What is first-party data?
For publishers working out what their audience data is worth and how to keep it usable.
First-party data is information an organisation collects directly from its own audience, in channels it runs, from people who knew they were giving it. For a publisher that means registrations, subscriptions, newsletter sign-ups, form fills and reading behaviour on its own sites. What it is worth depends on how well consent, source and accuracy were recorded at collection.
What counts as first-party data
The test is who collected it, from whom, and where. If a reader gave you the information on a site, app or event you run, and knew they were giving it to you, it is your first-party data.
For a publisher, most of it comes from a handful of places: registrations and log-ins, newsletter and subscription sign-ups, event registrations, downloads of gated reports, and survey and competition entries. It also includes what readers do on your own pages and apps: what they read, how often they come back and which newsletters they open.
Those two kinds behave differently. What a reader tells you, such as a job title or an industry, is declared data. It is as accurate as the person was when they typed it, and it goes out of date. What you see them do is observed data. It describes behaviour well and says nothing about who the person is until they register.
Why it matters more to a publisher
An advertiser collects first-party data about its own customers. A publisher collects it about an audience other businesses want to reach, so the same data is both how you understand your readers and part of what you sell to advertisers.
That second use raises the bar. An advertiser buying space against your audience, or buying leads generated from it, will ask how the data was collected, what each reader agreed to and how current it is. Data you collected yourself is the only data you can answer those questions about without asking someone else.
What makes a record usable
Four things decide whether a first-party record can do any work once it leaves the form.
A consent record.
The wording the reader agreed to, when they agreed to it and on which page, kept so it can be produced later.
Provenance.
Which site, form or event the record came from, and when. Without it, a record with a problem cannot be traced to its source.
Accuracy at collection.
A mistyped email address or a phone number with a digit missing is cheapest to fix while the reader is still on the page.
A stated purpose.
What the data was collected for, written down, because a buyer or partner will ask whether a new use matches it.
How publishers put it to work
Targeting on your own sites.
Advertisers buy space on your pages aimed at readers by what they declared or what they read. The data stays with you.
Leads for sponsors.
A reader downloads a sponsor's content and agrees to hear from the sponsor, and their details pass to the sponsor as a lead. The sponsor will ask the questions about consent and source that you can only answer if you recorded them.
Data partnerships.
A named partner receives your data directly, or the two sides match their data in a clean room set up so that neither hands over its raw records.
Reaching your audience elsewhere.
Your audience is used to find the same or similar people on other platforms, so an advertiser can reach them beyond your own sites.
It ages from the day it is collected
People change jobs, leave companies, abandon email addresses and move house. A record that was right on the day a reader registered drifts from then on, and a buyer of your audience cares about the record as it is today.
Keeping it usable means asking readers to confirm their details from time to time, re-checking contact details, and retiring records that show no sign of life. Observed data helps: a reader who still opens the newsletter is still there, whatever their registration says.
What a strategy has to decide
A first-party data strategy is mostly a set of decisions taken before the data is collected.
- What you collect, and why. Each field on a form should have a use you can name.
- Where consent and source are kept. On the record itself, so they travel wherever the record goes.
- How accuracy is checked. As the reader fills in the form, before the record reaches your systems.
- Who you share with, and how. Direct supply, matching in a clean room or targeting on your own sites, each on its own terms.
- How records are refreshed or retired. Which signals count as a reader still being there, and how often the file is reviewed.
First, second and third party: who collected it
The labels are used loosely. The useful test is who collected the data and how far it has travelled from the reader.
First-party data.
Collected by you, from your own audience, in channels you run. You can check everything about how it was collected, because you collected it.
Second-party data.
Another organisation's first-party data, received directly from that organisation. You can check what it tells you about how it was collected.
Third-party data.
Gathered by a provider from many sources and sold on to others. You usually have the provider's description of its method and little more.
Frequently asked questions
Is data from a form on my own website first-party data?
Yes, provided your organisation collected it and the person knew they were giving it to you.
Does my first-party data become second-party data when I share it?
To the partner who receives it directly from you, yes. It is still your first-party data. If a provider aggregates it with other sources and sells it on, it becomes third-party data to whoever buys it.
What is the difference between first-party data and first-party cookies?
A first-party cookie is a small file set by the site a reader is visiting, and it is one way of recognising a returning reader. First-party data is the wider set of information you hold about your audience, much of which comes from registrations and sign-ups that have nothing to do with cookies.
Is first-party data always better than third-party data?
It is more checkable. It also only covers people who have already come to you, and a well-kept third-party file can be more useful than a neglected first-party one.
Where to go next
Capturing consented data from your audience.
Recording consent and source as readers sign up.
Making the data you already hold sellable.
When a publisher has the audience data and wants to put it to work.
Reaching your audience beyond your own site.
Extending your audience onto other platforms.
What is content syndication?.
How sponsor content becomes leads, and what buyers check.
The LeadScale Engine™.
How consent wording, a timestamp and source are written into each record at capture.
Working out what your audience data is worth?
Bring the ways you collect it today and what you would like it to do next.