What are 3rd Party Ad Tags?
Photo: Adobe
A Digital Ad Tag is something that is common in Digital Advertising campaigns. 3rd Party Ad Tags are used to serve creative in Digital Advertising campaigns. In simple terms, an Ad Tag is a piece of code that communicates with an Ad Server to display creative on a website or within an app. A more thorough definition is listed below:
“An ad placement tag, containing a snippet of JavaScript code placed on a website or web page to display ads. A third-party advertising platform or network provides the code, allowing the platform to serve ads to the website or web page. When a user visits the website or web page, the code is executed, and the ads are displayed to the user.” (Source: Source Defense- What Are Third Party Tags?)
There are a few different types of 3rd Party Ad Tags used in Digital Advertising campaigns:
*Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the below resources. There are other tag providers, but below are our favorite resources to reference:
VAST Tag: Google Ad Manager Help- VAST ad tag URL parameters
VPAID Tag: Google Ad Manager Help- Overview of VPAID creatives
Display Tag: Google Display and Video 360 Help- Third-party display tags
Tracking Tag: Google Campaign 360 Help- Set up an impression pixel and click tracker
Whenever you begin a Digital Advertising campaign, it is important to know what the creative specifications for 3rd Party Ad tags are for any given content provider.
