A Person ID (PID) is a stable, cross-device identifier that persists with an individual over time.
When Samba TV’s identity graph detects that a set of identifiers (such as mobile advertising IDs, cookies, or Smart TV IDs) consistently belong to the same individual, that set is assigned a Person ID.
Over time, the identifiers linked to a Person ID may change — new ones appear, old ones drop off — but the Person ID remains stable, ensuring continuity in measurement and targeting.
What goes into a Person ID?
The identifiers linked to a Person ID can come from a variety of sources, including:
- Mobile advertising IDs (IDFA, GAID, etc.)
- Hashed Email Addresses
- Cookies
- Other device or platform IDs
Persistence: Person IDs vs. User IDs
Individual identifiers, especially cookies, tend to decay quickly — they may expire, be deleted, or reset.
- User IDs: short-lived, often unstable
- Person IDs: much more persistent, because they continue to exist even as the underlying identifiers change
This makes Person IDs far more reliable for longitudinal measurement and activation.
Persons vs. Households
- Person IDs (PIDs): represent individuals
- Household IDs (HHIDs): represent households, where multiple individuals and shared devices coexist
Shared or family devices (e.g., Smart TVs, game consoles, tablets) are typically not assigned to a Person ID, but they are still linked at the household level.
In most cases, a person is represented by a single Person ID that connects all of their devices and identifiers.
In rare situations, an individual may be associated with more than one Person ID at first — for example, when signals from different devices appear separately. As additional data is collected, the graph automatically learns and merges these clusters into a single, stable Person ID.
This adaptive process ensures that Person IDs grow more accurate and comprehensive over time.