In brief, SCID stands for the “shared campaign identifier” and refers to the technical specification, aimed at improving the traceability of online ad campaign data across platforms.
What is SCID?
From the technical perspective, the IAB Tech Lab’s SCID is a combination of numeric and alphabetical symbols, which includes the following data: Advertiser ID*, Brand and Product Code, as well as the so-to-speak Customer Product Estimate, and is transferred within the bid response in the following format:
SCID = Advertiser ID + Ad brand + Ad product code+ Customer Product Est. + Ext (optional)
*The Advertiser ID mentioned herein is the so-called Global Location Number (GLN), which refers to an international ID, currently used for company (advertiser) identification.
Potential Benefits of SCID
In plain words, SCID is what can enable the effective tracking and measurement of video ad campaign data through its entire lifecycle, i.e. from the advertiser to the end publisher.
This potentially brings more transparency into the programmatic supply chain, while also enabling better alignment of reporting data, and even the more efficient assignment of ad creatives to publisher inventory.
Perspectives of the Global Adoption
Even though the potential benefits of SCID adoption by businesses in the programmatic video advertising niche seem indisputable, its implementation will definitely require extra efforts from advertisers and trade desks in the first place, in terms of the provision of the detailed advertiser’s info and the correct setup of SCID, accordingly.
Nonetheless, the specification is already undergoing a test run by a large number of brands (e.g. Nestlé, Havas, Unilever) and ad tech vendors, like the Trade Desk and Google, just to name a few. If that goes well, we might expect the acceleration of its adoption by more businesses in the niche in Q4, 2021 and 2022.
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Check out a detailed guide to why and how to implement SCID on the AdPlayer.Pro blog.