Unlocking the Signal: Why Identity Is the New Power Source of the CTV Era

By Keith Petri, SVP, Identity and Data at Viant Technology

In an era defined by fragmentation, identity has emerged as the unifying force across the advertising ecosystem. It is the framework that connects people, data, and media to drive measurable outcomes.

That was the central theme of a recent 4As Webinar, “The New Network Effect: Redefining the Agency–Publisher–Data Dynamic,” hosted by TransUnion, where I spoke along with Julie Clark, SVP, Media & Entertainment at TransUnion and Corinne Casagrande, SVP, Strategy, Planning & Insights, at AMS. Together, we explored how identity is transforming how agencies plan, activate, and measure across channels as the industry continues its rapid shift from linear to Connected Television (CTV).

Identity as the Foundation

As linear viewership declines and CTV scales, advertisers are moving from channel-first to people-first strategies. Instead of treating CTV, display, and mobile as separate silos, marketers are building household-centric identity frameworks that create a unified view of their audience.

At Viant, we refer to this as our Intelligence Layer— a deterministic infrastructure that connects first-party, publisher, and device data into one persistent view of the consumer. It’s not about any single identifier “winning.” Rather, it’s driven by the hierarchy that underpins our platform across planning, optimization, and measurement.

But as Corinne Casagrande, SVP of Strategy, Research and Planning at AMS, humorously pointed out, “deterministic” is one of the most misused words in our industry. As she put it, “Sometimes I feel like an Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride talking to people when they say, ‘oh, it’s deterministic.’ I’m like ‘I do not think that word means what you think it means’—after you’ve explained to me how you’re modeling everything out.”

She’s right. Many solutions rely heavily on inference or modeling, even when marketed as deterministic. A truly deterministic signal—like the Viant Household ID—is rooted in verified, real-world identifiers that are tied directly to people and devices, not probability scores. That foundation is what allows Viant’s Intelligence Layer to reconcile the complexity of households, devices, and identifiers with precision.

Every household is composed of multiple individuals. Each individual uses multiple devices, and each device carries multiple identifiers. Viant’s Household ID natively recognizes and reconciles this complexity, operating seamlessly across:

• Traditional identifiers, including device-level IDs like Apple’s IDFA and Android’s AdID.
• CTV identifiers, both device-level and app-level IFAs, to ensure cross-screen accuracy.
• Alternative IDs for durable, interoperable addressability in cookieless environments.

By aligning these signals within a unified identity graph, further strengthened by our partnership with TransUnion’s TruAudience® marketing solutions, we’re able to provide scale and consistency, matching Viant’s Household ID to 95% of all U.S. adults 18+.

This structure allows Viant’s platform to deliver true interoperability and closed-loop measurement, enabling agencies and brands to test, learn, and scale identity-based campaigns with precision.

In short, identity isn’t a feature, but a necessary foundation. It’s how we connect fragmented data into a common language for performance, transparency, and trust.

Interoperability and the New Network Effect

Interoperability was another major focus of the discussion. In a landscape where marketers rely on a dozen or more martech tools, the challenge isn’t necessarily scale, but the data loss between each hop in the chain.

The New Network Effect is about creating value through connection rather than control. In today’s fragmented CTV landscape, every participant—agencies, publishers, data providers, and platforms—adds exponential value when they align around a shared identity framework. Instead of relying on siloed or proprietary systems, the New Network Effect emerges when identity becomes the universal connector, enabling consistent audience understanding, cleaner measurement, and more efficient activation across the entire ecosystem. As TransUnion’s Julie Clark, SVP of Diversified Markets, Media and Entertainment said, “What we see at TransUnion is the idea of the new network effect and that connectivity is really unified through identity.”

“The new network effect isn’t about owning the ecosystem,” I explained during the session, “it’s about connecting it.”

When data providers, agencies, and DSPs align around a shared identity framework, everyone benefits.

• Agencies gain efficiency through unified frequency management and cleaner audience reach.
• Publishers can monetize authenticated, addressable inventory more effectively.
• Brands achieve measurable, outcome-based performance.

A common misconception is that data collaboration denotes data exposure. However, through technologies like data clean rooms and the generation of shared match keys, partners can collaborate securely, match deterministically, and conduct post-campaign analysis without exposing sensitive information.

Every new integration strengthens the network, allowing all participants to measure, optimize, and grow together.

First-Party Data and Outcome-Based Measurement

First-party data has become the core signal of performance marketing. It is no longer a supplemental input. It is the strategy itself.

At Viant, we help brands and agencies make that data actionable. By connecting CRM, site, and publisher data through our identity spine, we enable cross-screen activation and closed-loop measurement. This approach unlocks smarter strategies, such as building holdout groups, forecasting future performance based on historical outcomes, and driving personalized upsell opportunities.

For example, if someone books a hotel at Disney World, the next logical moment of engagement might be an invitation to a Character Dining Experience or a VIP tour package that maximizes their trip. Identity-backed data makes those experiences both measurable and efficient.

As KPIs evolve, advertisers are asking tougher questions. They want to understand incremental lift and true return on ad spend. Viant’s identity spine ties media exposure directly to business outcomes such as purchases, registrations, and store visits. This provides attribution that moves beyond impressions to deliver verified, real-world results.

When you can clearly see what is working, you can reallocate wasted spend toward channels and audiences that are actually driving growth. That is the promise of identity resolution: transforming every impression into a measurable investment.

CTV and the Role of Precision

Identity delivers exceptional value in Connected TV. Household-level identity brings precision and accountability to a medium that was once defined by broad reach and GRPs.

By anchoring reach and frequency to deterministic IDs, advertisers can avoid overexposure and reduce waste. Those efficiencies free up budget that can be reallocated to reach new incremental audiences and drive additional performance.

As I shared during the webinar, “Every unnecessary impression is budget that can be used elsewhere—  to find new households, deepen engagement, or drive conversion.”

Identity resolution transforms reach and frequency from estimates into accountable metrics. When metrics are accountable, they unlock smarter investment decisions and improved results.

Starting Small: Building a Connected Ecosystem

For brands looking to take the first step, the path forward does not require an overhaul. It requires focus.

The cleanest starting point is to capture, store, and normalize your data. Once the data is unified, activate a single campaign through a trusted identity partner. Measure the lift, learn from the results, and iterate.

Viant’s Role in the Identity-Driven Future

Viant’s role in this new network effect is clear. We are not just another DSP. We are the infrastructure that makes identity-driven advertising practical, autonomous, and performance-based.

By combining CTV leadership, deterministic addressability, and AI-powered automation through ViantAI, we enable agencies, publishers, and brands to collaborate more effectively and achieve measurable outcomes.

Growth won’t be driven by isolated datasets, but by the network created when they interoperate. Identity is the connective tissue that keeps those connections meaningful, measurable, and built for performance.

Want to learn more about how Viant can help you drive value in Connected Television? Reach out to your Viant representative to explore our latest solutions.