Adstra has introduced ID Connection Strength (ICS), a configurable identity scoring framework designed to help brands, agencies, publishers, and adtech platforms evaluate the quality of identity links before launching advertising campaigns. Available through the Conexa Identity Network, ICS aims to improve transparency in identity resolution by providing advertisers with a measurable assessment of identity quality rather than relying solely on traditional match rates.
The company also partnered with InterMedia Advertising to evaluate the effectiveness of ICS across programmatic connected TV (CTV) campaigns, with research highlighting the impact of identity signal quality on campaign performance and media efficiency.
ICS measures the strength of the relationship between a digital identifier and a verified person or household using five key dimensions:
Each identifier receives a score ranging from 1 (highest connection strength) to 6 (lowest connection strength). The framework supports major identifier types, including hashed email addresses (HEMs), UID2s, mobile advertising IDs (MAIDs), CTV IDs, TTD Cookies, and IP addresses.
Unlike conventional match rates that simply indicate whether an identifier is connected, ICS evaluates whether that connection is reliable, current, and linked to a verified individual or household. According to Adstra, every score is calculated using user-consented signals within its Match Partner Network and validated by an independent fraud prevention provider.
To validate the framework, Adstra collaborated with InterMedia Advertising on a research study analyzing identity signal quality across programmatic CTV campaigns.
The study comes as connected TV advertising continues to grow. According to EMARKETER's December 2025 forecast, U.S. CTV advertising spend is expected to reach $37.95 billion in 2026, while Truthset's 2026 State of Data Accuracy report estimates that nearly 40% of open-auction CTV advertising spend is lost due to inaccurate identity data.
Key findings from the joint study include:
The findings suggest that stronger identity verification can contribute to improved audience targeting, reach consistency, and campaign measurement.
By enabling advertisers to evaluate identity quality before campaign activation, ICS is designed to help improve audience accuracy, frequency management, attribution, and overall media efficiency. The framework can also be configured based on campaign objectives, allowing marketers to prioritize precision for high-value audiences or scale for broader awareness initiatives.
"Many marketers still view capabilities like geo-targeting, household targeting, and identity-based activation as largely deterministic," said David Nyurenberg, SVP of Digital at InterMedia Advertising. “The reality is that the underlying signals powering those capabilities are often dynamic, probabilistic, and subject to significant degradation over time. When those signals weaken, the impact extends far beyond targeting accuracy. It affects reach, frequency management, measurement, attribution, and ultimately confidence in campaign outcomes. As an industry, we do ourselves a disservice when we ignore these realities because they challenge long-held assumptions. The solution is not to pretend the problem doesn't exist. The solution is to confront it directly with greater transparency, better measurement, and more rigorous standards for evaluating identity quality. That's what makes ICS so valuable. It gives advertisers a practical framework for understanding the strength of the identity connections they are activating against before media dollars are spent, rather than discovering those weaknesses after a campaign is already in market."
“CTV buying has become incredibly sophisticated, but too often the identity signals underneath it have not kept pace,” said Andy Johnson, Chief Data Officer of Adstra “A campaign can have the right strategy, creative, DSP and frequency controls, yet still waste spend if the ID being activated is not reliably connected to a real person or household. ID Connection Strength gives buyers a transparent, actionable way to evaluate identity quality before activation, so they can protect budget, improve reach and make every impression work harder.”
With the launch of ICS, Adstra is expanding its identity resolution capabilities by providing advertisers with a standardized framework to assess identity quality before media activation. As privacy-focused advertising and connected TV continue to evolve, the solution is intended to help organizations improve campaign efficiency while making more informed identity-based marketing decisions.
Adstra delivers identity resolution and data solutions for media and technology clients. Built on the Conexa Identity Network, Adstra's composable, cloud-based platform unifies customer identities across offline and online signals, enabling precise, privacy-first audience activation at scale. From brands and agencies to publishers and political media buyers, Adstra powers the data infrastructure behind smarter targeting and stronger results. Learn more at adstradata.com.
InterMedia Advertising® is a fully integrated $1 Billion+ advertising, media, and marketing organization known for its innovative blend of performance-driven strategies and brand-building techniques. Founded in 1974, the company offers comprehensive media solutions through its specialized business units covering all aspects of modern marketing – from media planning and buying to creative production, analytics, and technological innovation. InterMedia specializes in creating accountable, data-driven campaigns that deliver measurable results across diverse media channels.
For more information, visit www.im.agency or follow InterMedia on LinkedIn.
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