A few years ago most marketers didn’t know how to use location; it was about “geofencing,” Starbucks and mobile coupons. Today they literally can’t get enough of it.
Brands, retailers and agencies have discovered the versatility and utility of location data — for audience targeting, attribution and competitive insights — and are increasingly hungry for “always-on” mobile location. However always-on location is not easy to get.
It typically requires a first party relationship or data supplied via a first party relationship (i.e., an app with location enabled). Most companies working with location data access it through the exchange bidstream. That data is generally full of inaccuracy and even “location fraud” — defined as passing location coordinates that are known to be inaccurate for a higher impression bid.
For this and other reasons, it’s not uncommon for companies in the location intelligence arena to throw away 75 to 80 percent of bidstream data from the exchanges. So says Michael Hayes, Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer at UberMedia, one of a growing number of competitors offering location intelligence, location-based mobile media buying, and location analytics.
While UberMedia has a number of its own first-party apps, it decided it needed more persistent location data. The company has therefore acquired Cintric, which has a widely adopted developer SDK that delivers location insights while being very respectful of battery drainage.
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