Adform

Overview

Adform is a full-stack advertising technology platform headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. It provides an integrated suite of ad serving, demand-side platform (DSP), data management platform (DMP), and supply-side platform (SSP) capabilities. Unlike US-centric ad tech giants, Adform positions itself as a European-built alternative with servers hosted inside the EU, which is a material selling point for advertisers and publishers managing GDPR obligations. It is particularly prevalent across Scandinavian, Central European, and Eastern European publisher and advertiser ecosystems.

Adform is a registered vendor in the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) under vendor ID 50.

What This Script Does

Adform appears on websites in two primary roles: as a conversion/retargeting pixel on advertiser sites, and as an ad serving and header bidding tag on publisher sites.

Scripts loaded:

• Conversion pixel: A 1×1 tracking pixel or JavaScript snippet loading from track.adform.net that fires on conversion pages (order confirmation, sign-up success, etc.).
• Ad serving: The Adform ad tag loads from adx.adform.net and makes header bidding requests to the Adform SSP.
• Audience sync: Cookie synchronisation requests fire to cm.adform.net to match Adform's user IDs with those of partner DSPs and ad exchanges.

Cookies set:

• uid — Third-party persistent cookie set on adform.net. Stores Adform's pseudonymous user identifier used for cross-site audience segmentation, retargeting, and frequency capping. Expiry: 60 days.
• C — Third-party persistent cookie on adform.net. Tracks consent state received through the IAB TCF framework. Expiry: 90 days.
• TPC — Third-party persistent cookie on adform.net. Third-party cookie availability test flag. Expiry: session.

Data collected per pixel/tag fire:

• Page URL and referrer
• IP address (for geolocation; truncated to /24 in some configurations)
• User-Agent string and browser characteristics
• Adform user ID resolved from the uid cookie
• Conversion event data (order value, product IDs) for advertiser conversion tracking
• Audience segment membership for DMP-driven targeting

Audience sync: Adform syncs user identifiers with partner platforms including Google, The Trade Desk, Criteo, and others via pixel fires to cm.adform.net, building a cross-platform identity graph.

Consent & Compliance

Consent category: Marketing / Analytics

Adform processes personal data (pseudonymous user identifiers, browsing behaviour, conversion data) for advertising targeting, retargeting, frequency capping, and campaign measurement. Under GDPR Article 6(1)(a) and the ePrivacy Directive, all Adform cookies and tracking require explicit opt-in consent before the script or pixel is loaded.

IAB TCF vendor ID: 50. Applicable TCF purposes:

• Purpose 1 — Store and/or access information on a device
• Purpose 2 — Select basic ads
• Purpose 3 — Create a personalised ads profile
• Purpose 4 — Select personalised ads
• Purpose 7 — Measure ad performance
• Purpose 9 — Apply market research to generate audience insights
• Special Feature 1 — Use precise geolocation data

Under CCPA/CPRA, Adform's cross-site identifier syncing and audience data sharing with partner DSPs constitutes a "sale" and "sharing" of personal information, triggering opt-out rights.

Adform maintains EU-based data processing infrastructure and offers Standard Contractual Clauses for international data transfers. The Irish Data Protection Commission and Danish Datatilsynet have both engaged with Adform on GDPR compliance matters in the ad tech sector.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Yes. Adform is advertising infrastructure. Both its conversion/retargeting pixel and its publisher-side ad serving tags set persistent third-party tracking cookies and share user identifiers across multiple ad tech platforms. Block all Adform scripts until the visitor explicitly grants marketing consent.