Tealium - Tag Management & Consent Integration Info

Overview

Tealium is an enterprise tag management system and first-party data platform used by large organizations to orchestrate marketing technology stacks. Tealium iQ is the tag container layer — it loads a single JavaScript payload that conditionally fires hundreds of downstream marketing, analytics, and functional tags based on consent signals and business rules. Tealium AudienceStream is the real-time customer data platform (CDP) component that ingests visitor event streams and builds persistent customer profiles enriched with behavioral attributes.

What This Script Does

Tealium iQ Tag Container

Tealium iQ loads from tags.tiqcdn.com as the primary script payload, typically injected via a synchronous or asynchronous snippet in the <head>. The container script fetches the current tag configuration profile and evaluates load rules to determine which downstream tags fire. Tag firing is gated by consent state — Tealium integrates with consent management platforms (including its own Tealium Consent Manager) to suppress non-consented tags.

Sets the utag_main first-party cookie (session and visitor ID persistence, 1-year expiry) and the utag_ses session cookie
The utag.js loader and profile-specific utag.{profile}.js files are served from tags.tiqcdn.com
Data layer variables are read from utag_data on each page and passed to active tags
Supports server-side tag execution via Tealium EventStream to reduce client-side script load

Tealium AudienceStream

AudienceStream receives event streams from iQ and builds real-time visitor profiles:

Ingests page view events, conversion events, and custom interactions
Builds audience segments based on behavioral attributes (page counts, product views, purchase history)
Enriches profiles with third-party data sources via connectors
Activates audiences to downstream ad platforms, email providers, and CRMs in real time
Profile data is stored in Tealium's cloud infrastructure and associated with the visitor ID in utag_main

Consent & Compliance

Category: Conditional — iQ itself is functional infrastructure; downstream tags require consent based on their own categories (analytics, marketing, functional)
GDPR: Tealium iQ is a data processor. Organizations using Tealium must configure load rules so that marketing and analytics tags are suppressed until consent is granted. AudienceStream profile building requires consent where it involves behavioral tracking.
IAB TCF: Tealium supports IAB TCF 2.2 integration. Consent strings can be evaluated within load rules to conditionally fire IAB-registered vendor tags.
Data transfers: Tealium is a US company. It participates in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and offers EU-hosted infrastructure for customers with data residency requirements.
DPA: Tealium provides a Data Processing Agreement covering both iQ and AudienceStream services.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Conditional. Tealium iQ itself is neutral infrastructure — whether it requires consent depends entirely on what tags it fires. A Tealium container that only fires analytics tags needs analytics consent; one that fires advertising pixels needs marketing consent. AudienceStream profile building is analytics/marketing in nature and requires consent. Configure Tealium's consent integration to gate tag firing on visitor consent choices before deploying.

Visit website

Consent Categories

Analytics

Marketing

Functional

Also Known As

Tealium iQTealium AudienceStreamtag management consentTealium GDPRfirst party data platform

Industries

Programming and Developer SoftwareComputers Electronics and Technology

Tracked Domains (2)

tiqcdn.comMarketing

tealiumiq.comMarketing

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Tealium iQ itself require consent?

Tealium iQ is conditional infrastructure. Whether it requires consent depends on what tags it fires. An analytics-only container needs analytics consent; one firing advertising pixels needs marketing consent. Configure load rules accordingly.

What cookies does Tealium set?

Tealium iQ sets utag_main (visitor and session ID, 1-year expiry) and utag_ses (session cookie). Downstream tags fired by the container may set additional cookies according to their own categories and data retention schedules.

How does ConsentStack handle Tealium?

ConsentStack treats Tealium iQ as a conditional vendor. It can be configured to load the container only after appropriate consent is granted, then rely on Tealium's own load rules to gate downstream analytics and marketing tags per visitor choices.