Data Management Platform (DMP)
GLOSSARY
Definition
A data management platform collects and organizes audience data — mostly anonymous, cookie-based identifiers — for use in programmatic advertising. Advertisers use DMPs to build audience segments and push them to demand-side platforms for ad targeting.
Why it matters
DMPs were essential infrastructure for programmatic advertising from roughly 2012 to 2022. Then third-party cookies started dying. Chrome's Privacy Sandbox, Safari's ITP, and Firefox's ETP all eroded the cookie-based identifiers that DMPs depended on. Most DMP vendors pivoted to 'audience platforms' or got absorbed into CDPs. If you're evaluating a DMP today, ask what happens to your segments when cookies are fully gone.
Tools in this space
Twilio Segment
Customer data platform for collecting, unifying, and activating customer data
Snowplow
Open-source customer data infrastructure for collecting, enriching, and activating behavioral data
Related terms
CDP · Attribution · CRO · UTM parameters · Customer journey