The latest Magnite case study offers a campaign-level view of how predictive audiences can extend CTV reach without individual identifiers (ID-free). For brands and agencies, it adds another consideration to decisions about audience selection, cost and scale.
Magnite is adding campaign results to its case for ID-free CTV targeting. A newly published retailer example reports more efficient audience delivery using Comscore’s Predictive Audiences through SpringServe, giving buyers an application to examine alongside the technology’s broader promise.
In the Magnite case study, Trusted Media Brands used predictive segments to reach homeowners and DIY enthusiasts across its CTV inventory. Magnite reports 43% greater targeting efficiency compared with ID-based audiences used in the campaign, along with 10% additional target-audience scale.
The U.S. campaign ran during the third quarter of 2026 for an unnamed retailer. It predates the October expansion of Magnite’s Proximic by Comscore partnership, making it evidence of an earlier application rather than a result produced since that announcement.
Finding Audiences Through Content
Predictive targeting uses audience insights to identify content associated with particular consumer groups. Instead of depending on an identifier to recognize a viewer, it helps publishers select advertising opportunities based on those modeled relationships.
That approach underpins Magnite’s expanded work with Proximic, which brings predictive audiences and contextual intelligence into SpringServe. Publishers can use those capabilities to package inventory around advertiser needs.
In the retailer campaign, the audience categories included new homeowners, home-improvement enthusiasts and DIY consumers. The application illustrates how a publisher can translate a broad marketing objective into content-based targeting.
For buyers, the opportunity is to reach relevant prospects beyond audiences that can be matched through identifiers. But a modeled homeowner or DIY enthusiast should not be treated as a verified customer or someone known to be shopping for a particular product.
What the Results Establish
Magnite’s reported gains concern audience delivery and media efficiency. They do not establish additional store visits, purchases or customer acquisition.
The company does not define the calculation behind its 43% targeting-efficiency figure. Buyers therefore cannot assume it means a 43% reduction in CPM or cost per customer. The published material also lacks the spending, sample sizes and independent verification needed to assess how broadly the findings apply.
Even with those limits, the case study provides a useful planning example. It suggests predictive segments can supplement ID-based audiences when a campaign needs additional delivery, rather than requiring advertisers to choose one targeting approach exclusively.
Agencies evaluating that combination should compare audience overlap, on-target delivery and total costs. Lower-priced inventory or data is useful only if the resulting impressions still serve the campaign’s objective.
Making Reach Relevant to Locations
For multi-location brands, reaching a category audience is one part of the buying decision. Advertising also needs to align with store coverage, product availability, regional offers and the markets where customers can act.
A home-improvement retailer could find homeowner audiences relevant, for example, while still needing different geographic priorities and creative across its footprint. National audience-delivery results cannot establish whether those local requirements were met.
Magnite’s role in connecting retail audiences with CTV inventory gives brands several routes to potential customers. Purchase-based audiences reflect recorded shopping behavior; predictive audiences offer a different way to identify relevant reach.
The retailer example adds a practical application to that choice. For brands and agencies, the value is understanding where ID-free targeting complements existing audiences—and whether the added reach improves the media plan across the locations they serve.
