2023 May 9: Introducing Support for Chrome User-Agent Client Hints

With this release Adform is announcing support for one of the first publicly available Privacy Sandbox APIs designed to limit covert tracking and fingerprinting: User-Agent Client Hints.

This API enables access to information about a user's browser in a privacy-preserving way. Adform uses the structured User-Agent to provide granular device targeting, reporting capabilities, and fraud prevention.

Chrome is limiting the information available via the traditional User Agent (User-Agent Reduction), but unlike Safari and Firefox which are using blunt approaches to privacy, Chrome is providing an alternative in Client Hints to support important adtech use cases. That said, as Client Hints will reduce details contained in the User-Agent to preserve privacy, signal fidelity is expected.

To support Chrome’s Client Hints API, we have updated to the latest version of our device classification provider 51Degrees' database, further improving data quality. The transition from traditional User-Agent to Client Hints will introduce a transition window with expected signal loss as Publishers and SSPs work to make the required changes.

What action is required?

Advertisers and agencies: While Chrome is limiting access to granular device information, you can continue to target and report devices, platforms, and browsers via the usual workflows as Adform now supports Client Hints. As publishers adapt to this change, temporary data signal loss is expected, which might impact campaign reach.

Publishers and sellers: As device targeting and reporting hinges on publishers making updates to their properties to expose Client Hints, and for SSPs to pass this information in the bid-stream to DSPs, we strongly encourage you to adopt before Chrome’s User-Agent Reduction is completed this month. This will allow you to continue segmenting your inventory by devices and allows buyers to continue to target your inventory successfully. Adform SSP is now supporting User-Agent Client Hints.

We have created a comprehensive Help guide to support you in this change.

You can read more about Chrome User-Agent Client Hints here and here.