Third-party data is information collected by an organisation other than the one using it, and supplied to the user, usually under licence, by a data vendor, broker or marketplace. The user has no direct relationship with the original source and relies on the supplier's account of how the data was collected.
What it is used for
Organisations use it to reach beyond their own records: to find companies they have no relationship with, to fill gaps in what they hold about existing accounts, and to size markets. Typical uses are data enrichment, prospecting, segmentation and benchmarking. Because the buyer did not collect it, three things need settling before use: where it came from, what the licence permits, and how often it is refreshed.
What to ask a supplier
- Source. Who published or collected the data originally, and was it public?
- Conduct. How was it collected: by an identified crawler, under robots.txt, with any login?
- People. Does it include personal data, and on what basis?
- Licence. Is it licensed for internal use, embedding in a product or redistribution?
- Evidence. Does each record carry its source and the time it was observed?
The ten questions for evaluating a company data vendor extend this list.
Third-party data in Fokals data
For its buyer, Fokals data is third-party data, licensed by written agreement for internal use, embedding in a product or redistribution. It is licensed direct and delivered by REST API or bulk files. It is company-level data, collected from first-party company sources and public records. Each record carries its source and the time it was observed, and a bulk export comes with a manifest naming sources, period, label versions and licence.
Fokals intent is built from what a company itself does in public: a tool adopted, a role opened, a filing made, an announcement, and every score carries the dated signals behind it. The sourcing statement sets out the sources, and the page for data platforms describes embedding and redistribution.
Related terms
Third-party data is the counterpart of first-party data. Data provenance is how you check it, a data licence sets what you may do with it, and a data marketplace is one route to buy it.
Frequently asked questions
What are examples of third-party data?
In business-to-business work: firmographic data (industry, size, location), technographic data (the technologies a company uses), hiring data and intent data, bought from a vendor. In advertising: audience segments assembled by data brokers from browsing and purchase behaviour. The first kind describes companies. The second describes people, which brings different consent and privacy questions.
How do you check where third-party data comes from?
Ask for the source statement, then test it on the data. Does each record show its source and the time it was observed? Can the vendor describe how the data was collected, including identification, robots.txt and whether anything sits behind a login? Does a sample match what the original source shows today? Ask whether personal data is included, and read the licence for what you may do with the data.
Is third-party data reliable?
Reliability depends on the source and the method, not on the label. Data collected directly from what companies publish, with each record dated and sourced, can be checked against the original. Data resold through several hands with no record of origin cannot. Test the match rate and the accuracy on a sample of your own list before you buy.