Is consent required for StackAdapt on my website?

Yes. StackAdapt fires conversion pixels and serves programmatic ad creatives — including native, display, video, and connected TV — placing it in the marketing category. Under GDPR, explicit opt-in consent is required before any StackAdapt pixels fire or cookies are set. CCPA requires opt-out rights for behavioral data used in targeting.

What does StackAdapt track on my website?

StackAdapt scripts collect behavioral signals, browsing history, and device identifiers to build audience profiles for programmatic ad targeting. Conversion tracking pixels fire on advertiser sites to record purchase and sign-up events. This data feeds StackAdapt's DSP for retargeting across native, display, video, and connected TV inventory.

How does ConsentStack handle StackAdapt pixels?

ConsentStack detects StackAdapt conversion pixels and ad-serving scripts, classifying them as marketing. All pixels are blocked until a visitor grants marketing consent. This prevents behavioral signals and device identifiers from being collected or shared with StackAdapt's DSP. On consent, pixels fire and ad serving activates.

StackAdapt - Programmatic Ads & Cookie Consent

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Overview

StackAdapt is a programmatic advertising demand-side platform (DSP) that serves native, display, video, and connected TV (CTV) ad campaigns. Its conversion tracking pixels fire on advertiser websites to measure campaign performance, while its ad-serving scripts load creatives on publisher pages. StackAdapt collects extensive behavioral and device data to build audience profiles for cross-channel programmatic targeting.

What This Script Does

StackAdapt deploys both tracking pixels and ad-serving scripts:

Conversion pixel: Fires on advertiser websites (typically on confirmation pages) to record conversion events — purchases, signups, form submissions. Transmits the conversion type, value, and transaction identifier to StackAdapt's attribution servers.
Retargeting pixel: Tracks page views and browsing behavior on the advertiser's site to build retargeting audiences that can be targeted with ads across the StackAdapt network.
Ad serving: On publisher sites, loads native, display, and video ad creatives into ad placements, rendering advertiser content with associated tracking pixels.
Cookies: Sets third-party cookies for user identification, frequency capping, audience segmentation, and cross-site behavioral tracking. First-party cookies may also be set on advertiser sites for conversion attribution.
Data collection: Captures IP address, device identifiers, browser fingerprint data, page URLs, referrers, and behavioral signals for audience profile construction.

Consent & Compliance

StackAdapt falls under the marketing/analytics consent category. Conversion tracking, retargeting, and programmatic ad serving all serve advertising purposes.

Under GDPR and ePrivacy, StackAdapt's scripts require explicit opt-in consent before loading. The third-party cookies, cross-site tracking, and behavioral profiling constitute non-essential processing. StackAdapt participates in IAB TCF v2.2 for consent signal processing in bid requests.

Under CCPA/CPRA, StackAdapt's data collection and sharing with advertising partners constitutes "selling" and "sharing" personal information for targeted advertising.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Yes. StackAdapt scripts set tracking cookies, collect behavioral data, and build audience profiles for programmatic ad targeting and retargeting. Block all StackAdapt scripts until the user grants marketing consent.

Is StackAdapt GDPR compliant?

StackAdapt typically loads marketing and analytics trackers, which are not strictly necessary for your site to work. Under the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, non-essential cookies and trackers must stay blocked until a visitor gives clear opt-in consent. So StackAdapt can be fully GDPR compliant, but only if your site holds its scripts until consent is granted and lets visitors decline just as easily. Compliance depends on how your site loads StackAdapt, not on StackAdapt itself.

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