tied back to an individual.

RampID

LiveRamp's universal, pseudonymous identifier that is tied to devices in the LiveRamp Identity Graph.

raw field

A field in a given file that has over 250 distinct values, and so cannot be separated out and managed individually in the UI.

reach

In most instances, reach refers to the estimated number of devices or users that will be matched at a particular destination. In lookalike modeling, reach refers to the percentage of the reference data set that will be reached with a given lookalike segment.

recall

In lookalike modeling, indicates how good the lookalike segment is at including all of the consumers in the reference data set that are similar to the seed segment members (determined by the number of true positives divided by the total number of true positives and false negatives).

recognition rate

The percentage of valid rows in a File-Based Resolution workflow file that were matched to a maintained RampID.

record

After all rows in a file have been deduplicated (usually by the use of a unique ID for each record, which we refer to as the audience key for that particular audience), the consolidated rows become "records" in LiveRamp's system. Because of this, the number of records in a given file is usually lower than the number of rows. Each record is tied to one individual, so each record is thought of as being unique (and records are sometimes referred to as "unique records"). Each record usually contains identifiers and fields.

Record Sync

A type of LiveRamp destination integration that allows you to propagate user deletions downstream to supported destination platforms.

rectangular file

A column-based file where every row has the exact same number of delimiters and columns of data.

reference data set

In lookalike modeling, the population of consumers that the seed segment is modeled against.

second-party data

Data that a company has obtained from a partner, as opposed to first-party data or third-party data.

secure file transfer protocol (SFTP)

A network protocol that is used for secure file transfer.

segment

A group of your records that are defined by a specific attribute (a field/value pairing, such as "Gender=female"). For example, a field for "Gender" might contain segments for "Gender=Female" and for "Gender=Male."

segment data

Data you use to group your records based on certain attributes (such as “Gender=Female” or “Income=25,000-49,999”) so you can distribute those records to one of LiveRamp’s partners, typically for targeting, measurement, or personalization.

standard segment

A segment that a data seller has created without a specific campaign in mind (as opposed to a custom segment), and which they make available to all data buyers in LiveRamp's Data Marketplace or another platform's UI.

string field

A text-based field whose entries can contain letters, numbers, and special characters.

taxonomy

In Safe Haven, taxonomies enable you to structure the way your segment data are displayed in the Audience Builder and in the My Data folder on the My Audiences page. You can build a taxonomy by selecting one or more datasets of ingested segments.

third-party data

Data that a company has purchased from a third party, as opposed to first-party data or second-party data.

uplift ratio

In lookalike modeling, shows how much more likely it is that a lookalike segment contains consumers who match the profile of the consumers in the seed segment compared to random targeting.

value

Within a column of segment data in a data file, the entry for a given record that indicates a trait or attribute value, such as "BMW" in a field named "Car_Owned." A group of users with a specific field/value pairing creates a segment.