first-party data

Intermediate 📣 Marketing / Advertising

Definition

Information a company collects directly from its own customers through owned channels, increasingly precious in a post-cookie world where tracking strangers is frowned upon. The marketing equivalent of growing your own vegetables instead of buying them from sketchy data brokers.

Example Usage

With third-party cookies dying, we're investing heavily in first-party data collection through email signups and loyalty programs.

Origin

Data privacy discourse from the 2010s distinguishing owned versus purchased data

Fun Fact

First-party data has become so valuable that some companies now consider their email list their most important asset—more valuable than their actual product, which is concerning.

Source: Data privacy and digital marketing literature

Related Terms

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