Table of contents
GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework of the European Union that mandates all user data passed to third parties to contain a string detailing the user’s choices with regard to the handling of their data.
This means that, for ads with a tracking setup that includes a call to a third party, tracking URLs (both click tracking and impression tracking URLs) must include GDPR-related parameters if the ad can be displayed within the European Union.
To address this, third-party providers typically require the tracking URL setup to contain macros that allow them to identify the user’s eligibility for GDPR, and their choices regarding consent.
For instance, in the case of DoubleClick, the Click and Impression URLs are usually supplied in the following formats:
Click Tracking Pixel (Standard)
https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/trackclk/Nxxxx.site-keyname/Byyyyyyy.n:dc_trk_aid={ad_id};dc_trk_cid={creative_id};ord=[timestamp];dc_lat=N;dc_rdid=Czzzz;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=l;us_privacy= ${US_PRIVACY};gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_xx};addtl_consent= ${ADDTL_CONSENT};gdpr_pd=${GDPR_PD}?
Impression Tracking Pixel
https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/trackclk/Nxxxx.site-keyname/Byyyyyyy.n:dc_trk_aid={ad_id};dc_trk_cid={creative_id};ord=[timestamp];dc_lat=N;dc_rdid=Czzzz;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=l;us_privacy= ${US_PRIVACY};gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_xx};addtl_consent= ${ADDTL_CONSENT};gdpr_pd=${GDPR_PD}?
In order to be utilised on the Criteo platform, the format of the macros needs to be changed slightly so they can be adapted in the accepted Criteo format and so that the Criteo platform can pass the correct information to the 3rd party platform. The above example URLs will therefore need to be changed as per the examples below. Note how the two GDPR-related parameters are to be modified from their original format:
Click Tracking Pixel (Criteo format)
https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/trackclk/Nxxxx.sitekeyname/Byyyyyyy.n:dc_trk_aid={{did}}; dc_trk_cid={{adsetid}};ord={{timestamp}};dc_lat=N;dc_rdid=Czzzz;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=l; us_privacy=;gdpr={{gdpr}};{{gdpr_consent_kv}};addtl_consent={{addtl_consent}};gdpr_pd=0?
Impression Tracking Pixel (Criteo format)
https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/trackclk/Nxxxx.sitekeyname/Byyyyyyy.n:dc_trk_aid={{adid}}; dc_trk_cid={{adsetid}};ord={{timestamp}};dc_lat=N;dc_rdid=Czzzz;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=l; us_privacy=;gdpr={{gdpr}};{{gdpr_consent_kv}};addtl_consent={{addtl_consent}};gdpr-pd=0?