Digital advertising is in the midst of a fundamental reset. Signal loss and tightening privacy regulations are reshaping how media companies handle their audience data and work with advertisers. 

In response, a growing number of publishers are investing in centralized data infrastructure designed to make their first-party audiences actionable, secure, and scalable across channels. These investments allow publishers to transform oftentimes fragmented data signals into high-value segments, enable smarter monetization strategies, and maintain full control.

Owning data is not enough

Unity, one of the world’s largest gaming platforms, offers a strong example of how publishers can level up their approach to identity & audience activation through their recently launched Audience Hub powered by OptableWith over 3 million gamers interacting across different environments, Unity had a robust volume of gamer data, but needed a way to unlock its full potential for buyers.

Gaming companies are rich in player engagement and behavioral signals, but turning that into addressable, monetizable audiences in a privacy-safe way isn’t straightforward. Common challenges include:

●     Siloed data across platforms Player data is collected across console, PC, and mobile, but rarely unified into a single view.

●     Fragmented identity Users interact across games, apps, and devices, making it difficult to resolve identity and connect sessions.

●     Enrichment complexity Adding demographic or behavioral attributes often requires manual, custom integrations with third-party data providers.

●     Collaboration & activation limitations Without interoperable infrastructure that supports data collaboration it's hard to meet advertiser needs & activate consistent, high-performing segments across mobile, in-game, and CTV channels.

The solution is not just better tech—it is a strategic shift toward publisher-owned infrastructure. Building Unity’s Audience Hub with Optable

Unity partnered with Optable to build a privacy-first audience hub, bringing structure and flexibility to their large data ecosystem. Here’s what that looked like in practice:

●     Unified their first-party data into one audience mesh in Optable, enabling a consolidated view & seamless activation.

●     Enriched audiences by integrating data from Experian through Optable, adding more depth.

●     Then, segmenting audiences into high-intent groups aligned to advertiser needs.

●     Collaborating with brand advertisers via Optable’s clean rooms to enable more use cases in a privacy-safe way.

●     Purpose-built integrations to activate audiences across mobile, web, and CTV for improved reach and performance.

This approach gives Unity the agility to serve advertisers with relevant, high-performing audiences while maintaining control over their data and avoiding third-party audience providers.

Initial testing with advertising partners revealed a 102.6% increase in CTR and a 103.6% uplift in engagement, demonstrating the Audience Hub's ability to reach relevant audiences and match them with media inventory.

What it takes to build a monetization-ready audience strategy

Unity’s approach is replicable and increasingly necessary. Publishers can begin building their own audience monetization strategy  by following these steps:

1. Unify siloed data: Bring together authenticated user data, contextual signals, and behavioral insights into a single place.

●     Optable helps you build or enhance your identity graph to ensure high match rates across channels.

2. Enrich your identity graph: Combine your first-party data with trusted third-party signals to enhance scale and precision.

●     With Optable, integrate leading data providers while maintaining a privacy-by-design framework.

3. Build custom audiences: Design audience segments that reflect your most valuable users and align with advertiser needs.

●     Optable enables you to blend demographic, behavioral, and interest-based signals for targeting and lookalike modeling.

4. Activate across revenue-driving channels: Push segments directly into DSPs, ad servers, or clean rooms for collaborative activation.

●     Optable syncs audiences to any destination — programmatic, direct, or partner-based — with minimal friction and a set-it-and-forget approach.

5. Scale brand collaborations: Match, prospect, and activate across partners, no matter where your data lives.

●     Optable’s interoperable clean rooms remove friction and unlock collaborative audience activation.

As the advertising ecosystem continues to change there is an opportunity for innovative, forward-thinking companies to harness the power of their first-party data and grow their business. By investing in cutting-edge technology companies can enable smarter advertising products, build strong partnerships with their advertisers and enhance their audience experience.

Whether you’re in gaming, news, or entertainment, the path forward is the same: unify, enrich, segment, activate, and repeat. Talk to our experts today to understand which tools and audience strategy are right for you.

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