Welcome to The Ally! A content series from Alliant highlighting the thought leaders shaping the future of audience data and advertising.

In this edition, we’re joined by Ryan Sussan, Senior Director of Data Partnerships at Eyeota, to discuss how marketers are rethinking scale and performance while activating audience data across channels in a privacy-first landscape.

Can you tell me more about your role at Eyeota?

As Senior Director of Data Partnerships, I lead Eyeota’s North America data partnerships team. At a high level, my role is all about building stronger relationships and making sure our partners see the value in working with us. I focus on driving value and revenue for our data partners by ensuring that their data is available, discoverable, and actionable across key activation channels.

For those less familiar with Eyeota, we’re a global provider of audience solutions, helping advertisers identify and engage high-quality audiences across digital platforms. Through our Audience Marketplace, we enable seamless audience activation, empowering advertisers to reach the right customers across the channels where they engage.

What are some of the biggest challenges advertisers face today?

Advertisers face several key challenges. Many brands have a wealth of first-party data, yet they often struggle to activate it effectively or scale beyond the data they collect directly. Relying solely on first-party data can limit reach and makes it harder to uncover new audiences and deeper insights.

Eyeota helps bridge this gap by providing privacy-compliant third-party audience data that enhances targeting precision and expands reach. Fragmentation across channels adds complexity, but through Eyeota’s integrations with 60+ platforms, advertisers can activate audiences seamlessly across display, CTV, social, DOOH, gaming, and more. Finally, measurement and attribution remain challenging in a privacy-first world, and Eyeota supports advertisers with compliant audience strategies and partnerships designed to deliver actionable insights.

How does Eyeota balance being able to offer both scale and precision targeting to performance focused customers?

For us, scale and precision don’t have to be a trade-off. Our global Audience Marketplace covers over 30 vertical and seasonal categories, offering broad audience reach based on diverse audience signals. Our team takes a consultative approach by working closely with advertisers to develop an audience strategy that aligns with their performance goals and KPIs. This combination of marketplace breadth and tailored targeting ensures advertisers can achieve both scale and precision without compromise.

Can you walk us through Eyeota’s identity solution and how it’s built to serve the new marketing landscape?

In today’s ever-evolving marketing landscape, marketers are expected to deliver seamless, personalized experiences across channels while navigating growing privacy and identity complexity. At Eyeota and Dun & Bradstreet, we address this by enabling brands to create holistic audience profiles that merge B2B and B2C data into a unified view—what we call Business-to-Person (B2P).

This enriched identity approach gives marketers deeper insights and the ability to engage individuals with greater relevance and precision, while maintaining compliance and trust. By connecting professional and personal dimensions, we help brands to move beyond fragmented data and build stronger, more meaningful relationships with their customers.

How important is data privacy to Eyeota?

Privacy is foundational to how we operate. We only source privacy-compliant data aligned with global regulations like GDPR and CCPA, ensuring advertisers can activate audiences confidently in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.

Our privacy-first approach is reinforced by partnerships and technologies, helping brands maintain compliance while still achieving scale and precision. This commitment to privacy and quality is embedded in every step of our process, from data sourcing to activation.

What’s the best piece of ad creative you’ve seen lately?

On the heels of CES 2026, one of my favorite recent campaigns is tied to the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. In November 2025, leading up to the race, Lego and F1 collaborated on a digital out-of-home activation on the iconic Sphere along the Las Vegas strip. Their bold visuals seamlessly blended each brand’s identities, creating a fun, engaging experience for visitors, and a standout example of how brands can transform iconic spaces into immersive platforms for creative storytelling.

About Eyeota

Eyeota, a Dun & Bradstreet company, is a trusted global provider of audience solutions that empower brands to enrich insights, enhance personalization and transform omnichannel targeting. Founded in 2010 to meet the rising demand for high-quality audience data in an emerging programmatic ecosystem, Eyeota created a global data marketplace built for scale, transparency and performance. As digital marketing evolved, Eyeota quickly became a leader in the data space, culminating in its acquisition by Dun & Bradstreet in 2021.