How are data, identity, and privacy shaping the future of advertising? In this episode of The Marketing Rapport, host Tim Finnigan sits down with Carmela Fournier, VP & GM of Data at Comcast Advertising, to break it down. From her early days at Nielsen to leading data innovation at Comcast, Carmela shares how measurement has evolved—and where it’s headed next.
They discuss the growing importance of first-party data, the challenges of identity resolution, and how advertisers can build more precise, privacy-safe campaigns. Carmela explains how signal loss impacts ad effectiveness and why deterministic data is critical for accurate targeting and measurement. She also shares insights on Comcast’s signal authentication and how it helps brands improve reach and attribution.
Looking ahead, Carmela highlights key trends in media measurement, including the convergence of TV and digital, the role of clean rooms, and why advertisers must rethink identity to stay ahead.
The Evolution of Audience Measurement and Data’s Role in Advertising
[00:06:00]
Carmela Fournier explains how audience measurement has evolved from simple panel-based systems to a more sophisticated, data-driven approach. Traditional media planning relied on broad demographic categories, but today’s advertising ecosystem demands precision. With the rise of big data, advertisers now leverage first-party insights, deterministic identifiers, and impression-based methodologies to track consumer engagement across platforms. She discusses how Comcast has championed the use of data to improve measurement accuracy and ensure that brands can effectively reach the right audiences.
“Many of the top measurement companies now use a hybrid approach, where they’re understanding behavior based on their deterministic panel, and then they’re tying that to big data. The key there is really to have… the use of big data to drive innovation in measurement, both behavioral data and identity data.”
How Identity Resolution Impacts Advertising Effectiveness
[00:09:00]
As third-party cookies phase out, identity resolution has become a top priority for marketers. Carmela discusses how advertisers must rely on authenticated first-party data to create stronger audience connections. She highlights Comcast Advertising’s advantage in this space—leveraging IP addresses, set-top box data, and subscription services to provide a deterministic view of households. This allows brands to target and measure campaigns with higher accuracy while avoiding signal loss. She explains how identity resolution not only improves targeting but also helps in measuring ROI effectively.
“Marketers need to really understand their consumers and tie that first-party data to the endpoints where they’re watching. It’s key to support the resolution of those identities to deterministic sources… This helps them tremendously to be able to reach the right consumers and measure those consumers against the metrics they want to use to evaluate their campaigns.”
Solving the Challenges of Signal Loss in Digital Advertising
[00:12:00]
One of the biggest challenges in digital advertising is signal loss—when audience identifiers degrade over time, reducing campaign effectiveness. Carmela explains how Comcast’s signal authentication solution stabilizes IP-based audience identification, ensuring accurate targeting throughout a campaign’s lifecycle. Without a durable connection between an ad impression and a household, marketers face inefficiencies and lost attribution opportunities. She describes how deterministic data has improved reach and engagement, proving its value through case studies where accuracy increased significantly compared to probabilistic methods.
“We’ve done case studies on this… we found that when we use deterministic data instead of probabilistic device graphs, there is up to a 32 percent increase in reach and a 20 percent increase in attribution accuracy. You want to align the same household from targeted advertising all the way through to attribution.”
The Growing Role of Retail Media and Programmatic Advertising
[00:16:00]
Retail media networks and programmatic advertising are reshaping the way brands reach consumers. Carmela discusses how companies are using their first-party data to power digital ad placements, but highlights the risks of signal loss when data isn’t backed by strong identity resolution. She points out that programmatic platforms must work with high-quality, deterministic data sources to maintain accuracy. Comcast’s partnerships with DSPs like Beeswax help ensure advertisers can execute data-driven campaigns without losing audience fidelity. She predicts continued growth in this area, with brands demanding better measurement and targeting capabilities.
“Everyone has first-party data now, and as that data goes through DSPs and programmatic pipes, it doesn’t always get the same value… We need to ensure that identifiers are backed by deterministic data so that advertisers can truly reach their intended audience and measure campaign success accurately.”
[00:06:00] Carmela Fournier: “Many of the top measurement companies now use a hybrid approach, where they’re understanding behavior based on their deterministic panel, and then they’re tying that to big data. The key there is really to have… the use of big data to drive innovation in measurement, both behavioral data and identity data.”
[00:09:00] Carmela Fournier: “Marketers need to understand their consumers and tie that first-party data to the endpoints where they’re watching. It’s key to support the resolution of those identities to deterministic sources… This helps them tremendously to be able to reach the right consumers and measure those consumers against the metrics they want to use to evaluate their campaigns.”
[00:12:00] Carmela Fournier: “We’ve done case studies on this… we found that when we use deterministic data instead of probabilistic device graphs, there is up to a 32 percent increase in reach and a 20 percent increase in attribution accuracy. You want to align the same household from targeted advertising through to attribution.”
[00:16:00] Carmela Fournier: “Everyone has first-party data now, and as that data goes through DSPs and programmatic pipes, it doesn’t always get the same value… We need to ensure that identifiers are backed by deterministic data so that advertisers can truly reach their intended audience and measure campaign success accurately.”
[00:20:00] Carmela Fournier: “Convergence is necessitated because there’s so much fragmentation in viewership. Consumers watch programs how they want and when they want. Advertisers need a holistic view of where to reach their audiences best, and that requires a unified approach to identity resolution and measurement.”
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