An ad tag is a bit of code, normally comprising JavaScript, HTML, or an iFrame that indicates to a webpage or mobile app how to ask for, retrieve, and show an ad. If you’ve ever wondered what is an ad tag, then the easiest way to think of it is as a “place holder” in digital media that allows an ad server to fill a particular location on a page with paid content. An ad tag provides directions for the size of the ad being served, a placement ID, targeting signals, tracking parameters and so forth.
Every time a person opens up a webpage or an app page, the ad tag begins automatically (in the background) to do what is necessary to:
1. Send a request to an ad server,
2. Participate as part of an auction or direct deal decision,
3. Retrieve the winning ad creative,
4. Render the ad creative in the specified ad placement.
Without this layer of code, the entire structure of digital advertising would not be able to function at scale. Understanding what is an ad tag is very important for publishers, advertisers and developers.
How an Ad Tag Works in the Ad Serving Process
Breaking down the flow of an ad tag will help illustrate its usage in an online environment:
1. User loads a webpage or app
2. Ad tag fires and sends request to publisher (the website/app) ad server
3. Publisher ad server evaluates targeting, campaign priorities, etc., and may forward the request to demand partners for further evaluation
4. In a programmatic world, the “real time bidding” (RTB) process occurs in milliseconds.
5. The winning ad creative is sent back to the ad tag and rendered in the proper location
Most auctions complete in less than 200 milliseconds. The very fast completion of each auction helps ensure that the page where the ad will be displayed loads quickly, which has a direct affect on revenue and user experience (studies consistently show that just a few seconds of delay loading a webpage will decrease the conversion rate by multiple percentage points). Therefore how the ad tag loads (synchronously or asynchronously) is very important.
Types of Ad Tags:
There are a number of variations of an ad tag, and they can each be used in different environments.
Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Tags:
Synchronous tags load at the same time as all other page content, if the tag stalls, the entire page stalls, while asynchronous tags load independently of the other page content, allowing for other page content to be displayed even if the ad server is slow to respond. Today, asynchronous ad tag implementations are preferred because they help eliminate latency, and enhance the user experience.
First-Party vs. Third-Party Ad Tags
A first-party ad tag, also known as a publisher tag, typically originates from the publisher’s primary ad server. A third-party tag, on the other hand, is generated externally from another platform such as the advertiser ad server, demand-side platform (DSP) or verification company of the advertiser and can be used to update creatives (creative advertisements) in one place (the third-party tag) and on multiple publisher sites (without having to replace code on all of the publisher sites).
JavaScript Tags vs iFrame Tags
JavaScript tags dynamically create the ad markup for placement on the page whereas iFrame tags create a “container” for creatives that helps limit the size of the creative and lessens the risk of disrupting page layout. Rendering in an iFrame is still a common practice primarily for purposes of brand safety and containment.
Video Ad Tag (VAST)
In most video applications, the ad tag points to a Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) XML file that specifies which media file(s) are to be served to the viewer as well as which events need to be tracked and verified. The digital video ad spend has been reported to exceed $190 billion globally in recent years therefore utilizing video ad tags will continue to be an integral component of monetizing desktops, mobile devices, connected TV and streaming services.
Components of an Ad Tag
In order to get a complete overview of what an Ad Tag is it will be necessary to look at how it’s constructed. Most implementations will include:
- Ad Server URL: The endpoint that is contacted to make the request.
- Placement or Tag ID: Is how you will identify the specific bit of inventory being advertised for.
- Ad Size Parameters: e.g., 300×250 or 728×90.
- Targeting Info: e.g., keywords, content categories, device types.
- Cache-Buster Value: A random number that will serve to generate a new request for ad serving information (to prevent a cached response from being used).
Tracking URLs: Impression and click trackers.
Each of these parameters will work together so that the correct ad will be served to the right audience in the correct format. When a marketer requests what is an Ad Tag used for other than for display, examples would be measurement, attribution, optimization, or to help detect fraud.
Third Party Ad Tags and Centralized vs. Distributed control
A third party ad tag will allow the creatives and tracking to remain hosted on the advertiser’s or vendor’s server. This will provide the advertiser with a lot of flexibility. For example, if an advertiser updates their creative, every publisher that uses that tag will automatically serve the updated creative to their audience.
This installation allows for A/B testing, creative rotation and campaign pacing to be completed with much less complexity than if the ads were created by the publisher. However, adding this additional level of redirection does add possible additional latency, which can affect the page load time. Since page speed is a ranking and performance factor for publishers, this area should be evaluated carefully for any possible latency caused by third party tags.
Another area of concern with a third party tag is the level of transparency. Third party tags may add additional trackers and publishers will often evaluate this.
Tracking, Measurement, and Verification
Throughout the ad tagging process, measurement is implemented throughout the tagging system. Impression pixels, clicks that redirect users, viewability scripts track how successful a campaign was created to track campaign performance.
Industry standards classify a display ad impression as being viewable if at least 50% of its pixels are in view at least for a minimum of one second. For video-based ads, the minimum threshold for an impression to register as viewable is, generally speaking, two consecutively displayed seconds that have at least 50% of the pixels showing.
Third-party measurement vendors can validate impressions by utilizing the Open Measurement SDK (OM SDK) and VAST verification frameworks to track impression/billing metrics without affecting the creative. With estimates of lost revenue due to online digital ad fraud in the tens of billions of dollars globally every year, the push to incorporate verification layers into the ad serving and delivery process has become increasingly more common.
Performance and Optimization
The performance of an ad tag is one of the key metrics in determining how effective an ad tag will be. Many studies have been completed indicating that ads are potentially 20-30% of total page weight on sites that are media heavy in content. Inefficient ad tags cause additional HTTP requests and a longer amount of time for the JavaScript to execute on the website; therefore, the user experience is negatively impacted.
To maximize ad tag effectiveness, advertisers should:
- Load ad tags asynchronously.
- Minimize redirect chains.
- Reduce the number of external requests made by ad tags.
- Compress creative assets prior to sending.
- Do not deploy tracking URLs from third-party advertisers unless absolutely necessary.
In mobile environments, due to the variability of mobile networks, the efficient execution of ad tags is critical. According to eMarketer, mobile advertising currently accounts for over 60% of total global digital advertising revenues and thus the requirement for optimization is very high.
Programmatic Advertising and Real-Time Bidding
In programmatic advertising, an ad tag sends a bid request that uses OpenRTB standards. A bid request contains device info, contextual signals, and a tag ID, which is used to identify inventory for sale.
To buy inventory, demand side platforms evaluate impression opportunities in real-time and place their highest eligible bids. Once a bid is accepted by the ad server, it will immediately return to the demand side platform an ad server creative markup for the winning bid; this entire process occurs without the user perceiving any delay.
The Ad Tag in a Programmatic Context can support understanding of how ad tags act as the gateway between supply (inventory) and demand (buying impressions) in automated marketplaces.
Privacy and Compliance Considerations
Today’s advertising ecosystem is subject to strict privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA. An ad tag is allowed to send user-related information only if there is valid consent to do so; more and more ad tags now have in-built consent parameters or are integrated with consent management platforms.
In addition, there are platforms that do not permit the use of Javascript based tracking or third party cookies and only allow secure image based impression tracking. With the phasing out of third party cookies by most browser companies, contextual targeting and the integration of first party data into ad tag structures are increasingly being used by advertisers.
Common Challenges
There are many ways that well-built ad tags run into operation issues:
- Excessive redirects causing latency in the delivery of ad tags.
- Macros that are not compatible and cause ad calls to break.
- Advertisers and publishers not having consistent ad sizes.
- Numerous browser restrictions blocking tracking of advertisements.
- Creatives being rendered incorrectly.
Technical Quality Assurance and sandbox testing are a standard practice to validate and ensure successful deployment of those tags before scale flights. Advertising revenue can be the primary revenue stream for a digital publisher; therefore, reliability and stability are paramount.
FAQs
- What is an ad tag In layman terms?
Ad Tag is the code that is used to request and show an advertisement on a digital property as a result of that request.
- Beyond just supplying an ad, what can an ad tag do?
An ad tag can manage targeting, measurement, participation in bidding, delivery of creatives, verification of an ad’s properties.
- What is an ad tag as it relates to mobile applications?
An ad tag for mobile applications, essentially, operates the same as an ad tag on a website except that it more typically implements through SDK versus page markup.
- What is an ad tag relative to video ad delivery?
An ad tag for video advertisement is generally a VAST URL that points to XML format defined for video media files and tracking of associated events.
The Strategic Importance of Ad Tags
Digital advertising has gained great revenue globally as it was worth near $600 Million last year alone! Each time you see a banner ad, a Native Ad or a pre-roll Video Ad, there’s usually an accompanying Digital Ad Tag, such as an IP/code, that allows this to happen. These numbers demonstrate just how significant of a strategic component Digital Ad Tags represent.
For Publishers, Ad Tags give them the ability monetize their properties and optimize their Yield. For Advertisers, Ad Tags allow them to have control over the creative side of their advertising campaign and enable them to measure the success of their ad spend. For the Platforms that allow these ads to run, Ad Tags serve as a way to standardize how those two parties (the Advertiser & Publisher) communicate with one another.
The business view of an Ad Tag when assessing its characteristics goes beyond just being code; in fact Ad Tags are actually viewed as the “infrastructure” (or backbone) of Digital Advertising because of their ability to connect together Content, Commerce, Analytics, and User Experience in Real-Time!
Conclusion: To summarise
The Digital Ad Tag (as an example) is absolutely crucial to Digital Advertising Operations. It serves the purpose of establishing an Ad Request, Running an Auction, Serving a Creative (Ad) and Providing Tracking & Verification Capabilities for every Digital Ad displayed, whether it be Display Advertising or Connected TV Video. Because of this, Digital Ad Tags represent a core (foundational) component of Digital Ad Operations.
Learning about what an Ad Tag is, How it works and How to Optimize it leads to Improved Performance, Greater Compliance and More Successful Monetisation Results. As privacy requirements continue to advance and Programmatic Platforms continue to mature, Ad Tags continue to Evolve and will remain one of the top Technical Components within the Digital Advertising Ecosystem.