Identity resolution addresses the challenge of CTV audience fragmentation by creating cohesive audience profiles from disparate data sources, enabling advertisers to identify and target viewers across platforms and devices more effectively. ElementalTV's proprietary identity solution, 1Audience, leverages AI for advanced data reconciliation, which merges anonymized user data across the CTV landscape, which is crucial in a space like CTV, where fragmentation arises from the increasing number of viewing environments and isolated data silos.

By unifying a vast variety of audience identifiers across multiple data sources and streaming environments, 1Audience combines probabilistic and deterministic matching to connect these user identifiers such as device IDs, IP addresses, and subscriber data, together. This approach not only maintains a user’s anonymity but provides advertisers with a consistent view of a consumer across CTV channels, unlocking enhanced targeting potential.

In practical terms, suppose a household subscribes to multiple streaming services accessed through various devices, including a smart TV, mobile, and tablet. Through deterministic matching, 1Audience might link these identifiers if they share the same IP address. Probabilistic matching, on the other hand, would analyze behavioral patterns, viewing habits, and timing to infer matches across non-traditional identifiers, refining accuracy without reliance on personally identifiable information (PII).

Studies show that CTV ad spend is expected to grow from $24 billion in 2024 to nearly $39 billion by 2026, driven by the demand for audience-first, cross-device campaign strategies. By employing identity resolution, 1Audience can help advertisers reduce wasted ad spend by up to 30%, as they focus only on relevant, verified audiences, dramatically increasing the ROAS.

In ElementalTV’s partnership with Fremantle, 1Audience applied identity resolution to transform Fremantle’s fragmented audience segments into cohesive, high-value categories. And by enabling direct-to-publisher access, advertisers could programmatically target audiences with precise relevance, unifying fragmented audience segments while respecting consumer privacy and consent guidelines. This is essentially why Identity resolution technologies like 1Audience are absolutely foundational for scalable, privacy-conscious targeting in the CTV industry.