The need for healthy data seems to bring out the most unlikely sources for online marketers. IDG TechNetwork will announce plans this week to launch a product that taps audience segments. The system, dubbed TechSignals, supports the idea that lots of data informs and improves decisions made by marketers to optimize campaigns in real time by identifying and anticipating purchase intent. In more than 25,000 data segments, it integrates 50 years of research from both IDC and IDG. The data combines IDG TechNetwork’s first-party data from more than 500 sites with third-party contextual and behavioral data. The TechSignals platform relies on multiple data management layers, offline and online, and captures in-page and in-ad data to fuel real-time audience modeling. It analyzes both contextual data to define the meaning of content, rather than solely relying on keywords, as well as behavioral data to predict consumer actions. The folks at IDG have their work cut out for them. According to eMarketer, executives continue to weigh the advantages and pitfalls of data mounds. Aside from customer behavior, research analysts believe the concept of collecting and analyzing transactions and internal operations holds significant promise for retailers. Some 17% of retailers were unaware of the Big Data concept as recently as earlier this year, according to eMarketer, citing a survey by Edgell Knowledge Network of North American. The remainder had varying degrees of familiarity with the subject, with 10% admitting they understood the ideas behind Big Data, but were unsure how the concept might influence retail.