This is brilliant framing on the identity spine becoming the real network. The part about CTV transitioning from branding to a high-fidelity signal amplifier really clicked for me because we've seen similarsignal quality jumps in connected environments that most teams still treat as top-of-funnel. Agree that most orgs shouldn't DIY this stack, the jigsaw metaphor is spot on and the middleware layer you described is where everything usually breaks. Curious how you see TAL hygiene evolving with agentic search changing discovery patterns entirely.
Appreciate this, and you’ve nailed the crux of it 😊
I think TAL hygiene has to move from “list management” to “signal governance.” In an agentic search world, discovery becomes non-linear and intent becomes episodic, not sequential, all of which spectacularly breaks static TALs very quickly.
The shift I’m seeing (and pushing) is toward TALs as a living boundary condition: continuously re-scored using real engagement, attention and identity signals — not just firmographics or quarterly intent spikes.
Agentic discovery actually raises the bar here. If buyers are delegating exploration to tools, the only way to stay relevant is to anchor TALs to observable behaviour across environments (CTV included), then let agents react to signal changes, not lists.
In other words: TALs don’t disappear but they stop being the input, and start being the output of a well-governed signal layer.
This is brilliant framing on the identity spine becoming the real network. The part about CTV transitioning from branding to a high-fidelity signal amplifier really clicked for me because we've seen similarsignal quality jumps in connected environments that most teams still treat as top-of-funnel. Agree that most orgs shouldn't DIY this stack, the jigsaw metaphor is spot on and the middleware layer you described is where everything usually breaks. Curious how you see TAL hygiene evolving with agentic search changing discovery patterns entirely.
Appreciate this, and you’ve nailed the crux of it 😊
I think TAL hygiene has to move from “list management” to “signal governance.” In an agentic search world, discovery becomes non-linear and intent becomes episodic, not sequential, all of which spectacularly breaks static TALs very quickly.
The shift I’m seeing (and pushing) is toward TALs as a living boundary condition: continuously re-scored using real engagement, attention and identity signals — not just firmographics or quarterly intent spikes.
Agentic discovery actually raises the bar here. If buyers are delegating exploration to tools, the only way to stay relevant is to anchor TALs to observable behaviour across environments (CTV included), then let agents react to signal changes, not lists.
In other words: TALs don’t disappear but they stop being the input, and start being the output of a well-governed signal layer.