• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 13, 2021

Knowing who makes the ecommerce transaction and why creates a powerful piece of information for marketers who want to tailor and target ads to consumers. TransUnion on Monday announced it will pay $3.1 billion to acquire Neustar from a group led by Golden Gate Capital Communications.

“Combining TransUnion and Neustar capabilities creates the identity, precision-targeting and marketing performance measurement suite required to operate in a world without cookies or device IDs,” Matt Spiegel, EVP of marketing solutions and head of media and entertainment at TransUnion, wrote in an email to Inside Performance. “Neustar’s data, products and technology stack are both complementary and additive to our recently released TruAudience marketing solutions suite. We look forward to bringing this powerful combination to market.”

All Neustar employees in the businesses that are part of the agreement will join TransUnion.

TransUnion’s deal does not include Neustar Security Solutions. Following the sale of the Neustar marketing, risk and communications businesses to TransUnion, Golden Gate Capital and GIC will retain ownership of Neustar Security Solutions, which has about 235 employees.

Neustar focuses on identify resolution, identify theft and fraud.  The company is expected to generate about $575 million of revenue in 2021. 

In August, Neustar launched the diagnostic took, Fabrick Impact Assessment, to protect brands against data deprecation as a result of the loss of third-party cookies.

The Fabrick Impact Assessment will now provide TransUnion clients an ID-deprecation impact score for each of their measurement and media syndication partners. Marketers can leverage the assessment tool to launch and measure up to 80% of their media without third-party cookies or device IDs.

“Neustar’s OneID identity resolution platform will increase the speed and sophistication of TransUnion’s powerful identity-based solutions, strengthening TransUnion’s offers across industry verticals in the U.S., as well as global markets in the longer term,” the companies wrote in a SEC filing.

Other benefits, per the filing, suggest that the acquisition includes Neustar’s fraud detection and prevention capabilities, using advanced data analytics and online identity behavior insights to safeguard transactions across a range of channels.

And its broad customer base advances TransUnion’s diversification into new markets and verticals, and presents significant opportunities for cross-selling and innovation.

TransUnion also provides a diverse set of products and solutions that extend beyond its role as a credit reporting agency. TransUnion's TruAudience Identity Graph, which powers TU's marketing solutions, does not contain credit data.  Use of consumers' credit data, obtained via our role as a credit reporting agency, cannot be used outside of permitted use cases.