Ad-ID is a unique identifier for advertising assets that attaches a universal identifier to each individual piece of ad creative, whether it be a TV commercial, a print advertisement, or a banner ad. It was developed by the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. . Ad-ID uses an 11- or 12-character string with a 4-character prefix that is associated with the advertiser to identify each advertising asset that they plan to distribute. Ad-ID is used to standardize how advertising assets are labeled and to maximize the use of ISCI codes. Ad-ID provides identity and metadata standards that enable companies throughout the media ecosystem to create more value from what they do.
In addition, the ad identifier is a string of letters and numbers that uniquely identifies a phone, tablet, or other smart device and is used to help companies track users. The ad ID lets third-party trackers link data from different sources to one identity and enables data brokers to compare notes about users. Disabling the ad ID makes it harder for companies to track users.
For Google Ads, the ad ID is a number that can be used to identify each ad in a Google Ads account. The ad ID can be found in the "Ad ID" column of the statistics table in the Ads & assets section of a Google Ads account.
