Cadent has launched Predictive Audience Builder, a new self-service capability designed to give advertisers greater control over how audience segments are built and activated across the open web. Integrated within the Cadent Platform, the solution allows media buyers to create custom predictive audiences using individual data signals instead of relying on predefined audience segments.
The launch expands Cadent’s predictive AI advertising portfolio and addresses growing industry concerns around programmatic advertising efficiency, audience transparency, and campaign performance optimization.
Traditional audience targeting platforms typically rely on fixed audience categories layered with demographic and behavioral data. Cadent stated that these approaches often lack transparency and force advertisers to pay for bundled signals that may not align with campaign goals.
Predictive Audience Builder changes that model by allowing advertisers to directly select, exclude, and prioritize individual predictive signals when building audience segments. These signals include geographic visitation patterns, publisher engagement, keyword behavior, TV and connected TV viewership, household demographics, and additional behavioral indicators.
According to Cadent, the platform enables advertisers to build custom predictive models tailored to campaign objectives while maintaining visibility into the underlying audience construction process.
"As the first platform to offer this level of control within a single workflow, Cadent's Predictive Audience Builder enables advertisers to build unique predictive models and activate high-performance audiences based on what actually drives outcomes."
Cadent positioned the platform as a solution for advertisers seeking better reach beyond traditional ID-based targeting methods. The company noted that many open web impressions remain inaccessible through conventional audience targeting systems.
"We know nearly 40% of open web impressions are effectively invisible to traditional ID-based targeting," said Eoin Townsend, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Cadent. "Predictive Audience Builder changes that by combining our industry-leading, independent identity graph with real-time predictive AI. It gives media buyers a 'best-of-both-worlds' approach to reach known audiences and uncover high-value ones beyond IDs. Now advertisers can extend incremental reach across the open web and activate opportunities that would otherwise go unseen."
The launch also comes amid increased scrutiny around programmatic advertising transparency and media efficiency. Cadent referenced industry findings highlighting how a significant portion of programmatic spend fails to reach intended audiences due to inefficiencies in audience construction and targeting workflows.
Cadent stated that early campaigns leveraging Predictive Audience Builder have already demonstrated measurable business impact. According to the company, one leading QSR brand achieved a 5x improvement in cost-per-acquisition performance, while a beverage brand recorded a 4.6x behavioral lift.
McCoy's Building Supply also shared its experience using Cadent’s predictive audiences against internally developed third-party audience segments.
"We are up against strong competitive spend, so we must be highly strategic in how we reach prospective customers. Cadent's Predictive Audiences has helped us do just that," said Elizabeth Crawford, Marketing and Media Strategist at McCoy's Building Supply. "When we tested them against third-party segments built from our own POS data, Cadent's Predictive Audience outperformed those segments. This allowed us to simplify our approach, reduce unnecessary spend and focus on what's actually driving results."
With Predictive Audience Builder now available through the Cadent Platform, the company aims to further strengthen its position in AI-powered advertising and open web audience activation as advertisers increasingly prioritize transparency, efficiency, and measurable campaign outcomes.
About Cadent
Every day, Cadent ignites 200 billion connections between brands, publishers, and consumers through our predictive advertising platform. With 22,000 AI-driven models, we orchestrate outcomes on all platforms consumers are on, across all media they consume, and at all stages of their journey. With a transparent, unified platform, we connect directly with hundreds of premium partners to drive measurable advertising outcomes across all screens.
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