# Google Ads Transparency Scraper — Advertiser Ad Library (`actorworks/google-ads-transparency-scraper`) Actor

Scrape any advertiser's public ad library from the Google Ads Transparency Center: every creative with format, first/last shown dates, preview assets, and regions. Search by advertiser name or ID.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/actorworks/google-ads-transparency-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Adam C](https://apify.com/actorworks) (community)
- **Categories:** Marketing, Business, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Google Ads Transparency Scraper — Advertiser Ad Library

**See every ad any advertiser is running on Google — as structured JSON.** Give this scraper advertiser names (or Transparency Center IDs), and get back their complete public ad library: every creative with its format, first-shown and last-shown dates, preview assets, and a direct link to the official transparency record.

| Advertiser | Creative | Format | First shown | Last shown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nike Retail BV | CR1315…1297 | rich | 2021-10-25 | 2026-08-28 |
| Nike Retail BV | CR1032…7921 | image | 2021-10-25 | 2026-08-28 |
| Nike Retail BV | CR1511…7153 | image | 2026-08-20 | 2026-08-28 |

### Why this scraper

- ✅ **Reads the Transparency Center's own data endpoints** — the same responses the official site renders, not screen-scraped HTML
- ✅ **Search by name** — advertiser names resolve to registered advertiser IDs automatically (with country disambiguation)
- ✅ **Complete libraries** — cursor-based pagination walks through everything an advertiser runs, up to your cap (large advertisers have 90,000+ creatives)
- ✅ **Reliable by design** — automated health tests exercise the endpoints continuously; reported issues are treated as top priority
- ✅ **No login, no proxies needed** — this is public regulatory-transparency data

### What you get

```json
{
  "id": "AR18378488041124659201:CR13156250946734391297",
  "advertiserId": "AR18378488041124659201",
  "advertiserName": "Nike Retail BV",
  "advertiserCountry": "NL",
  "creativeId": "CR13156250946734391297",
  "format": "rich",
  "firstShownAt": "2021-10-25T07:00:00.000Z",
  "lastShownAt": "2026-08-28T09:37:20.000Z",
  "previewUrl": "https://displayads-formats.googleusercontent.com/ads/preview/…",
  "previewImageUrl": null,
  "transparencyUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR18378488041124659201/creative/CR13156250946734391297"
}
```

With `includeDetails: true`, each creative additionally carries its **ad variants** and a **per-region last-shown breakdown**.

### Input

```json
{
  "queries": ["Nike Retail BV", "adidas", "AR18378488041124659201"],
  "region": "GB",
  "maxCreativesPerAdvertiser": 200,
  "includeDetails": false
}
```

Names, `AR…` advertiser IDs, and advertiser-page URLs all work.

### Use cases

- **Competitive ad monitoring** — track what competitors launch, refresh, and retire, week over week
- **Creative research** — study formats and messaging across an industry before briefing your own
- **Agency & brand reporting** — verifiable, source-linked evidence of any advertiser's public activity
- **Ad-tech & research datasets** — regulatory transparency data in clean, structured form

### Pricing

Pay per result: **about $1.80 per 1,000 creatives** ($0.0018 per creative + a fractional start fee), with optional per-creative detail lookups at $0.003. Cheaper on paid Apify plans. Monitoring 10 competitors' full libraries weekly typically costs a few dollars a month.

### Data & ethics

This is Google's own public advertising-transparency register — data published specifically so ads can be scrutinized. Output reproduces advertiser identity **exactly as the register publishes it** and is never joined to contact information or personal data. This actor is an independent tool, not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.

### FAQ

**How fresh is it?** Live — each run reads the register at that moment; `lastShownAt` updates as advertisers' ads serve.

**Can I monitor competitors on a schedule?** Yes — run it daily/weekly with Apify Schedules and diff against your previous dataset; webhooks can alert you to new creatives.

**What's in `previewUrl` vs `previewImageUrl`?** Image ads carry a direct image URL; rich/HTML ads carry Google's render-preview URL. The `transparencyUrl` always shows the official interactive preview.

**An advertiser name resolves to the wrong entity?** Add the `region` code, or pass the exact `AR…` ID from their Transparency Center page URL.

**Something not working?** Open an issue on this actor — it goes straight to the maintainer.

### More data actors from ActorWorks

- [ATS Jobs Scraper — Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday & More](https://apify.com/actorworks/ats-jobs-scraper)
- [Remote Jobs Scraper — RemoteOK, Remotive, WWR & More](https://apify.com/actorworks/remote-jobs-aggregator)

*Google and the Ads Transparency Center are trademarks of Google LLC; advertiser names are trademarks of their respective owners.*

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Advertiser names (e.g. "Nike"), AR advertiser IDs, or advertiser-page URLs from the Transparency Center.

## `region` (type: `string`):

Optional 2-letter country code (US, GB, DE, FR, NL, …) used when resolving advertiser names.

## `maxCreativesPerAdvertiser` (type: `integer`):

Cap on creatives fetched per advertiser.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch ad variants and region/last-shown breakdown per creative (slower; charged per detail).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "Nike Retail BV",
    "adidas"
  ],
  "maxCreativesPerAdvertiser": 100,
  "includeDetails": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `creatives` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "queries": [
        "Nike Retail BV",
        "adidas"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("actorworks/google-ads-transparency-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "queries": [
        "Nike Retail BV",
        "adidas",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("actorworks/google-ads-transparency-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "queries": [
    "Nike Retail BV",
    "adidas"
  ]
}' |
apify call actorworks/google-ads-transparency-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,actorworks/google-ads-transparency-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/vEFu3XgB0E6NzRUPI/builds/v9zDnlutKp8TInIoH/openapi.json