Identity resolution in digital advertising is only as reliable as the signals it’s built on. And right now, most of those signals are in constant motion.
IP addresses change. Devices reset. Cookies expire. Audience relationships can become harder to maintain as these signals change over time. The result is an identity ecosystem that can become increasingly fragmented across long-running campaigns, multi-platform delivery, and cross-partner measurement.
As audiences move across environments, reach becomes inconsistent, frequency controls break down, and attribution loses its footing. When campaigns underperform,the challenge may begin much deeper in the infrastructure: with signals that were never designed to provide continuity over time.
Why Identity Resolution Needs More Persistent Signals
Modern identity resolution draws on many signals: IP addresses, mobile advertising IDs, hashed emails, cookies, and other digital identifiers. Each plays a role. But their availability and persistence can vary across environments, platforms, and partners.
IP is the most universal of these signals. It underpins the majority of identity resolution and geolocation transaction requests in CTV and digital advertising. Publishers, SSPs, DSPs, measurement vendors, and data partners all use IP as a common reference for audience alignment. Yet in a typical 30-day period, over 40% of IP addresses are reallocated to new locations.* That means the audience defined at the start of a campaign is already drifting by the time delivery is underway. The longer a campaign runs, the greater the gap between the segment as planned and the segment as reached.
This isn’t a data quality problem in the conventional sense. The IP data is accurate at the moment it’s observed. The problem is continuity: an accurate IP today may not be the IP associated with that same household tomorrow. What looks like a stable signal is actually a revolving door.
Place Is More Durable Than a Device
The physical world moves more slowly than the digital one. Where a person lives, works, or regularly spends time tends to be far more consistent than the identifiers used to find them online. A household connected to a broadband network may cycle through multiple IP addresses over a campaign flight, but the location itself hasn’t changed.
This is the insight at the core of LocID. Instead of following a signal that changes over time, LocID establishes a persistent reference to the physical location behind it. It creates a fixed, anonymized geospatial identifier — one that represents a real location without revealing personal or device-level data — and maintains that reference even as the IP addresses associated with it come and go.
A Foundational, Network-Layer Anchor for the Whole Ecosystem
LocID operates at the network layer, which is where IP itself lives. This matters because it means stability is introduced at the point where instability originates, rather than compensated for downstream after fragmentation has already occurred.
Think of LocID as a common reference framework for location-based audience recognition. As IP addresses change over time, LocID helps maintain continuity by linking changing network signals back to a persistent location-based reference layer. This enables publishers, SSPs, DSPs, and measurement providers to maintain greater consistency in how audiences are recognized and measured across activations, transactions, and reporting.
Instead of requiring every partner to independently account for IP volatility, LocID provides a stable foundation that helps preserve audience alignment throughout the ecosystem.
Identity Strategies Built to Endure
The identity landscape will keep changing. New platforms will emerge, buying models will evolve, and privacy requirements will continue to tighten. An identity strategy that depends entirely on signals designed for a different era will require constant rebuilding.
LocID provides continuity without disruption. It works alongside existing investments as a persistent location-based foundation layer, enabling greater interoperability as the ecosystem evolves without requiring organizations to rebuild their identity strategies.
When the foundation remains stable, identity resolution becomes more resilient.
Ready to stabilize your identity strategy? Connect with a LocID expert to learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is LocID?
LocID is a persistent IP signal infrastructure that provides a stable reference as IP addresses change or are reassigned. It helps maintain continuity across audience activation, reach and frequency management, and measurement while complementing existing identity solutions.
Does LocID replace cookies, MAIDs, or identity graphs?
No. LocID is designed to work alongside existing identity solutions. It provides a stable network-layer foundation that supports audience activation, measurement, attribution, and identity graph initiatives.
Why is IP volatility a challenge for identity?
IP addresses change regularly due to ISP reassignment, network updates, and consumer movement between networks. As these changes occur, audience segments built on IP-based signals can drift over time, reducing consistency across campaigns and partners.
How does LocID help?
LocID maintains a persistent reference to the underlying location even as associated IP addresses change. This helps preserve audience continuity and improve alignment across platforms, partners, and measurement environments.
Is LocID privacy-friendly?
LocID is based on anonymized location intelligence and is designed to support audience continuity without relying on personally identifiable information.
Can LocID work with existing identity solutions?
Yes. LocID is designed to complement existing identifiers and identity frameworks by providing a stable network-layer reference that helps improve consistency across activation and measurement workflows.