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Unified identity support in Data Collection

Unified identity support lets the Edge Network work across both first-party and third-party identity contexts. It brings together durable first-party identification on your owned properties with third-party activation workflows in browsers that support third-party cookies. For background on how the Web SDK handles ECIDs, FPIDs, and other identity signals, see Identity in Data Collection.

With unified identity support, you can:

When a visitor arrives on your site, the Edge Network evaluates available identity signals—linking first-party and third-party contexts automatically when conditions allow. Browsers that block third-party cookies continue to operate in first-party mode with no disruption to your implementation.

How it works

The Edge Network generates ECIDs by evaluating the available identity signals in the following priority order:

ECIDs and Demdex IDs are cryptographically linked through a deterministic algorithm, meaning one can be derived from the other. This relationship is what allows the Edge Network to translate between first-party and third-party identity contexts without requiring separate visitor handling logic in your implementation.

Because the relationship is deterministic, audiences built on first-party ECIDs can be activated through third-party infrastructure when the corresponding Demdex ID is available.

For visitors who already have an FPID-derived ECID, the Edge Network can automatically link their first-party identity to the third-party identity context. This happens transparently when the browser supports third-party cookies and requires no changes to your implementation. When automatic linking occurs:

Automatic linking preserves existing ECIDs and prevents visitor cliffing. Over time, more of your audience gradually becomes eligible for third-party activation as visitors return and linking occurs.

Third-party audience activation relies on ID synchronization (ID sync). When the Edge Network establishes or refreshes a third-party identity, it returns ID sync instructions in the response. These instructions direct the browser to synchronize the visitor’s identity with partner domains (DSPs, ad networks, and other activation platforms), so that your Experience Platform audiences can be matched and delivered on those platforms.

Prerequisites

Unified identity support requires all of the following:

Configuration

Validation

To verify that unified identity support is working:

When ID sync instructions are present, the response includes an identity:exchange handle similar to the following:

{
  "handle": [
    {
      "type": "identity:exchange",
      "payload": [
        {
          "type": "url",
          "id": 411,
          "spec": {
            "url": "https://example.com/...",
            "hideReferrer": false,
            "ttlMinutes": 10080
          }
        },
        {
          "type": "url",
          "id": 89,
          "spec": {
            "url": "https://example.org/...",
            "hideReferrer": true,
            "ttlMinutes": 10080
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

After confirming ID sync activity, validate that:

Browser compatibility browser-compatibility

Third-party identity features depend on browser support for third-party cookies. The following table summarizes the expected behavior:

For browsers that block third-party cookies, first-party identification continues to work normally. Third-party activation features are only available where the browser allows third-party cookies.

Limitations