New Study Identifies and Quantifies Systemic Problems with IP Addresses and Call for Solutions to Improve Critical Signal for Marketing and Measurement
New York City — November 5, 2025 — A new study measuring the linkages between Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to households and individual email addresses reveals a number of costly inaccuracies. The groundbreaking research demonstrates that IP addresses are not always reliable as a stable identifier for digital targeting and measurement, calling for industry-wide collaboration to improve the fidelity of marketing signals that the industry currently uses to trade on.
Commissioned jointly by the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and Go Addressable and conducted by Truthset—the data-validation company improving the accuracy of identity and demographic data—the study benchmarked nearly one billion IP records from six major data providers against an accurate database of IP address to household assignments provided by two leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and one leading Multichannel Video Programming Distributor (MVPD). The result marks a real-world validation of IP data accuracy at scale.
Key findings from the study, released today at the Go Addressable Summit, include:
- IP-to-postal linkages are accurate, on average, 13% of the time.
- IP-to-email linkages are accurate, on average, 16% of the time.
- Data providers agree only 6.4% of the time on IP-to-postal linkages and 2.8% of the time on IP-to-email linkages, with the large majority of linkages over the same 90-day period unique to each provider.
- There are 3x more IPs-per-postal than there should be, compared to ISP reports.
- IP timestamp reporting is inconsistent across providers, with conflicting definitions of “first seen,” “last seen,” or “versioned,” undermining comparability.
- When (time of year) and where (state-level geography) both impact IP linkage accuracy.
- IPv6s are under-represented by 72% in large datasets, with only 15% of commercial files capturing them.
“The state of IP data today is messy, despite the billions spent trading on it,” said Kathryn Barnitt, Head of Data Science at Truthset. “By benchmarking against ISP truth sets, we can finally quantify where error enters the chain and begin to fix it.”
“Accurate identity resolution is critical for the future of addressable TV advertising and cross-platform measurement,” said Tim Myers, Executive Director at Go Addressable, the trade organization founded by AMC Networks, Comcast Advertising, DIRECTV Advertising, DISH Media, and Spectrum Reach. “However, this study shows IP addresses cannot accurately be used to identify and serve ads to the consumer or household as the primary method to target and measure. This sets the stage for industry-wide improvements and reinforces why advertisers and agencies should be using more deterministic identifiers.”
“IP addresses remain a foundational identifier for CTV, programmatic, and addressable advertising,” said Jon Watts, Managing Director at CIMM. “Inaccuracies in IP-to-household data can erode advertiser confidence in its reliability for audience targeting, attribution and measurement. Greater transparency and stronger standards are the essential next step to unlocking scalable, accurate addressable advertising. We hope strongly that this study is a positive next step in developing more robust quality controls and checks across the market and looking forward to working with stakeholders to deliver real improvements. This is a fixable problem.”
CIMM selected Truthset to conduct this important study based on the company’s position as the leading assessor of data quality and accuracy for identity and demographic data. CIMM previously selected Truthset to determine the accuracy of hashed email records linked to household addresses, uncovering match rates as low as 32%. The current study further demonstrates how today’s complex supply chain is eroding the value of media dollars.
Download the full report here.
About CIMM
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) is a non-partisan, pan-industry coalition focused on cultivating improvements, best practices and innovations in measurement and currency, new metrics and approaches to understanding the value of media, and data collaboration and enablement. CIMM’s members include leading networks, studios, streamers and programmers, MVPDs, TV OEMs and OS providers, major digital businesses, agencies, measurement and data providers, trade bodies and consultants. CIMM is a subsidiary of the Advertising Research Foundation and adheres to the ARF’s principles of scientific rigor, objectivity and evidence-based research.
About Go Addressable
Go Addressable is a trade organization led by TV distribution companies and cross-industry supporting members to help maximize the scale, impact, and value of TV as a marketing platform. Our mission is to further accelerate the advancement of addressable TV advertising and use of deterministic identity in a way that is trusted, scalable and effective for advertisers to incorporate into their campaigns and for programmers looking to make their inventory addressable. Go Addressable achieves this through advocacy and education within the industry; problem-solving and action around industry challenges; and by working to facilitate the use of addressable advertising campaigns for buyers and sellers of TV inventory. For more information on how to participate, please visit https://goaddressable.com.
About Truthset
Truthset is a data intelligence company focused exclusively on validating the accuracy of consumer data. The company helps brands build trust in data, and improve the performance of any data-driven activity. Truthset does not sell data and is not a data broker; it compiles a likelihood of truth for any individual record that can be used to validate the accuracy of data and power more accurate consumer interactions. Truthset was founded in 2019 by industry veterans from Nielsen, Salesforce, LiveRamp, and Procter & Gamble. Truthset is funded by venture investors. The company is headquartered in Oakland, California.