The SDAF project is an open-source initiative aimed at establishing a standardised format for digital advertising data. Developed in the context of the Digital Services Act (DSA), this project focuses on enhancing the interoperability of APIs and repositories used in digital advertising. By bridging the operational needs of advertising platforms with the analytical insights required by the research community, SDAF strives to promote greater transparency and efficiency in the digital advertising ecosystem.
Our main goal is to create a unified and adaptable ad format that simplifies data representation across different digital platforms. This standardization is:
- inline with the DSA requirements;
- a facilitator for data exchange and interoperability among various advertising platforms;
- a coherent and comprehensive data structure for effective analysis.
The SDAF outlines a structured approach to presenting digital ad data, encompassing several key aspects:
- Campaign Details: Unique identifiers and basic information about the ad campaign.
- Advertiser Information: Comprehensive details about the advertiser, ensuring transparency.
- Creative Content: In-depth information about the creative elements used in the campaign.
- Targeting Data: Granular information on how the ad targets specific audience segments.
- Financials: Detailed breakdown of the campaign's budget and expenditure.
- Moderation Status: Information on the ad's compliance with platform guidelines.
- Extensible Parameters: A flexible section for platform-specific data.
Each aspect is open to discussion in the Discussions section of this git.
We warmly welcome contributions from all stakeholders in the digital advertising sector, including platform developers, advertisers, regulatory bodies, and academic researchers. Your insights, suggestions, and feedback are invaluable to the continuous improvement of this standard.
To understand the structure and application of the SDAF, please refer to our detailed documentation. It provides a comprehensive guide to each component of the format, along with examples and use cases.
This project is open-source and available for use, modification, and distribution under MPL-2.0 license. We encourage active participation and adaptation of the format to meet evolving industry needs and regulatory requirements.