What is Third-Party Data?
Why Third-Party Data Matters (or Used to)
For years, third-party data was the backbone of digital advertising. It powered:
Programmatic ad buying
Behavioral targeting across websites
Lookalike audiences and demographic modeling
But the marketing world is changing. Increasing privacy restrictions, the phase-out of third-party cookies, and growing distrust in opaque data practices have made third-party data less reliable—and in some cases, unusable.
Where Third-Party Data Comes From
📦 Data brokers collecting from public records and partnerships
📊 Aggregated behavioral data from ad networks or publishers
🧩 Inferred interests based on browsing across unrelated websites
🧠 Demographic or psychographic profiles sold to marketers for ad targeting
You may never know the original source, and customers rarely know this data about them exists.
Third-Party vs. First- and Zero-Party Data
Data Type | Relationship to Brand | How It’s Collected | Accuracy | Trustworthiness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Third-Party Data | No direct relationship | Purchased or brokered data | 🟡 Varies | 🔻 Low |
First-Party Data | Direct, based on behavior | Website, purchase activity | ✅ High | 🟡 Medium |
Zero-Party Data | Direct, volunteered by the customer | Surveys, quizzes, preferences | ✅ High | ✅ High |
Third-party data was built for scale. Zero- and first-party data are built for relevance and truth.
Why Marketers Are Moving Away from Third-Party Data
❌ It’s unreliable. The data is often outdated or inferred incorrectly.
❌ It’s not transparent. You rarely know how it was collected or who it’s about.
❌ It’s increasingly blocked. Browsers, operating systems, and privacy laws are cutting off access.
❌ It lacks intent. You can’t tell why someone might buy—only guess.
Modern marketing leaders are replacing third-party data with more durable, accurate strategies rooted in consent and direct customer relationships.
Why Fairing Helps
Fairing doesn’t use or rely on third-party data. Instead, it empowers you to build a measurement and personalization strategy based on zero-party data:
🧠 Ask real customers what drove their purchase
🛠 Use that data to inform targeting, creative, and spend allocation
🔄 Pipe responses into Klaviyo, GA4, or your CDP to improve segmentation
With Fairing, you trade rented signals for owned insights—and build a more accurate and scalable marketing engine in the process.
FAQs
Can I still use third-party data?
Some platforms still support it, but its usefulness is declining fast. Most marketers are replacing it with owned data strategies.
Is zero-party data a replacement for third-party data?
Yes—especially for personalization and attribution. Zero-party data is more accurate, more trustworthy, and fully within your control.
How does Fairing help brands replace third-party data?
By giving you direct, first-hand attribution and intent data from customers themselves—no cookies, brokers, or guesswork required.
TL;DR: Stop Renting Data—Start Listening to Customers
Third-party data is fading. Fairing gives you something better: honest, actionable insights straight from your customers. It’s time to build your strategy on data you can trust.
👉 Ditch third-party guesswork. Own your insights with Fairing. Start now
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