SAN JUAN, PR – Media fragmentation has become the state of the world we all live in. So TransUnion is positioning itself as the critical bridge between consumers and marketers, leveraging its identity resolution capabilities to bring clarity to a maddeningly complex landscape.
“TransUnion is the ultimate connector within a fragmented media ecosystem,” Julie Clark, SVP of Media and Entertainment at TransUnion, said at February’s Beet Retreat San Juan 2025. “What we are seeing right now is that consumers can access content in very specific ways, and it can be very confusing for marketers and tech platforms to be able to understand the persistent ID of consumers.”
Building on a foundation of trust
TransUnion’s established reputation for data governance provides a solid foundation for its expansion into digital marketing and advertising.
“One of the greatest things about TransUnion is we have an incredible legacy of maintaining consumer privacy, of maintaining the right governance around data usage,” Clark noted. “As new channels emerge, whether it is retail media or commerce media across that ecosystem, it is incredibly important to us that we are not just understanding consumer behavior, but reaching them in the right way.”
Balancing precision and reach
When addressing the persistent challenge of balancing scale and accuracy in marketing, Clark emphasized TransUnion’s nuanced approach.
“That is one of the quintessential questions of balancing precision and reach within the marketing ecosystem and making sure that you’re doing it in a privacy-first way,” she said. “At TransUnion, we understand that precision is essential when you’re looking at things like measurement and looking at outcomes, and reach may be a little bit more flexible depending on client needs.”
Addressing industry challenges
Recent research conducted by TransUnion in partnership with Forrester revealed significant inefficiencies in the current marketing technology landscape.
“We found that most marketers and platforms are using 16-plus different tech platforms or audience providers to be able to activate their marketing,” Clark explained. Even more concerning, “70% of those same people are saying that they’re not confident that they’re reaching the right audience.”
This uncertainty represents a substantial opportunity for TransUnion to provide greater confidence in audience targeting while maintaining privacy standards.
Future direction
Looking ahead, Clark envisions TransUnion playing an increasingly central role in simplifying the complex advertising ecosystem.
“The future is helping to bring simplicity, speed, accuracy across analytics, consumer insights, cross-product workflows that are very easy to use,” she said. “TransUnion is uniquely positioned to be both foundational from an identity perspective and also an activation resource as well.”
