Match rates
What a match rate is, the match rates Primer typically achieves per destination, and how it differs from audience size.
The match rate is the share of your audience an ad platform can identify and target. Because no platform recognizes everyone, the audience that actually delivers is smaller than the one you built — the match rate is how much smaller.
Match rate vs. audience size
These are two different numbers:
Audience size is how many records match your filters (see Audience size limits).
Match rate is the percentage of that audience the destination can identify.
The matched (servable) size is roughly audience size × match rate. A large audience with a low match rate can deliver fewer people than a smaller audience with a high one, so check both when a destination reports a small servable size.
Predicted match rate in the estimate
When you build an audience, Primer shows a predicted match rate for Meta, Google and LinkedIn. Other destinations don't show a predicted rate at build time.
Typical match rates by destination
These are the ranges Primer tends to achieve, with the typical rate advertisers see without Primer for contrast. Actual results vary by audience.
Meta
65–85%
~20%
80–95%
~50%
Google Search
35–45%
2%
15–60%
2%
DV360
40–80%
2%
YouTube
20–45%
2%
Match rate vs. reach
Match rate and reach describe different stages:
Match rate is Primer's measure of how many of your records the platform identified — the matched count divided by the records Primer sent.
Reach is a number the ad platform reports for how many of those matched people it considers servable — active, eligible users it can actually show ads to. It's always the platform's figure, computed on the platform's side, and can be smaller than the matched count and can lag while the platform builds the list.
Reach is platform-owned and updates on the platform's schedule, so a freshly synced audience may show a matched size in Primer before the platform reports a servable/reach number. See Finding your synced audience.
A match rate is not a timing. For how long matching takes, see How long matching takes.