IP Geolocation - Digital Element

Targeting and Trust Series: Part Four – The Facts About Using IP Geolocation Data

Posted on June 1, 2021November 11, 2024 by jsisko

We continue our “Targeting and Trust” series of blog posts, dedicated to why IP-based geolocation data is well positioned to deliver both the accurate targeting digital marketers need for improved response rates and the trust consumers crave in terms of personalized promotions in a non-intrusive manner.

The fourth installment of our five-part blog series digs into the realities of using IP geolocation. Though IP geolocation technology has been around for nearly two decades and is widely used across the globe in a variety of applications, there is still a certain aura of mystery around exactly what this technology is and what it can do. Further, many companies have had negative experiences with IP data providers whose data did not live up to expectations and have, therefore, become disillusioned with the technology’s business potential.

Below we examine the common misconceptions surrounding the use of IP geolocation data and discuss the facts to help you understand the technology’s value and its role in an increasingly location-based digital world.

Misconception: IP-based geolocation data isn’t accurate enough in my country

Many IP providers rely to a large extent on publicly available (free) registration data (i.e. Whois), which is notoriously inaccurate at a city level (less than 50 percent) or even at a country level―and has gaps in coverage upward of 20-to-30 percent where no results are returned.

Reality

Digital Element utilizes patented web-spidering technology and 20⁺ proprietary methods to triangulate the location, connection speed, and many other characteristics associated with an IP address. By combining this “inside-out” infrastructure analysis with “outside-in” user location feedback gleaned from a network of commercial partners, Digital Element can identify where the user actually accesses the internet down to the ISP’s end-point equipment.

Misconception: You must rely on ISPs to get IP geolocation data.

ISPs are notoriously inaccurate in keeping the location information of IP addresses updated in their registries. In fact, most either don’t report location information in the Whois registries or only report the address of their corporate headquarters.

Reality

Digital Element’s proprietary technology traces how traffic is actually routed over the Internet; how routers are connected; and the speed between routers. Then, the data-science team uses this information to triangulate where end-point equipment is located. The company’s technology does not rely solely on data-sharing relationships with ISPs.

Misconception: Because IP addresses are dynamic, it’s impossible to provide accurate geolocation information.

Since most IP addresses are dynamically allocated to some extent, this creates a problem for IP data providers that are solely reliant upon ISP/Whois registration information, as noted above.

Reality

Digital Element bases its mapping on where known pools of dynamic IPs are located. ISP dynamic re-allocations tend to be within those known pools of IP addresses, and the geographic allocation of pools actually remains fairly constant at the ISP end-point equipment level. With more than 10 trillion IP lookups per month, the company is able to pick up IP address reallocations the instant they occur.

Misconception: IP-based information is not as comprehensive as other forms of geolocation data.

Alternative, non-IP based geolocation technologies exist that may provide more granular location information―on small slices of the Internet. They often involve data-gathering techniques that rely on user-provided registration data, cookies, GPS-obtained latitude/longitude coordinates, or HTML5, etc. However, these techniques are far from comprehensive.

Reality

Digital Element’s IP Intelligence and geolocation solutions can provide a comprehensive, non-personally identifiable view of a user’s location within a 3- to 5-mile radius for virtually the entire Internet.

Misconception: Premium IP Intelligence and geolocation solutions are too expensive.

Most IP geolocation vendors simply repackage publicly available (free) Whois registration data and some supplement with user-supplied data, allowing them to offer discounted IP solutions. However, these are not reliable methods for accurate geolocation when used in isolation.

Reality

If coverage, accuracy, and granularity are important, then IP Intelligence and geolocation technology that integrates multiple methodologies, such as Digital Element’s, is the right solution for your business.

As a digital marketer, it’s important to fully understand some of the major differences between IP geolocation solutions and realize that not all IP data providers are created equal.

In Part Five, the final piece of this series, we reveal the many different ways IP geolocation can be applied to your marketing efforts.

Targeting and Trust Series: Part Three – Using IP Geolocation to Overcome Marketing Challenges

Posted on May 5, 2021November 11, 2024 by jsisko

We are continuing the “Targeting and Trust” series of blog posts this month, dedicated to why IP-based geolocation data is well positioned to deliver both the accurate targeting digital marketers need for improved response rates and the trust consumers crave in terms of personalized promotions without intrusion.

The third installment of our five-part blog series examines how IP geolocation technology helps digital marketers overcome many of the challenges they face every day. In Part One of our series, we referenced a series of challenges that digital marketers are now facing in the marketplace—many a direct byproduct of the pandemic.

Here we’ll look in more detail at each of these challenges and explore how IP-based geolocation offers a solution.

Low Response Rates

It’s open knowledge that click-through rates (CTRs) are low—and are getting lower. The first internet banner had a 10-percent CTR. Today, the rate is around 0.05 percent. Geo-targeting reverses this trend by offering relevant content, which generates a much better response. Real use cases show CTRs as much as tripling with the use of IP-geolocation data.

Falling Inventory Prices

Just as CTRs have fallen, so, too, have inventory prices. Again, geotargeted ads buck that trend. Typically, advertising delivered through geotargeting commands a 30- to 40-percent premium over non-targeted ads.

Cookies

Placing a cookie on a user’s browser lets a brand follow that user around the web. Abuse of the cookie is the original “creepy” ad-tech innovation. And, it is the big casualty of the new era of data privacy. Even Google is phasing it out.

Brands and advertisers need an alternative that supports personalization, but avoids intrusion. Many are experimenting with fingerprinting. However, some believe this technique to be as invasive as the cookie.

The removal of cookies should breathe new life into the IP address, which is ubiquitous and instant. An IP address can provide location and other user insights in real time—without yielding any personal information.

Privacy

In recent years, consumers have become increasingly active in speaking up when it comes to the use and protection of their personal information. The result? We’re seeing a rise in the utilization of tools such as ad blockers and virtual private networks (VPNs). Today, respect for privacy is such a consumer hot button that Apple is basing campaigns around it.

Consumers might reject creepy tracking methods, but they still respond best to personalized advertising, promotions and messages. Geotargeting offers marketers a privacy-sensitive solution they can be confident in to provide valuable insights into online traffic. Moreover, premium IP data can detect proxy, VPN and Tor traffic.

For marketers, in particular, the inclusion of proxy information in their data arsenals works to improve efficiency and performance of content and message through: 1) Avoiding wasted impressions; 2) Fighting click fraud; and 3) Enhancing attribution and analytics. Research suggests that 28 percent of website traffic has shown strong “non-human signals.” Where there’s non-human traffic, there’s certainly the potential for ad fraud.

Click Fraud

And speaking of ad fraud…the key to detecting it is to know more about who (or what) the ”clicker” is. Why is this important? Because the fraudster is usually trying to assume the identity of a legitimate consumer. Obviously, fraudsters use all manner of techniques to hide their identities—and to steal others.

IP-based geolocation gives brands a tool for spotting these scams by:

Revealing traffic surges from areas outside a campaign’s target zone;
Filtering out clicks from regions where services aren’t available;
Flagging account access from unusual or high-fraud areas;
Showing where traffic is coming from, such as proxies, which might indicate fraud;
And so much more.

Companies can then use this type of insight to reduce click fraud.

We live in the age of tailored, targeted, programmatic advertising that delivers relevant, timely messaging to consumers. The relevance of that messaging is dependent on good data. Much of the simple IP-based data that has previously been available to digital marketers has been inconsistent and inaccurate. By deploying more innovative, industry-leading IP geolocation data, digital marketers can overcome a myriad of challenges they face today through the use of more robust and reliable location-based advertising strategies.

In Part Four of this series, we’ll compare the realities and limits of IP geolocation data.

Targeting and Trust Series: Part Two – Options for Location-Based Advertising

Posted on April 6, 2021November 11, 2024 by jsisko

This month, we continue the “Targeting and Trust” series of blog posts dedicated to why IP-based geolocation data is well positioned to deliver both the accurate targeting digital marketers need for improved response rates and the trust consumers crave in terms of personalized promotions without intrusion.

The second installment of our five-part blog series focuses on the options that digital marketers have if they want to develop more localized advertising campaigns.

Location data has grown into a reliable tool for marketers who have learned to use it in their customer segmentation, analytics, attribution and targeting. To display location-based advertising and content, you need to know where a consumer is.

So, what are the options if marketers want to “go local”? There are many ways to do this.

Here are the main geotargeting data options:

User-Supplied

Sometimes you can just ask consumers for their location information. They can fill in a form to declare their whereabouts. However, this is the real world. Most consumers lack the time or the will to do this. And, even if they do, then the information is not always accurate—and can go out of date quickly.

Cookies

A cookie on someone’s browser can store previously entered location details. However, this is only true when the person actually supplies this information (see above). He or she might also clear the cookie cache at any point. Finally, of course, the cookie’s days are numbered. Browser companies are phasing them out.

GPS

Every smartphone supports GPS. The technology can be accurate to within a few feet. That sounds great, but again, GPS data is only available when mobile users agree to share it. Most don’t because of privacy or battery-life concerns. GPS is also application based (not browser based). Together, these two factors drastically limit how many users a brand can expect to target using GPS.

HTML5

HTML5-based mobile sites can collect some location information from visitors. However, visitors have to agree to this. Not to mention, their permissions expire after one session. As a result, HTML5 is very limited in terms of reaching an addressable audience.

IP Geolocation

IP geolocation technology uses an IP address to determine where a user is located. Everyone and everything connecting to a website is assigned an IP address. There is no connectivity without one. As an example, even a smart refrigerator has its own IP address.

An IP address is made up of a series of numbers. It can be used to identify location and other connection attributes, such as the type of device and the network it is connected to. The number includes:

The Internet Service Provider’s (ISP’s) name
The ISP’s host name
County/region/state/city

But that’s not all. An IP address can produce other properties that support even better targeting. These include 4G, 5G and Wi-Fi connections, or whether devices are on a corporate or home network. An IP address can also reveal connection speed. All of these extra attributes can help brands personalize—and localize—their goods or services.

Finally, here is what an IP address does not reveal:

A person’s name
An exact street address
A phone number
An email address

As stated in Part One of our series, the absence of this personally identifiable information (PII) protects a consumers’ privacy.

One marketing tactic that has been missing in the online world is the ability to effectively reach out to consumers without first asking for something in return. For example, in the current e-business world, for users to receive information that matches their unique tastes, they are required to give away a piece of themselves in the form of PII such as name, age, etc. And, more often than not, consumers are unwilling to part with such valuable—and personal—information for fear that it will be mishandled or sold to a third party.

By incorporating IP data into marketing initiatives, companies can improve the way they prospect for, acquire and retain customer relationships.

In Part Three of this series, we’ll delve into how IP geolocation technology helps digital marketers overcome challenges they face every day.

Targeting and Trust Series: Part One – The Digital Marketing Crossroads

Posted on February 23, 2021November 11, 2024 by jsisko

Today, we begin our series of blog posts dedicated to why IP-based geolocation data is well positioned to deliver both the accurate targeting digital marketers need for improved response rates and the trust consumers crave in terms of personalized promotions without intrusion. Throughout the series we’ll discuss how IP geotargeting:

Supports targeting that respects privacy;
Does not require an opt-in and is, thus, regulation friendly;
Is immune from the cookie showdown;
Links physical and digital activity;
Generates high response rates;
Commands higher inventory prices;
Combats click fraud; and
Unlocks unexpected customer insights.

This first installment of our five-part blog series focuses on how digital marketing has evolved and how location-based targeting fits in to navigating the road ahead.

Even before the pandemic, online activity was booming. However, as COVID-19 forced lockdown after lockdown across the world, more consumers turned to the internet for, well, just about everything—from shopping to entertainment to work and education.

Understandably, ad budgets have taken a collective hit in the last year. However, while traditional media suffered, digital ad spend grew in 2020, up by 6 percent year over year. Even with any lasting effects from the pandemic, the latest estimates predict the global online advertising market to reach $517 billion by 2023.

Yet, for all the good news, digital marketing has come to a crossroads.

Adtech is facing challenges on multiple fronts: privacy issues; falling response rates; click fraud; regulation; the power of the tech duopoly; and more.

The industry needs to find ways to send targeted messages that give customers real value, while respecting their privacy.

Location-based advertising offers some compelling solutions to the impasse. Geolocation offers a powerful model for targeting. It lets a brand know where its customer is now, and allows for the delivery of more contextually relevant advertising and content.

Many mistakenly believe location-based advertising is only possible when a (mobile) user turns on GPS and gives consent to a brand to access it. But there are other options. This is a relief given how few people choose to opt in to GPS.

The main alternative is IP geolocation. It uses the IP address as the basis for determining location. With the help of additional techniques, IP geolocation is good for targeting users at scale, down to a postcode level—worldwide.

IP geolocation is also entirely anonymous. The IP address reveals nothing personal about the user. This preserves trust and makes the method regulation proof.

Even better, an IP address can say more about an internet connection than its location. It can also identify characteristics such as connection speed and type (mobile or Wi-Fi), the identity of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and mobile carrier, as well as business insights such as a company name. Brands can use these additional attributes to build even better targeting profiles.

IP geolocation is more than two decades old. It’s well-established. And, it provides the flexibility for marketers to scale—or micro-target—to meet their specific campaign goals.

With conventional targeting techniques coming under pressure, it feels like the start of a new era for IP geolocation technology.

In Part Two of this series, we’ll take a look at the advertising options for digital marketers who want to “go local.”

Reverse Geocoding Technology Can Strengthen Real-Time Mobile Interactions

Posted on September 29, 2020September 3, 2024 by Digital Element

Today’s marketers need to show how their products and services are relevant to consumers―at different times and in different places throughout the day. However, creating that relevance requires data―and lots of it―many times from multiple sources. The “State of Marketing Report 2020” indicates that the median number of data sources used by marketers in 2019 was 8, is expected to grow to 10 this year, and projected up to 12 by 2021. Sourcing, aggregating, integrating and applying data from different providers can be a monumental challenge.

However, 51Degrees is an innovative company that has literally created a “one-stop shop” for real-time data with its Pipeline API. Founded in the United Kingdom, 51Degrees is the only commercial open-source, device-detection solution available. Leaders in ad tech, publishing, content management platforms, digital agencies and more than 1.5 million* websites, including global brands such as eBay, Sitecore, Opentext, Tencent and HSBC, use 51Degrees.

51Degrees is using reverse geocoding technology to convert the raw coordinates from latitude and longitude data derived from mobile devices into more useful geographical intelligence such as postcode, city, region, and country information. This “translated” data can then be used to provide more contextually and locally relevant advertising and content for on-the-go mobile interactions.

“We were delighted to integrate the Digital Element GeoMprint location solution for the launch of our new real-time data pipeline. Digital professionals can add location data to analytics, address capture and targeting systems.” said James Rosewell, CEO and founder of 51Degrees. “Setup takes a matter of minutes using the free-trial options. The permissively open source APIs make enhancements and audit super simple.”

Read the full press release to learn more about how to improve insights into online user preferences and device-specific behavior with geolocation technology…or jump right in and sign up for a free trial of the 51Degrees pipeline here.

*Numbers accurate at time of publication, but may be higher.

Geolocation Data Is Key to Reaching Local and Regional Travelers

Posted on May 20, 2020November 11, 2024 by jsisko

Travel and tourism was one of the first, and arguably the most prominent, industries to be impacted by the global crisis caused by COVID-19. Trip cancellations were abundant. Popular tourist destinations looked like ghost towns, leaving many of the hotels, restaurants and retailers that depend on a steady stream of travelers struggling to make ends meet.

With stay-at-home orders gradually lifting across the country and the official start of summer just around the corner, people are anxious to get out and resume travel. However, most will be staying closer to home for the immediate future which means travel, hospitality and retail marketers can effectively use geolocation data to target advertising, promotions and other communications within their respective local and regional destinations.

The Start of Travel Will Be Closer to Home

A recent Longwoods International travel-sentiment tracking study, showed that more than half of American travelers want to make their first trip (once it’s appropriate to travel again) a domestic visit to reunite with friends and family. Eighty-six percent of those travelers signaled that they plan on visiting a U.S. destination, with 76 percent of those saying they’d travel by car and 24 percent by air. Of those who plan on driving, 52 percent said they plan to stay within 200 miles of home.

As businesses around the country adapt to their new reality as a result of the pandemic, many should find hope and value in geolocation technology. With local being the new norm, it makes sense for travel, hospitality and retail marketers to look at localized strategies using IP geolocation and point-of-interest data to reach current and future travelers to let them know “We’re Open for Business!”

Reaching Consumers in Today’s New Reality

No doubt, as people begin to venture out, businesses built around the travel industry will be met with a new wave of competition to capture consumers’ attention in an attempt to get diners in restaurant seats, shepherd shoppers through the front doors, and offer weary travelers a safe and homey place to rest their heads. These businesses will need to use creative and relevant messages to grab their attention, delivered using reliable and accurate geotargeting data.

Incorporating IP geolocation and point-of-interest data into digital marketing initiatives has always been a successful and proactive way for local businesses to target consumers. If there was ever a time that geotargeting made complete sense for brick-and-mortar businesses (especially those that have not considered this approach previously), then this is certainly it.

As an example, a local hotel from a major chain such as Hilton or Marriott, in downtown Denver can geotarget ads to Coloradans offering a one-night free discount for a long weekend stay during the month of June. And, if a traveler is visiting The Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta, then nearby local restaurants or retail shops from recognized national brands, such as Hard Rock Cafe or Foot Locker, have an opportunity to target that same person with a “Come Eat Here” or “Come Shop Here” type of message.

Geotarget with Confidence, Sooner Rather Than Later

Two things to consider when incorporating IP data into your marketing efforts:

Publically available data is patchy, rarely updated, and inherently inaccurate; and
Not all data providers are created equal. There are several suppliers and systems available that can determine where an IP is and, for a small investment, an answer can be provided. But, determining the correct location of an IP address, along with other contextual information, requires advanced infrastructure analysis―which not every vendor possesses.

NetAcuity^® is a premium IP solution that, at its most granular level, can accurately and reliably locate an online user down to a city/postal code level and identify Wi-Fi connection locations without becoming personally identifiable. Accuracy is 99.99 percent at a country level, up to 97+ percent at a city level and the data is refreshed 24×7 and delivered weekly. It is also easy to deploy on an internal server, in less than 20 minutes. This is a tremendous advantage for businesses that want to quickly get out in front of the competition.

Once travel-related businesses find themselves on the other side of this pandemic, one thing is for certain—they are bound to emerge in a vastly different landscape than the one we experienced prior to the pandemic. In the meantime, geotargeting technology can play a huge part in helping the travel industry adapt to Americans’ preferences to stay a little bit closer to home.

IP Geolocation Data Plays Key Role in Gaining and Retaining Online Shoppers

Posted on January 16, 2020November 11, 2024 by jsisko

There is no doubt that online shopping has become firmly entrenched in our daily lives. In fact, according to a recent poll by Marist College and National Public Radio (NPR), 76 percent of all adults in the United States shop online. Online shopping platforms have also opened a plethora of options far beyond the physical location of the shopper.

Consumers now have more shopping choices than they could have ever dreamed of and seem to gravitate toward brands providing a positive and pleasant shopping experience. And, with what seems to be shorter and shorter attention spans from consumers, teamed with fierce competition, retailers are faced with the need to quickly attract their attention, anticipate needs, and provide an engaging, seamless shopping experience.

ShopRunner, a unique subscription service that matches savvy online shoppers with top retailers and brands, decided to focus on developing an innovative ecommerce presence so its retail partners could stand out in the crowded online space. Key factors to reaching this goal included identifying customers’ locations and effectively leveraging data science to make the shopping experience more personalized.

Because the fashion industry is very heavily influenced by geography, the company’s retail partners were looking for help in accurately deciphering trending data to help them establish filters based on attributes to enhance the shopping experience and provide recommendations for shoppers’ specific areas.

Due to the need to accurately identify and leverage shoppers’ locations, the company made the decision to incorporate IP geolocation technology. To that point, the company selected NetAcuity^® Pulse Plus which combines device-derived data with reverse-geocoding data to determine members’ geographic locations and provide that information to its retail partners. An added benefit was this information was gained in a non-invasive way.

“We sometimes know very little about our shoppers, but with location we have a starting point that enables us to empower our retail partners to provide a meaningful online experience for them,” said Michelangelo D’Agostino, vice president of data science and engineering at ShopRunner. “This requires extremely accurate data so we were in need of an IP geolocation provider who could ensure reliable data as well as ease of use.”

With the use of NetAcuity Pulse Plus data, ShopRunner now helps its retail partners determine shopping trends by more pinpointed locations, allowing them to adapt and present products to consumers on the fly, whether on a website or via a mobile app.

“Today, we are using trend data to drive product innovation as well as leveraging latitude and longitude data in large metro areas for better targeting,” said Ali Vanderveld, director of data science at ShopRunner.

Read the full case study to better understand the importance of using accurate IP geolocation data to help your retail company identify potential customers, enhance the online shopping experience, and help your brand stand out in the ultra-competitive digital marketplace.

Government Organizations Gaining Ground with IP Intelligence and Geolocation

Posted on August 8, 2019November 15, 2024 by jsisko

If you follow our blog posts, then you’d find us and our clients writing a lot about how IP data can be successfully applied across a number of traditional industries, from advertising to retail and streaming media to publishing.

Government, on the other hand, has been one business segment where the benefits of incorporating the use of geolocation and IP data can best be described as more like an “open secret.” However, with cyber and security risks ever increasing, more and more government organizations across all three levels―local, state and national―are now actively looking for more reliable and cost-effective solutions that can be delivered with IP intelligence data.

In recent years, the federal government has published several papers on cybersecurity, including Executive Order 13800 and the follow-on Cyber Risk Determination Report, the Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) paper, and NIST Special Publication 800-53 rev. 4 / National Vulnerability Database (NVD). All are particularly informative as to how cyber initiatives are being considered and managed by the government.

Specifically, NIST 800-53 and the NVD thoroughly address cybersecurity from start to finish, and the applicability of IP intelligence is clear and definitive. Contained within these documents are lists of low-, moderate-, and high-impact security controls.

Of particular interest is the list of “High Impact Controls” of which IP intelligence is either directly or indirectly referenced dozens of times. Example references from different sections of NIST 800-53 include, but are not limited to: AC-17 Remote Access, AU-3 Content of Audit Records, IA-4 Identifier Management, PL-8 Information Security Architecture, SC-7 Boundary Protection, and SI-4 Information System Monitoring.

Almost any agency has cyber, security, or controlled-access priorities. Some the typical agencies are those involved with intelligence, security, law enforcement, fraud and investigative missions. Agencies that need targeted notifications as well as geospatial or demographic information or perform network analysis and management are among the most common users. Our government clients include the National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, and New York State.

Digital Element’s NetAcuity ^® technology offers accurate and time-relevant information about online entities, users and attack vectors such as location, proxy/VPN and more. By leveraging IP intelligence data, government organizations can proactively employ real-time intelligence about inbound and outbound network traffic; identify location and connection type information; uncover potential threats; and add critical intelligence to the investigation of cyber events. The most popular solutions for government include proxy identification with Pulse^TM and ZIP+4 geotargeting with PulsePlus^TM.

Examples of successful government applications include:

Cyber/anti-fraud: Identify incoming proxy and other circumvention tools used by bad actors or pinpoint the location of an originating IP to help prevent intrusion attempts.

Criminal investigations: Effectively sort through billions of IP and mobile connections for anomalous activity or connection types.

Intelligence community: By setting IP criteria, SIGINT and cyber analytics can be optimized and enhanced by reducing multiple orders of magnitude from billions of IP and mobile data points.

Credential verification: Compare and validate users’ IP information versus supposed origination location or proxy type.

Geofencing for inclusion/exclusion purposes: Set specific permissions or responses based on the location of IP- or mobile-based connections.

Targeted notifications: Alert users, specific geographic locations or system administrators of events based on location, domain or other criteria.

Server/network traffic analysis: Identify and analyze traffic patterns, location and connection types for IP- and mobile-based connections.

Content localization/customization: Allow for geographic, connection type or other criteria to be used to specify information, content or other personalized use cases.

As government organizations build their digital initiatives and bring increasingly more assets into the tech-enabled universe, more departments and agencies can easily and quickly apply IP intelligence to solve multiple cyber challenges on a number of fronts.

Learn more about our IP Geolocation solution here

Guest Post: How Smart Targeting Can Help You Achieve High-Performance Marketing

Posted on March 18, 2019November 18, 2024 by jsisko

It goes without saying that location is one of the most important criteria for advertising smart targeting as well as for the optimization of ad campaigns.

Pinpoint data accuracy is a key factor for reaching a designated audience and, ultimately, facilitating better returns from advertising campaigns. From what the comparative statistics show, smart targeting allows advertisers to reach a more relevant audience in comparison to ordinary targeting, that often can leave behind around 30 to 40 percent of potential consumers.

As a solution provider for advertisers, affiliate networks and publishers, Affise offers a performance-marketing platform to run, manage and optimize their ad campaigns. Thus, we need to provide our clients with unmatched geo-accuracy to ad-campaign targeting and tracking.

However, we quickly realized that not all geolocation data providers are created equal and recognized that our current datasets were no longer enough for ensuring accurate targeting for our clients―for whom granular data is a must. The need arose to find a solution with global datasets that would accurately, reliably and non-invasively identify the location of digital consumers to help ensure smart targeting for our clients.

Integrating Industry-Leading IP Intelligence and Geolocation Data

Because the accuracy of geotargeting depends on the quality of the database being used to identify users’ locations, the only solution for us was to partner with Digital Element, the industry leader in global geolocation data and services.

With NetAcuity Edge technology, Affise is able to more accurately geotarget, either as a standalone targeting criterion or by adding accurate IP location data to other datasets to build better targeting profiles. Additional datasets, such as connection speed and mobile carrier, have been added to broaden targeting options and enrich capabilities, helping to improve the relevance and response for online campaigns.

Our team worked diligently to ensure the Affise platform integrated with and deployed the solution for our clients smoothly and effortlessly. Now, Affise clients benefit significantly from this new feature, and we’re changing the way affiliates target their designated audiences by greatly improving the accuracy of our geotargeting.

Multiple Benefits Provide Boosted Performance

The main results of integrating NetAcuity Edge within the Affise platform are highlighted below:

Deeper and More Far-Reaching Analytics
It enables more accurate segmentation of online audiences and gives more detailed portraits of consumers. With this data, advertisers receive much clearer insights into particular customer behaviors and are able to adjust campaigns and target accordingly.
More Accurate Geotargeting and Traffic Tracking
By using more accurate and reliable datasets, our clients reach the right audiences with more relevant ads―ultimately improving click-through rates.
Stronger Fraud Prevention
Using IP intelligence reduces online fraud by more than 90 percent. We’ve seen this benefit through:
1. More balanced risk management where geolocation information is used to identify and allow legitimate accounts access or identify and reject fraud sources;
2. Enhanced identity verification that prevents access from non-targeted or high-fraud areas; and
3. Detection and prevention of non-earmarked traffic from proxies.

With all these advantages, Affise has taken a big step forward to ensure that clients’ advertising campaigns would benefit from smart targeting and have the best possible performance―bringing more conversions and higher ROI.

Guest Author: Dmitrii Zotov, founder and CTO of Affise

How to Use Geolocation Data to Enhance Global Broadcast Services

Posted on January 2, 2019November 18, 2024 by jsisko

In September, we at Spicy Mango announced our partnership with Digital Element to provide technical architecture and services to integrate its geolocation data into the Over-the- Top (OTT) platforms of some of the world’s most prominent broadcasters.

For those who aren’t too familiar, geolocation data is hugely useful to video providers and gives us as technologists a method to “translate” an IP address into a whole bunch of valuable information.

As an example, in modern handsets, laptops and tablets, GPS receivers extract your latitude and longitude, then pass this information back as a city, region or country code. However, in older devices, GPS receivers aren’t so common. Even in modern handsets, with privacy at the forefront of everyone’s minds these days, it’s a dwindling few that give applications and services access to their device location anymore.

Why Location Data Is Needed for Video Distribution

So why do we need geolocation data and services such as this? For a service provider or operator of video platforms, having global geographic-rights and entitlement-management capabilities are critical. Studios and broadcasters issue content to providers, such as Netflix or Hulu, with rules. These rules determine where and when the content may be viewed by the consumer (that’s you and me). Seems like a trifling issue, but the reality is that the penalties for a breach of the rules are severe.

These rich data sets are wrapped around interfaces that allow applications to provide an IP address, and have it translated to the data set demonstrated earlier. By using IP-address translation services, we can achieve almost the same results as we’d get with a GPS receiver, but without the pinpoint accuracy. In fact, for a video operator or service provider, a city or country is often only needed to be able to enforce these commercial and legal rules.

IP-Based Data Is Useful Beyond Geographic Rights Management

We’ve covered the why and the how, but what else can we do with geolocation data? Alongside its most frequently found use case, location information can serve us well in the wider context of the video distribution platform―when used to provide services, features or capabilities that are tailored to regions or markets. With that in mind, here are five other things that your location data can do for you on a day-to-day basis:

Control Service Access

In many services, users are able to access the applications, even registering for accounts or perhaps in the worst cases, creating subscriptions, only to discover that at the point of playback, content-rights restrictions prevent playback. This can be hugely frustrating for consumers. Location data can be leveraged way before the entitlements check to verify that your users are in the right place to begin their journey with you.

Personalize Catalogs

Finding a piece of content in catalogs―usually after a good old search―only to discover that your location prevents access is one of the most frustrating things consumers often encounter. We’d think in today’s age, that this shouldn’t be happening, but it still does. Location data can be queried and used at the point of catalog presentation―ensuring that only the video assets your users can view are presented before your carousels (or pages) are rendered. This is a great way to present country- or region-specific catalogs.

Localize Messaging

The success of deploying and operating a truly international service involves meeting the needs of consumers wherever they may be. Location data can be used to tailor the application or portal to local requirements. It can be used to present translated text or information tables and localized offers or content, as well as player or play-back messaging. This is a refreshing approach to hard coding applications and portals in a handful of languages.

Control Features

It’s not uncommon to want to control features or capabilities by territory. In the case of large multi-national events, features in the service such as download to play offline, instant restart or DVR may be subject to international restrictions as a result of licensing or partnership deals. Use location data to restrict capabilities based on location. When coupled with device-management platform technologies, the ability to enable or disable features based on location or other defined parameters requires no more than a simple change of a toggle in a console―not distribution of territory-version-specific applications.

Build Reports

Location data can also be used to help build detailed reports, for example, where you might see the most activity in your service. By collating city or country codes and feeding these into analytics tools or proprietary interfaces, you can build accurate heat maps of where requests originate.

If you’re looking for a way to determine the next hot territory that’s desperate to use your service, this could be it. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, use the data to spot abnormal traffic patterns―comparing this to volumes of requests or data hitting your APIs and interfaces. You’ll soon spot spammers or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) wannabe hackers.

The real-life applications don’t stop here. There is a lot you can do with geolocation data when you understand how to tie it to core services and functions inside of your video service or platform. Used correctly, it can be an incredibly powerful tool to enable true personalization and regionalization of services, as well as support the enforcement of rights.

Guest Author: Chris Wood, Chief Technology Officer, Spicy Mango