The one thing AI can’t generate is real data — from real behaviors, from real people. Our new report, Consented, Connected, Omnitraffic, explores why consented, connected shopper data is becoming one of the most valuable assets in the AI era.
The advantage isn’t just having more shopper data — it’s connecting every signal to the same real consumer identity. One dataset tells you what happened; connected datasets tell you why, and what happens next. That’s the difference between observation and intent — and it’s exactly what generative AI can’t manufacture, because synthetic data can’t substitute for real behavioral linkage.
Walmart, Publicis, Adobe, Omnicom, and TransUnion already see it. Across ten major acquisitions — Walmart/Vizio at $2.3B, TransUnion/Neustar at $3.1B, and more — buyers have spent billions to join shopper signals they couldn’t otherwise access. That’s not a coincidence — that’s a signal.
The race to own connected shopper data is already underway. The report breaks down the ten deals driving it, why deterministic data beats probabilistic guessing, and what to look for in your own data.
