How Data Passes (Or Fails) Back-To-School Season

New data from Truthset reveals that back-to-school campaigns may not be making the grade as much as retailers would hope. In its Quarterly Industry Report Q1 2025, Truthset finds that targeting data identifying households with children is accurate just 41% of the time.

• To equate that to dollars, if a brand spends $1 million on a back-to-school campaign with a $10 media CPM, it means up to $590K could be wasted.
• Meanwhile, the real, effective on-target CPM balloons to $24.39.
• Truthset also calls out that since household income accuracy sits at just 46% – so reaching a parent can already be a tall task, and then even if you do so successfully, advertisers may be misjudging their buying power (leading to ads that don't really resonate).

Check out more of Truthset's analysis here.