Why match rate is over-valued in data collaboration — and what actually drives results

In data collaboration for digital advertising, few numbers spark as much reaction as match rate.

We’ve seen it happen over and over:

• Publisher match rate? 2%
  
• Data partner match rate? 11% 

The immediate reaction: “That’s too low. This won’t work.”

However, match rate on its own is one of the most misleading metrics in this industry. This short article looks to demystify it and provide some context around what metrics you should give your attention to instead.

Match rate ≠ success

A match rate is just a percentage. It tells you the proportion of your audience that a platform can deterministically identify, but nothing more.

What it doesn’t tell you:

• How many people that percentage actually represents
  
• How valuable the data of the publisher or data partner is
  
• How you can expand that audience further

If you manage to match 2% of your 1.5 million users with a partner, that's 30,000 actual people. Thirty thousand real, reachable individuals who are in your target market — and that’s before modelling on authenticated traffic and lookalike expansion.

Why expectations are skewed

Brands are used to match rates of 60–80% with Google or Meta. That’s because those platforms have a near-complete view of the population’s personally identifiable information (PII).

Other publishers and data partners don’t have that luxury, but that doesn’t mean their audiences aren’t valuable. In fact, they often have complementary and sometimes richer data that can fuel smarter targeting.

Reach and quality beat match rate every time

When you focus only on match rate, you miss two key factors that actually drive performance:

1. Absolute match – 30,000 matched users is far more actionable than worrying whether the number is 2% or 5%.
   
2. Audience quality – Attributes and segments provided by your partner matter. This will ultimately define your ability to run precise targeting and extend your audiences with high-performing lookalikes
   

The Decentriq advantage

We help you get the most out of every match by:

• Leveraging any identifier to maximize the overlap for
  
• Applying advanced lookalike modelling to identify similar users and grow your reach far beyond the initial match
  
• Maintaining privacy-by-design so you get results without compromising compliance
  

With this approach, your initial 30k matched users can become a scalable, high-performing audience that drives measurable business outcomes.

Bottom line: Stop chasing a higher match rate for its own sake. Focus on the real levers — absolute reach, audience quality, and intelligent expansion.

Ready to turn your match into momentum? Let’s talk!