Advertising Digital Identifier (Ad-ID) URN Namespace Definition
A global naming system for advertising assets across all media platforms.
Wold, J., "Advertising Digital Identifier (Ad-ID) URN Namespace Definition", RFC 8107, DOI 10.17487/RFC8107, March 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8107>.
@misc{rfc8107,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 8107,
howpublished = {RFC 8107},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC8107},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8107},
author = {J. Wold},
title = {{Advertising Digital Identifier (Ad-ID) URN Namespace Definition}},
pagetotal = 7,
year = 2017,
month = mar,
} RFC text
Contents
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) J. Wold
Request for Comments: 8107 Advertising Digital Identification
Category: Informational March 2017
ISSN: 2070-1721
Advertising Digital Identifier (Ad-ID)
URN Namespace Definition
Abstract
Advertising Digital Identifiers (Ad-IDs) are used to identify
advertising assets across all media platforms. This document defines
the formal Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace Identifier (NID)
"adid" for Ad-IDs.
Status of This Memo
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents
approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8107.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2017 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
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to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction...................................................2
2. URN Namespace Definition Template..............................2
3. Namespace Considerations.......................................5
4. Community Considerations.......................................5
5. Security Considerations........................................5
6. IANA Considerations............................................5
7. Normative References...........................................6
Appendix A. Additional Background Information.....................7
Author's Address...................................................7
1. Introduction
This document defines the formal Uniform Resource Name (URN)
Namespace Identifier (NID) for Ad-IDs.
Ad-ID is the industry standard for identifying advertising assets
across all media platforms (e.g., over the air, online, over the top,
mobile, and place based). Ad-IDs are unique codes for each creative
advertising asset. Those unique codes are applied to all media.
Ad-IDs are an eleven-character ASCII string except for High
Definition (HD) or Three-Dimensional (3D) codes, which have an H or D
as the 12th character.
Ad-ID also provides descriptive metadata about the advertisement.
The metadata includes the advertiser, brand, product, commercial
title, product categorization, and other essential data about the
advertisement. The metadata can be retrieved using the unique code.
See Appendix A for additional background information.
2. URN Namespace Definition Template
Using the template in [RFC3406], the namespace definition is as
follows:
Namespace ID:
adid
Registration Information:
Version 1
2016-03-22
Declared registrant of the namespace:
Registering organization:
Advertising Digital Identification, LLC
11020 David Taylor Drive, Suite 305
Charlotte, NC 28262-1103
USA
Contact:
URL: http://www.ad-id.org/contact
Email: cs@ad-id.org
Declaration of syntactic structure:
The identifier structure is an Ad-ID that consists of a unique
eleven-character string or a unique twelve-character string (video
codes only).
This string is divided into three parts:
1. A four-character alphanumeric Company Prefix, not starting with
"0"
2. A seven-character alphanumeric code
3. An optional one-character Video Format Identifier.
H - High Definition
D - Three-Dimensional
The URN representation URN-ADID of an Ad-ID conforms to the
following syntax (expressed using ABNF [RFC5234]):
URN-ADID = "urn:adid:" full-adid-identifier
full-adid-identifier =
full-adid-prefix full-adid-code [full-adid-suffix]
full-adid-prefix = (ALPHA / %x31-39) 3*alphanum
full-adid-code = 7*alphanum
full-adid-suffix = "H" / "D"
alphanum = ALPHA / DIGIT
Examples:
Standard Definition: urn:adid:ABCD0001000
High Definition: urn:adid:ABCD0001000H
Relevant ancillary documentation:
[SMPTERP2092-1] specifies Advertising Digital Identifier (Ad-ID)
representations.
Identifier uniqueness considerations:
The Registrar (Advertising Digital Identification, LLC) is
responsible for managing the assignment of the Ad-ID and shall
ensure its uniqueness by checking the identifier against the list
of existing identifiers. In addition, each Ad-ID is associated
with a its own unique URN-ADID.
Ad-ID Registrar has assigned "adid" as a unique identifier. It is
associated with a single URN-ADID.
Identifier persistence considerations:
The assignment process guarantees that 'adids' will not be
reassigned or reused, and the binding between the identifier and
its resource is permanent.
These rules apply to this URN namespace.
Process of identifier assignment:
Ad-IDs are generated by the Ad-ID's proprietary registration
procedures.
Process for identifier resolution:
Ad-ID URNs are resolved via URN resolvers that are maintained by
the Ad-ID.
Rules for Lexical Equivalence:
Lexical equivalence of URN-ADID is defined by case-insensitive
string match.
Conformance with URN Syntax:
As specified above, the syntax of URN-ADID is a subset of the URN
syntax specified in [RFC2141].
Validation mechanism:
The validity of a URN-ADID can be checked using Ad-ID's web
services. For more information on Ad-ID's web services, please
refer to the following links:
http://www.ad-id.org/user-support/faqs/faq-category/web-services
http://www.ad-id.org/ad-id-web-services-api-guide
Scope:
Ad-IDs are centrally registered, globally unique identifiers of
advertising assets that are used worldwide.
3. Namespace Considerations
Ad-IDs are intended for use in Internet applications, where URNs are
routinely used to identify audiovisual resources. There is no direct
mapping from Ad-IDs to existing URN namespaces.
4. Community Considerations
The primary registrants of Ad-IDs are advertisers and agencies. Ad-
IDs can be used by anyone to unambiguously identify advertising
assets and retrieve underlying metadata. The primary benefits of its
use are providing greater transparency and accountability in the
advertising marketplace, helping to eliminate costly errors
associated with the inconsistent use of advertising-asset identifiers
throughout the advertising supply chain, and enabling a more granular
audience measurement across multiple platforms.
5. Security Considerations
This document specifies the syntax of the Ad-ID URN namespace and
makes no security representations. However, note that failure to
conform to the syntactic and lexical equivalence rules specified in
[RFC3406] when using an Ad-ID as a criterion for accessing restricted
resources can result in granting unauthorized access.
6. IANA Considerations
This document defines "ad-id" in the "Formal URN Namespaces"
registry.
7. Normative References
[RFC2141] Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, DOI 10.17487/RFC2141,
May 1997, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2141>.
[RFC3406] Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P. Faltstrom,
"Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition
Mechanisms", BCP 66, RFC 3406, DOI 10.17487/RFC3406,
October 2002, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3406>.
[RFC5234] Crocker, D., Ed., and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for
Syntax Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234, DOI
10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.
[SMPTERP2092-1]
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers,
"Advertising Digital Identifier (Ad-ID) Representations",
SMPTE RP 2092-1, April 2015.
Appendix A. Additional Background Information
Ad-IDs are an eleven-character ASCII string except for High
Definition (HD) or Three-Dimensional (3D) codes, which have an H or D
as the 12th character.
Ad-ID may have Complimentary Definition Codes (CDCs), which are
matching SD, HD, and/or 3D codes where only the 12th character of the
code varies. This only applies to video codes.
For example, a video with a standard format and high-definition
format would have a single code for each format.
Standard: ABCD1234000
High Definition: ABCD1234000H
More information: http://www.ad-id.org/how-it-works/ad-id-structure
Advertising Digital Identification <http://www.ad-id.org/>
Author's Address
Jarrett Wold
Advertising Digital Identification (Ad-ID)
708 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Email: jwold@ad-id.org
AI ELI5
On this page
§1Introduction
An Ad-ID is the industry standard for identifying advertising assets across all media platforms including broadcast television, online, mobile, and point-of-sale displays. Each ad gets a unique eleven-character ASCII code (or twelve characters for HD or 3D video). RFC 8107 formally registers the 'adid' URN namespace identifier, allowing Ad-IDs to be used as Uniform Resource Names within internet systems.
Beyond just identifying which ad is which, Ad-ID also provides descriptive metadata: advertiser name, brand, product, commercial title, and product categorization. This metadata can be retrieved using the unique code, making Ad-ID useful for advertising inventory management and audience measurement across platforms.
An Ad-ID is a special code that identifies every advertisement. Think of it like a unique serial number that helps everyone know which ad they are watching or reading, no matter where it shows up.
§2The Ad-ID Structure
An Ad-ID consists of three parts. The first is a four-character alphanumeric Company Prefix (not starting with zero). The second is a seven-character alphanumeric code. Together these form an eleven-character base code.
For video, an optional one-character Video Format Identifier can be appended: 'H' for High Definition or 'D' for Three-Dimensional. This allows the same creative asset to have different codes for different video formats. For example, 'ABCD0001000' is a standard definition ad, while 'ABCD0001000H' is the HD version of the same creative.
The formal URN syntax is: urn:adid:ABCD0001000 or urn:adid:ABCD0001000H. Lexical equivalence is case-insensitive, meaning uppercase and lowercase versions are treated as the same identifier.
An Ad-ID code has a company section, then a specific ad section, and sometimes an extra letter for HD or 3D versions. It works like a postal code: the first part tells you who made the ad, and the rest identifies which exact ad it is.
§3Registration and Management
Advertising Digital Identification, LLC is the official registrant responsible for managing the Ad-ID namespace. They maintain a central registry and ensure each Ad-ID is unique by checking against existing identifiers. Once assigned, an Ad-ID is never reassigned or reused, and the binding between the identifier and its resource is permanent.
Ad-IDs are generated through Ad-ID's proprietary registration procedures, and Ad-ID URNs are resolved using URN resolvers maintained by Ad-ID. The validity of a URN-ADID can be checked using Ad-ID's web services.
One company, Advertising Digital Identification, LLC, is in charge of handing out Ad-IDs and making sure no two ads get the same code. Once an ad gets a code, that code always belongs to that ad.
§4Benefits and Use Cases
The primary benefits of Ad-ID adoption are transparency and accountability in the advertising marketplace. By using a universal identifier, the industry can eliminate costly errors associated with inconsistent identification of advertising assets throughout the supply chain.
Ad-ID enables more granular audience measurement across multiple platforms. Advertisers, agencies, and media companies can all use Ad-ID to unambiguously identify advertising assets and retrieve underlying metadata. This standardization helps track where an ad has been seen, who saw it, and how it performed across different channels.
The system also supports media planning and buying by providing a common language for discussing advertising assets, reducing confusion when campaigns span multiple platforms and media types.
Ad-ID helps everyone in the advertising business speak the same language about ads. It stops mistakes and helps count how many people saw an ad on different websites and TV channels.