AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence

AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence is a competitive intelligence app created by BIScience, which collects, analyzes, and aggregates real-time display, video, and social ad occurrences across 650 thousand publishers from 52 global markets. Markets include the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region. AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence can be found in the Semrush App Center.

How Can AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence Help Me?

AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence’s competitive advertising intelligence can help you: 

• Analyze competitors’ digital campaigns
• Identify the best-performing publishers, advertisers, ad networks and agencies
• Benchmark your online advertising against the competition
• Leverage data-driven insights to engage and deploy online campaigns more effectively

Pricing

You can add AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence to your Semrush subscription for $169 per month. Basic subscription includes display ads channel only. For an additional $180 per month, you can get access to video and social channels.

More information about Semrush pricing can be found here.

What Is Included in AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence

AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence analyzes expenditure, placement, buying methods, and more, for image ads, animated ads, rich media ads, skin ads, video and social ads across 650 thousand publishers in 52 global markets.

Settings

You can update your settings and switch between different reports using the header at the top of the screen:

Using the search bar at the top of the header, you can search for a domain you’d like to analyze. Click “add” to search for it by name, without the “www.” Then click on the matching search result to select it. 

If you don’t see any results, double check how you’ve typed the domain: 

• semrush.com: This version is correct
• www.semrush.com: This version is incorrect
• https://www.semrush.com: This version is also incorrect

If you want to view more than one domain, you have two options: 

• Group: View consolidated data for all of your selected domains.
• Compare: Analyze up to 10 selected domains or groups against one another.

To create a group, simply click “add” in the search bar, and search for each domain you want to include. 

To compare domains, click the “compare” button on the right to select your domains.

To edit your comparison, click the blue “rearrange” button on the right. 

This will return you to the “create a comparison report” window pictured above. Here, you can add additional domains or groups to your report, or click and drag them to rearrange them.

To save a group or comparison, click the blue “save” button on the right side of the search bar and assign it a name when prompted. Data saved as a group will be merged together, whereas saving a comparison will maintain separate data for each domain.

On the second row of the header menu, you can further customize your view by selecting your preferred channel, devices, time period, and country being analyzed.

The channels dropdown allows you to filter by the advertising channel want to advertise, including: 

• All channels
• Display
• Video
• Social

For display and video channels, you may also select a device type: 

• All devices: Analyzing all instances of display ads regardless of device type.
• Desktop: Analyzing only ads that appeared on desktop browsing. 
• Mobile: Analyzing only ads that appeared on mobile devices and browsers.

Next, you may choose to view data from time periods including the last 7 days, 30 days, 3 months, 12 months, or the current year to date.

You may also customize your view by location. In the example above, ad instances shown in the United States are being analyzed. Click the drop-down arrow to select a different location. You may view one of up to 52 different countries around the world. However, depending on the domain being analyzed, not all countries may be available.

Multicurrency Support

If you wish to change the currency that is displayed in cost estimations, please click on the user name in the top right corner. Then click "User settings" and select a default currency from the list.

Exporting Your Report

To export your report, click on the “blue” export button. It can be found on the right side of the header, in the second row.  

Next, select the file type you want to export: 

• PDF: Exports all charts and graphs as displayed in the app
• Excel: Exports a spreadsheet containing the data shown in the report

If you have an AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence subscription that includes only the display channel, you may export five excel reports per month. If you’ve upgraded to the Display, Social and Video subscription, you may export up to 20 excel reports per month. PDF reports are currently unlimited.

Report Types

AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence offers three different report types:

• Publisher reports
• Advertiser reports
• Campaign reports
• Keywords reports

Additionally, users can compare publishers and advertisers against one another, and create groups to consolidate data.

Each report shares many of the same widgets, while analyzing different sets of data.

Publisher vs. Advertiser Reports

The Publisher report analyzes the placement and performance of ads published on a specified domain or app, and compares the performance of ads published on multiple specified publisher domains. As such, this report will provide data about the ads and advertisers published on the domains in question. “Publisher” here refers to a domain or app that displays an ad for a third party (the advertiser).

Meanwhile, the Advertiser report analyzes the performance of a specified advertiser’s ad placement across all publishers, and compares the performance of multiple advertisers across all publishers. As such, many of the widgets in this report contain information about publisher performance with respect to the advertisers in question. Here, “Advertiser” refers to any organization whose ads are being displayed on third-party “publisher” domains.  

Campaign Reports

Campaign reports analyze the performance of a specific campaign. A campaign is a group of coordinated ads all leading to the same landing page.  

You can access the campaign report via the Top Campaigns widget, by clicking on the name of a campaign you want to analyze. 

In the campaign report header, you can find: 

• The advertiser running the campaign
• The first and last seen dates
• Campaign duration

The body of the report uses the same widgets described below in the Widgets Guide section. The chief difference is that, in this report, the widgets use data only pertaining to this specific set of ads.

Keywords Report 

The Keyword report analyzes campaigns based on search terms. In this report you will find: 

• The number of campaigns 
• The Top Ads

Single Domain vs. Multiple Domain Comparison Mode

The widgets that appear in your report may vary, depending on: 

• Whether you’re viewing a single domain or comparing several
• Which advertising channels you’re viewing
• Whether you’re viewing an advertiser or publisher

Here is a breakdown of which widgets you can expect to find: 

Widgets Guide

Below is a guide to all of the widgets you can expect to find in AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence app. Please note that not all widgets may appear in every view. See the Single Domain vs. Multiple Domain Comparison chart above for a complete breakdown. 

Estimated Expenditure

The Estimated Expenditure widget appears at the top right of both publisher and advertiser reports when you are analyzing a single domain or group. If you’re comparing multiple domains, you will instead see the Publisher or Advertiser Distribution widget.

In an advertiser report, Estimated Expenditure shows the total impressions (on the left) and ad spend (on the right) across all publishers. 

If you are viewing all channels, the widget appears as shown above. If you are only viewing a single channel (e.g., display ads), the widget will also show you that channel’s share of impressions and spend.

Please note that these figures are determined by your selected channel, domains, device type, period, and country. Any updates to these selections will change the estimated expenditure.

The number of publishers contributing to these estimates can be found in the bottom right corner of the widget. If you click on this number, you’ll be taken down the page to the Top Publishers widget for a more detailed breakdown.

Here is an example of what this widget looks like when viewing a publisher: 

For publisher domains, Estimated Expenditure shows the total impressions generated by all ads placed on that domain. Ad spend refers to the amount spent by advertisers to buy ad placement on the publisher domain. Clicking the “Found in # advertisers” link will take you to the Top Advertisers widget.

Ad Types Distribution

The Ad Types Distribution widget appears when you analyze a single advertiser domain for the following channels:

• All channels
• Social

This widget shows how many of each type of ads an advertiser runs during the analyzed period. 

When viewing all channels, that includes video, banner, and social ads.

When viewing the social channel, this widget is called Social Ad Types, and includes: 

• Image ads
• Video ads
• Carousel ads
• Promoted accounts

Ad Placement

The Ad Placement widget appears when you analyze a single domain for the following channels: 

• Display (called Display Ad Placement)
• Video (called Video Ad Placement)
• Social (called Social Ad Placements)

When viewing the Display or Video channels, you’ll find the widget in the top center, to the right of Estimated Expenditure. When viewing the social channel, you’ll find it on the top right.

Display Ad Placement analyzes where display ads were placed on the screen when they occurred. Options include: 

• Above the fold: Ads visible on a user’s screen without scrolling.
• Below the fold: Ads the user would need to scroll in order to see.
• Far below the fold: Ads placed at or near the bottom of the page. 

Video Ad Placement shows you where in a video the ad appears: 

• Pre-roll: before a video begins
• Mid-roll: during a video
• Post-roll: at the end of a video
• Masthead: on top of a video page

Social ad placements shows where on a social platform an ad was placed (e.g. in the feed, in a column to the right, or in the marketplace). As such, the options included may vary depending on the social platforms used and the available data for those ads. 

This widget’s functionality is essentially the same for both publishers and advertisers, though it analyzes slightly different data: 

• Advertiser view: Breaks down the placement of selected advertisers’ display ads across many publishers.
• Publisher view: Breaks down the placement of ads from many advertisers on selected publisher domains.

Ad Buying Methods (Light)

When analyzing a single domain, Ad Buying Methods appears to the right of the Ad Placement widget, for the following channels:

• All channels
• Display
• Video

This widget shows a high level overview of ad buying methods during the analyzed period. Buying methods are broken down into three categories: 

• Ad Network: Ads that were bought via an Ad Network (such as Google AdSense) to be displayed on a variety of publisher domains.
• Programmatic: Ads that were purchased using an automated system, usually through an ad exchange.
• Direct: Ads that were bought directly through the publisher. 

When viewing an advertiser, this widget analyzes all of the analyzed advertiser’s ads across all publishers. When viewing a publisher, it analyzes all ads displayed on the publisher domain, from all advertisers. 

Estimated Impressions

When you are comparing multiple advertiser domains, the first widget you see is Estimated Impressions. This widget does not appear when analyzing publisher domains.

Estimated Impressions is a color-coded line graph that compares the trend of impressions generated by each advertiser (in the above example, grocery retailers Wegmans.com and Aldi.us) over the analyzed period. 

For more information about the estimated impressions on a specific date, place your cursor over that spot on the graph. 

Estimated Spend

When comparing two advertiser domains, the Estimated Spend widget can be found to the right of Estimated Impressions.

This widget uses color coded lines to depict the estimated ad spend for each advertiser over a specified period. To learn about a specific date, place your cursor over that spot on the graph.

Advertiser Distribution

When comparing publisher domains, the Advertiser Distribution widget can be found in the top row of the report. It uses color-coded line graph to compare the amount of advertisers who published ads on that domain during the analyzed period. 

Highlights

The Highlights widget is visible in both the Advertiser and Publisher Overview reports when comparing multiple domains. It shows key information about the compared domains’ ad performance over the analyzed period: 

• Estimated Impressions
• Spend
• Total Publishers or Advertisers
• Number of Unique Creatives. 

To learn more about a specific advertiser or publisher, click on the domain in question and you will be taken to its respective Overview report.

Expenditure Trends

When analyzing a single domain, the Expenditure Trend widget can be found in the second row, in place of the Highlights widget. You can use this chart to view expenditure over a daily, weekly, or monthly period. Use the drop-down menu in the top right corner of the widget to change the period being viewed.

Expenditure trends can be shown in up to two of three possible dimensions:

• Average Impressions
• Average Spend
• Average Number of Publishers or Advertisers

If you’re viewing all channels, this widget will also include an expenditure breakdown section directly below the trends chart. 

The expenditure breakdown section shows the expenditure for each channel that has data, plus that channel’s share of voice (SoV). 

Top Ads

The Top Ads widget displays the top-performing ads from the selected domains. over the analyzed period. You can sort these by newest (based on last seen date), total impressions, and duration seen. 

On the top right corner of the widget, you can find three filters, which you can use to exclude unwanted ad types: 

• Hide banner ads
• Hide video ads
• Hide social ads

Click on one of these filters to narrow down your results. 

To view more details about an ad, click on the image. A window will appear, showing you an expanded view of that ad, and other details such as: 

• Type of Ad 
• Dimensions
• Impressions 
• Spend
• Publisher (Seen On)

Top Campaigns

Available in all views, the Top Campaigns chart ranks the best-performing campaigns for the analyzed domains during a given period. 

Customize your view with the drop down menu on the right. This will change how figures are displayed in the Spend and Impressions columns: 

• Both: displays both numbers and percentages
• Percentages: Displays the percentage of total spend or impressions attributed to that campaign
• Numbers: Displays the number of impressions and dollar amounts for spend

The first column on this chart is the name of the campaign. If you click on one of these, you will be taken to a campaign report for that campaign. 

If you’re in Comparison Mode, the second column will tell you the relevant publisher or advertiser being compared.  

Other data included in this chart: 

• Impressions
• Share of Voice (SoV)
• Ad Spend
• Number of publishers (for a single domain in Advertiser Overview only)
• Advertiser (for that specific campaign, in Publisher Overview)

Top Publishers & Top Advertisers

The Top Publishers and Top Advertisers widgets rank the best performing publishers and advertisers by impressions. 

• Top Publishers: visible when analyzing an advertiser domain (also called Top Publisher & Apps when viewing all channels)
• Top Advertisers: visible when analyzing a publisher domain

When analyzing a single domain, the top five publisher domains and apps, or the top advertisers, are listed on the left side of the widget. In the center, you’ll find a breakdown of ad buying methods used for each. On the right, a pie chart displays the share of voice owned by each of the top five domains, compared to all others. 

To view the complete list of top publishers or advertisers, click on the “View all” link at the bottom of the widget. A new window will open over the widget.

In this view, you can filter publishers by: 

• Campaign
• Impressions
• Share of Voice
• Spend
• Publishers (search by name)
• Detection (first and last seen)

Advertisers can be filtered by: 

• Advertiser (Search by name)
• Impressions
• Share of Voice
• Spend

To add a filter, click on the one you’re interested in. Then, select or enter the value you want to see.

When comparing domains, the top ten domains are listed, followed by the share of voice on that domain owned by each publisher or advertiser being compared. 

You can view this data three different ways:

• Table: displays the data numerically
• Chart: displays the data visually
• Combined: displays both

To change your view, simply click on the corresponding icon in the top right corner of the widget.

You’ll also notice that in Comparison Mode, the widget does not include a “view all” link. Instead, all publishers or advertisers are broken out into pages. You can use the page buttons at the bottom of the widget to change pages or update the amount of items per page. 

If you want to learn more about a specific publisher or advertiser listed in this widget, click on its name, and you will be taken to its report. 

Youtube Channels

When analyzing a single advertiser domain on the video channel, the Youtube Channels widget shows the top channels where the advertiser has placed ads. This does not appear for publishers, or when comparing two domains.

The YouTube Channels widget functions in a similar way to the Top Advertisers or Top Publishers widget. The chart includes:

• Top five channels
• Number of campaigns
• Number and share of impressions
• Value and share of advertising spend
• Share of voice breakdown

Customize your view using the dropdown menu on the right.

Click the “view all” link at the bottom to see a complete list of youtube channels where the advertiser’s ads were seen. 

Use the drop down menu on the left to add a filter, then enter the value you’re looking for. You can filter by:

• Youtube channel name
• Campaigns
• Impressions
• Share of Voice
• Spend

Social Networks

The Social Networks widget appears when you analyze a single advertiser domain on the social channel. It shows you: 

• The social platforms where the advertiser’s ads have appeared (including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok),
• The number and share of impressions received,
• Ad buying methods,
• Value and share of advertising spend,
• Share of voice.

Use the drop down menu on the right to customize how the values in the Impressions and Spend columns appear.

Top Apps

The Top Apps widget appears when you analyze mobile data for a single advertiser domain or group. It ranks the best performing publisher apps by ad impressions. Please note that if the selected advertiser does not promote itself on apps, this widget may not appear. 

On the left side of the app, a chart breaks down the top 5 publisher apps by: 

• Impressions
• Share of Voice
• Spend
• Mobile OS (e.g. Apple vs Android)

On the right, a pie chart displays the share of voice for the top 5 apps compared to all others. 

To view a complete list of apps included in this report, click the “View all apps” link at the bottom of the widget. The full report can be filtered by: 

• Publisher (search by name)
• Impressions
• Share of Voice
• Spend

Ad Buying Methods (Full)

The second Ad Buying Methods widget shows a more detailed breakdown of the methods used by advertisers to buy ads displayed by publishers. This widget includes five different ad buying methods: 

• Ad Network: Ads purchased through a network such as Google AdSense
• Programmatic: Ads purchased using an automated method, typically through an ad exchange
• Direct: Ads purchased directly through the publisher
• Programmatic/ad network: Ads purchased using a programmatic method through an ad network
• Programmatic direct: Ads purchased directly from the publisher via a programmatic method 

When analyzing a single domain, this widget includes a chart on the left, breaking down the Impressions, Share of Voice, and Spend for each buying method. On the right is a pie chart that depicts the share of voice for each method.

In Comparison Mode, this widget is instead a bar graph, depicting the share of voice by buying method for each compared domain: 

Channels Distribution

Available only in Comparison Mode, the Channels Distribution breaks down the distribution of display, video, and social ads for each compared domain.

If you have other questions about the App Center or the AdClarity — Advertising Intelligence app, please email us directly at app-center@semrush.com.