Adform is an omnichannel demand-side platform enabling advertisers to buy digital advertising across display, video, mobile, connected TV, and audio, with strong presence in Europe.
Adform is an omnichannel demand-side platform (DSP) enabling advertisers to buy digital advertising across display, video, mobile, connected TV, and audio. Popular in Europe, Adform offers strong identity support with ID Fusion technology for cross-device targeting and measurement.This integration enables server-to-server Identity Based Activation, where Permutive uploads audience data enriched with cohort memberships to Adform, keyed by identity types. Cohort data syncs daily to Adform’s DMP, making your first-party audiences available for targeting in programmatic campaigns.This integration is a Destination only:
Destination: Permutive sends cohort memberships server-to-server to Adform DMP via daily batch uploads, creating audiences based on identity matching (Adform Cookie, AAID, IDFA, or IP Address).
Use cases include:
Audience extension: Make Permutive cohorts available to advertisers and agencies outside your owned inventory, enabling monetization of first-party data across the open web
Programmatic deals: Offer enriched audiences to selected advertisers via private marketplace deals in Adform, increasing eCPMs
Cross-device activation: Reach audiences across display, video, mobile, and CTV using identity-based activation
Partner/agency collaboration: Share first-party cohorts with agency or advertiser DSP seats for campaign targeting
First-party data monetization: Leverage first-party behavioral data in programmatic campaigns without relying on third-party cookies
Adform Account: Active Adform DSP or DMP account with appropriate permissions for audience management.
Adform DMP Account ID: Your unique Adform DMP Account ID. This identifier links Permutive’s cohort uploads to your Adform account.
Permutive Identity Collection: Identity collection must be configured in Permutive for the identity types you want to send (Adform Cookie, AAID, IDFA, or IP Address). Work with your Permutive Customer Success Manager to ensure identity collection is properly configured.
Contact your Permutive Customer Success Manager to request the Adform (ID-based) integration. Permutive will coordinate with Adform to provision the necessary access and credentials for cohort uploads.
2
Navigate to Settings → Integrations
Once enabled by Permutive, navigate to Settings → Integrations in the Permutive Dashboard.
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Find and configure Adform (ID-based)
Find “Adform (ID-based)” in the list of available integrations and click to configure it.
4
Enter Adform DMP Account ID
Provide your Adform DMP Account ID in the configuration form. This identifier ensures cohort data is uploaded to the correct Adform account.
If you don’t have your Adform DMP Account ID, contact your Adform account team to obtain it.
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Select identity types to send
Choose which identifier types you want to send to Adform. Available options include:
Adform Cookie - For web users (identifier tag: adform)
AAID - Android Advertising ID (for Android app users)
IDFA - Identifier for Advertisers (for iOS app users)
IP Address - IP addresses (for CTV and other environments)
Select the identity types that match your use case and the environments where you need activation.
Identity Based Activation requires that Permutive is collecting the identity types you select. Work with your Permutive Customer Success Manager to ensure identity collection is configured properly for your desired identity types.
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Save configuration
Save your configuration. Permutive will begin syncing cohort data to Adform on a daily basis for users with the selected identity types.
Cohort data syncs to Adform daily. Changes to cohort membership will be reflected in Adform within 24 hours of the next scheduled sync.
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Activate cohorts
Navigate to your cohorts in the Permutive Dashboard and enable the “Adform (ID-based)” activation toggle for each cohort you want to sync to Adform.
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Verify in Adform dashboard
After the first sync completes (within 24 hours), check your Adform dashboard to verify that audiences appear with names matching your activated cohorts.
Web activation uses Adform Cookie via an ID sync mechanism. When the Adform integration is enabled, the Permutive Web SDK automatically initiates an ID sync with Adform to collect Adform cookies into your identity graph.How it works:
The Permutive Web SDK makes a request to Adform’s ID sync endpoint
Adform responds with the user’s Adform cookie (identifier tag: adform)
Permutive stores this identifier in the publisher’s identity graph
Cohort memberships are synced daily to Adform server-to-server, keyed by Adform Cookie
These cohorts become available for targeting in Adform DSP campaigns
Prerequisites for Web:
Permutive Web SDK must be deployed on your website
Adform integration must be enabled in the Permutive Dashboard
“Adform Cookie” must be selected as an identifier type in the integration configuration
Users must have appropriate consent for identity collection (if applicable in your region)
No code changes required - the ID sync happens automatically once the integration is enabled in the Permutive Dashboard. Data syncing occurs server-to-server on a daily schedule.
Identity Based Activation for iOS enables server-to-server cohort syncing using IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers). No SDK code changes are required on iOS devices.How it works:
Permutive collects IDFA values from iOS users via the Permutive SDK
Cohort memberships are synced daily to Adform server-to-server, keyed by IDFA
Cohorts appear as audiences in Adform, ready for campaign targeting
Data syncing happens automatically once configured in the Permutive Dashboard
Prerequisites for iOS:
Permutive SDK must be deployed on your iOS app
IDFA collection must be enabled and properly configured
Users must grant tracking permission (ATT framework) for IDFA to be available
“IDFA” must be selected as an identifier type in the integration configuration
Identity Based Activation for Android enables server-to-server cohort syncing using AAID (Android Advertising ID). No SDK code changes are required on Android devices.How it works:
Permutive collects AAID values from Android users via the Permutive SDK
Cohort memberships are synced daily to Adform server-to-server, keyed by AAID
Cohorts appear as audiences in Adform, ready for campaign targeting
Data syncing happens automatically once configured in the Permutive Dashboard
Prerequisites for Android:
Permutive SDK must be deployed on your Android app
AAID collection must be enabled and properly configured
“AAID” must be selected as an identifier type in the integration configuration
Identity Based Activation for CTV enables server-to-server cohort syncing using IP Address or other supported identifiers. No SDK code changes are required on CTV devices.How it works:
Permutive collects IP addresses (or other supported identifiers) from CTV users
Cohort memberships are synced daily to Adform server-to-server, keyed by IP Address
Cohorts appear as audiences in Adform, ready for campaign targeting
Data syncing happens automatically once configured in the Permutive Dashboard
Prerequisites for CTV:
Permutive must be collecting IP addresses or other supported identifiers from your CTV environment
Work with your Permutive Customer Success Manager to ensure proper identity collection for CTV
“IP Address” must be selected as an identifier type in the integration configuration
The Adform integration is a Destination-only integration for cohort activation. It does not collect event data from Adform.
Cohort Activation Data
When you activate a cohort to Adform using Identity Based Activation, Permutive uploads cohort membership data to Adform DMP on a daily basis, keyed by the selected identity types.Data Format:
Cohort data is synced daily from Permutive to Adform via server-to-server batch uploads
Data is keyed by selected identity types (Adform Cookie, AAID, IDFA, or IP Address)
Each user’s cohort memberships are associated with their identity values
Cohorts appear as audiences in Adform’s audience interface, ready for targeting
Audience data is updated daily with the latest cohort membership information
Cohort Naming:
Audiences in Adform will use the cohort names defined in Permutive
Ensure cohort names are descriptive and recognizable for campaign targeting in Adform
Data Refresh:
Daily sync schedule ensures cohort membership is updated within 24 hours
Changes to cohort membership (users entering or exiting cohorts) will be reflected in the next scheduled sync
The integration was recently enabled and data hasn’t synced yet
Adform DMP Account ID is incorrect in the Permutive Dashboard
Cohorts are not activated with the “Adform (ID-based)” toggle enabled
Identity collection is not properly configured for the selected identity types
Solution:
Verify your Adform DMP Account ID in the Permutive Dashboard matches your Adform account
Check that cohorts are toggled “On” for Adform (ID-based) activation in the cohort settings
Wait 24-48 hours after initial activation for the first sync to complete
Confirm that Permutive is collecting the selected identity types (Adform Cookie, AAID, IDFA, or IP Address)
Check that cohorts have sufficient active members in Permutive
Contact your Permutive Customer Success Manager if audiences still do not appear
Low audience size or match rate
Cause: Audience sizes in Adform may be smaller than expected due to identity matching limitations.Steps to diagnose and improve:
Verify that Permutive is collecting the identity types you selected (e.g., Adform Cookie for web)
For web activation, confirm the Permutive Web SDK is properly deployed and the ID sync is functioning
Check that users are granting appropriate consent for identity collection (if applicable)
Review cohort rules to ensure they’re not too restrictive
Allow 24-48 hours after initial activation for audiences to fully populate
Monitor identity collection rates in the Permutive Dashboard
Expected match rates: Match rates vary based on the identity type, user consent rates, browser mix, and device type. Web activation via Adform Cookie typically achieves higher match rates in browsers that support third-party cookies.
Web ID sync not working
Cause: The Adform Cookie ID sync may not be functioning properly for web users.Solution:
Verify the Permutive Web SDK is deployed on your website
Check that the Adform integration is enabled in the Permutive Dashboard
Confirm adform is selected as an identifier type in the integration configuration
Open your browser’s developer tools and check the Network tab for requests to Adform’s ID sync endpoint
Verify user consent is granted for identity collection (if using a Consent Management Platform)
Check that third-party cookies are not blocked in the browser (some browsers block third-party cookies by default)
If the ID sync is still not working after these checks, contact Permutive Support with your workspace ID and browser details.
Cohort data not updating in Adform
Cause: Cohort membership changes may not be reflected in Adform audiences immediately.Solution:
Remember that cohort data syncs to Adform daily - allow up to 24 hours for changes to appear
Verify the cohort is still activated with the “Adform (ID-based)” toggle enabled
Check that users are still entering the cohort in Permutive (view cohort size trends)
Confirm the integration is still enabled and properly configured in Settings → Integrations
Contact Permutive Support if data consistently fails to update after 48 hours
Missing identity types in configuration
Cause: The identity types you want to use are not available for selection in the integration configuration.Solution:
Contact your Permutive Customer Success Manager to enable identity collection for the desired identity types
Verify your Permutive workspace is configured to collect the specific identifiers (e.g., IDFA, AAID, IP Address)
For web activation via Adform Cookie, ensure the Web SDK is deployed and the ID sync is enabled
For mobile activation, ensure the Permutive SDK is collecting mobile advertising IDs with appropriate user permissions
