Lotame on Wednesday released numbers showing 117.07% growth in U.S. third-party data sales from Q2 2020 to Q3 2020. Sales rose 76.24% in Q3, compared with Q1.

The company defines third-party data as facts and information that did not originate with the buyer or seller, and includes various types such as demographic, interest and intent.

“As we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s lives were upended, their habits altered, their regular routines disrupted,” said Alexandra Theriault, chief customer officer at Lotame. “That meant the historical view of a customer from first-party data is now outdated.”

Consumer behavior has changed, along with their daily schedules, making it difficult to follow previous activities and patterns. Theriault said colleagues who once ran prior to starting work in the morning when they commuted five days per week now enjoy running in the middle of the day to break up their zoom time and can now be found listening to podcasts on their smartphone.

Brands that previously reached prospective consumers via radio ads during that morning commute had to rethink shifting lifestyle and interests.

As COVID-19 surged, marketers pivoted to reach consumers settling into new routines — working from home and juggling childcare.

Demonstrating the changes in lifestyles, the most popular U.S. audience segments purchased From Lotame in Q3 2020 included in-market for computers and electronics, B2B C-suite, Hispanics or Spanish speakers, declared parents, and parents of teenagers.

Lotame’s data also shows that as stay-at-home orders were implemented around the U.S., marketers changed their strategies to meet consumers. Cooking and recipe segments saw a 223% increase in targeted audience spend from Q1 to Q3 2020.

As people worked on projects around the house, targeting hardware and tools purchasers rose by 477% from Q1 to Q3 2020. 

Once it became clear that COVID-19 would continue, Lotame created a COVID-specific data set in Q2 2020 that included home office needs, fitness activities, learning at home tools, job searchers, and more. The data, sourced from Lotame Data Exchange, comprise billions of monthly unique users.