• by Laurie Sullivan , February 2, 2016

Skimlinks will make first-party publisher data from its affiliate network available to Lotame clients to overlay on behavior and demographic data.

The partnership, announced Tuesday, marks the first time that Skimlinks agreed to combine its user intent search affiliate data --  which has been shared anonymously -- with a data management platform provider. The company's clients include publishers such as Hearst, Gawker Media and Daily Mail, among others, about 1.5 publishers.

Ed Thomas, Skimlinks head of audience, told Search Marketing Daily the company supports about 1.4 billion cookie and device IDs in its data store -- about 400 million pieces reliable that get turned into segments, which are groups of consumers interested in buying certain products. These consumers are identified as "interested" after clicking on an affiliate link or making a purchase.

Thomas believes Skimlinks can make "highly accurate" matches between desktop users identified by cookies with mobile users identified by device IDs, when publisher site visitors are logged in. The technology can identify both and make a match, connecting desktop visitors to the mobile device they use.

Jason Downie, GM of data solutions at Lotame, says Loteme has about 3 billion cookies and 2 billion device IDs in its network. The company built server-to-server integration with demand side platform (DSPs) like Google Trade Desk, and built audience segments such as past purchases, and demographics. It now has the missing piece to support its programmatic platform, the real-time intent data for consumers wanting to purchase specific items like jeans or Levi's, more specifically.

Lotame takes the near real-time purchase intent data based on the conversion data from 20,000 merchants worldwide and makes it available to advertisers looking to improve conversions and performance of campaigns.

Aside from the ad targeting, Thomas says Skimlinks data helps publishers stay more in tune with what site visitors want to read, so it guides editorial coverage.