Reach specific audiences using Index's addressability solutions

Buyers
Last Updated: April 30, 2026•

At Index Exchange (Index), we offer a range of addressability solutions to help our clients show relevant and targeted advertisements to their customers. Some of our addressability solutions pass a Universal IDClosed Universal IDs are IDs that Index can receive from data partners and pass to DSPs in the bid request., which is either person-level or device-level.

Publishers who use a Universal ID typically receive higher bids, because buyers are willing to bid higher when they know who the user is, or are given advanced contextual information that makes their ads more relevant.

Buyers who use addressability solutions can more effectively reach specific audiences through the open market or through a dealClosed A private auction that allows media owners to offer specific inventory directly to selected buyers identified by a deal ID. Terms are negotiated and are agreed upon before the auction occurs. ID. As a result, buyers can deliver the right ad to relevant audiences, creating a more personalized experience.

For more information about which addressability solutions pass a Universal ID, review the section below.

Addressability solutions that are available at Index

Index offers the following solutions to help Media Owners and buyers deliver relevant ads to their customers:

SolutionUse case

Universal ID providers

Universal ID providers are companies who identify known users or devices on publisherClosed The owner of a website or app where advertisements are served. sites to enable audience targeting of the ID in the open market or using a deal ID.

Universal IDs can be either person-level or device-level, depending on the type of first-party dataClosed An advertiser's first-party data might include things like customers' email addresses, purchase histories and behaviors demonstrated across its site. A publisher's first-party data usually comprises behavioral information collected from around its properties (cookie information), which can then be used to target ads on behalf of advertisers. that they use to create an ID. Our supported Universal ID providers offer two types of Universal IDs:

  • Authenticated ID: A type of Universal ID that is based on user-level information such as an anonymized email address or phone number. This type of ID can identify a known user across multiple devices.

  • Inferred ID: A type of Universal ID that is used when an email address or phone number isn’t available to buyers or Media Owners. Unlike an authenticated ID, an inferred ID is device-level. It’s created when a user visits a publisher’s site and is used to retarget that same user when they make future visits on publisher sites.

Publishers can use this addressability solution with many integration types, including Prebid,, and OpenRTBClosed An open industry standard for communication between buyers and sellers of online advertising in real-time bidding auctions. It's published by the IAB.. For more information about using a Universal ID provider, see Matching users using a Universal ID provider.

Matched Audiences™Closed Matched Audiences are IDs where data partners or media owners upload a list of IDs for a particular Universal ID provider and match a deal ID against that audience segment.

Matched Audiences allows buyers to target audiences in audience files that they manage with specific Universal ID providers.

For more information about Matched Audiences, see Targeting users using Matched Audiences.

ID Match Extension

ID Match Extension brings Universal IDs to environments where only cookie-based identifiers are available.

For more information about using ID Match Extension, see Using ID Match Extension to scale Universal ID-based addressability.

Publisher First-party data: contextual

Publishers can pass contextual information in the bid requestClosed An OpenRTB request that is sent from a supply-side platform (SSP) or ad exchange to the DSP requesting a bid response for potential impressions. A bid request contains information about the impression that allows the DSP to decide whether to bid on the impression. about the user or a specific section of their site to DSPs. This solution is ideal for Media Owners who want to improve targeting without using Universal IDs.

For example, if a consumer is looking at a travel website, the Media Owner can pass specific details about that particular section, such as the trip destination. Buyers can then target the user based on the information that they receive, such as placing an ad of a hotel deal for that particular destination.

Publishers who have integrated with Index using Prebid can share this information using the First-Party Data module.

Publishers who are using OpenRTB can share this information by passing the user.data object in the bid request.

DSPs can receive this information through the user.data object in the bid request.