What are ad APIs, and how do you use them?

Ad APIs enable you to bring together the functionalities you need to build a robust ad platform quickly.

TL;DR: What are ad APIs?

Ad APIs (advertising application programming interfaces) enable developers to integrate, manage, and optimize digital advertising campaigns across different platforms. These APIs allow automation, data retrieval, and advanced targeting, making ad management more efficient.

Setting up common ad APIs like Google Ads and Facebook Ad APIs sounds simple enough when you read through their documentation. They promise seamless automation, precise data syncing and effortless campaign control with a few simple clicks.

The reality is something else. 

Picture this: you’re trying to sync performance data between two platforms. However, after one update to the API and one missed quota limit, your campaign reports don’t add up. 

Instead of optimizing your campaigns, your team is now firefighting tech bugs.

Knowing how to set up and manage ad APIs properly is critical. When you understand how to use them, you can get the critical insights you need, minus the tech headaches.

What are ad APIs?

Ad APIs — Application Programming Interfaces — are powerful tools that make building and managing ad platforms more efficient. They allow advertisers and marketers to use and integrate ready-made solutions for serving ads, targeting audiences and generating reports. This means you can cut down on complex in-house development without losing the insights you need.

Google and Facebook ad APIs are two of the most widely used. 

• The Google Ads API lets you automate tasks like campaign creation, bid adjustments and performance tracking. Use it to update creatives or budgets dynamically based on real-time data.

• The Facebook Marketing API helps you streamline audience targeting, A/B testing and scaling. Use it to automatically create lookalike audiences or pause underperforming ads to keep campaigns on track.

Both APIs give you the tools to optimize campaigns, stay in control of your results and integrate with analytics tools, CRMs and other platforms. They’re designed for scale, making them ideal for managing high campaign volumes across multiple channels.

However, they’re not silver-bullet solutions. To unlock their full potential, you need to set them up correctly and navigate the technical challenges. Done right, they’re powerful; done poorly, they can create more problems than they solve.

The two most widely used ad APIs are Google Ads and Facebook Marketing.

The 10 types of ad APIs

1. Ad serving APIs

Ad serving APIS are used to deliver ads to users in real time. Businesses use these APIs to manage ad placements, maintain the correct targeting, and track ad performance in real-time. As an example, Google Ad Manager API could allow a publisher to serve ads on websites, mobile apps, and connected TV (CTV). This could be a media publisher using an ad-serving API to dynamically place ads based on user behavior and content type. 

• Examples include Google Ad Manager API, Amazon Ads API.
• Features: Ad placement automation, real-time bidding, impression tracking.

2. Ad buying and bidding APIs

Ad buying and bidding APIs automate the process of purchasing ad inventory. Companies use these APIs to automate ad purchasing, adjust budgets, and manage creative assets without manually interacting with ad platforms. For example, a marketing agency could integrate the Google Ads API to programmatically manage hundreds of their clients’ ad campaigns, adjusting bids based on real-time performance.

• These include Google Ads API, Meta Marketing API, Microsoft Ads API.
• Features: Campaign management, budget allocation, audience targeting.

3. Programmatic and real-time bidding (RTB) APIs

These types of ad API automate buying digital ads in real-time auctions. Advertisers use demand-side platforms (DSPs) like Google Display & Video 360 API or The Trade Desk API to participate in real-time bidding auctions to display ads to highly targeted users. An e-commerce brand might use this to bid for ad impressions on premium news sites, ensuring their products are displayed to users most likely to convert.

• Tools include Google Display & Video 360 API, The Trade Desk API.
• Features: DSP (demand-side platform) integration, bid automation, audience segmentation.

4. Social media ad APIs

These manage ads on social media platforms. Businesses make use of APIs like Meta Marketing API, TikTok Ads API, and LinkedIn Ads API to automate ad placements, audience targeting, and performance reporting. You can imagine a fashion brand using the Instagram Marketing API to dynamically create ads for trending products and A/B test creatives.

• Uses Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Marketing API, TikTok Ads API, LinkedIn Ads API, Twitter Ads API.
• Features: Ad creation, audience insights, performance tracking.

5. Search and PPC advertising APIs

These APIs automate the management of search engine advertising (like on Google or Bing). Companies use APIs like Google Ads API or Microsoft Advertising API to optimize keyword bids, track conversions, and adjust budgets based on performance. Picture a travel agency integrating the Google Ads API to automatically increase bids on flight-related keywords when demand surges.

• Uses tools like Google Ads API, Microsoft Advertising API.
• Features: Keyword bidding, campaign reporting, conversion tracking.

6. Video ad APIs

Video ad APIs help marketers with the placement and tracking of video ads across platforms like YouTube, CTV, and social media. Advertisers use these APIs to insert ads in video content, optimize ad placements, and analyze engagement metrics. Picture a gaming company. They might use the YouTube Data API to analyze which ad creatives generate the highest engagement and conversions.

• Examples: YouTube Data API, Google Display & Video 360 API.
• Features: Video ad insertion, view metrics, audience engagement tracking.

7. Affiliate and partner ad APIs

Affiliate APIs connect brands with affiliate marketers and track commissions. Businesses use APIs like Amazon Associates API or Rakuten Marketing API to track referral traffic and manage payouts for affiliates. You might see something like a tech review website using the Amazon Associates API to pull in dynamic product ads that match their content.

• Examples: Amazon Associates API, CJ Affiliate API, Rakuten Marketing API.
• Features: Ad tracking, commission management, performance reports.

8. Mobile ad APIs

Mobile ad APIs focus on the delivery and monetization of ads in mobile applications. App developers integrate APIs like Google AdMob API and Unity Ads API to serve rewarded ads, interstitial ads, and banner ads. This could be something like a free mobile game, integrating AdMob API to show rewarded ads that give players extra in-game currency.

• Examples: Google AdMob API, Unity Ads API, Apple Search Ads API.
• Features: App monetization, ad placement, user engagement tracking.

9. Ad fraud and brand safety APIs

These important ad APIs help advertisers detect fraudulent activity, verify viewability, and ensure brand-safe placements. Businesses integrate APIs like MOAT API or DoubleVerify API to ensure ads are only shown in high-quality, fraud-free environments. A global brand could use the Integral Ad Science (IAS) API to block their ads from appearing on controversial or low-quality websites.

• Examples: IAS (Integral Ad Science) API, MOAT API, DoubleVerify API.
• Features: Ad verification, bot detection, viewability analysis.

10. Attribution and analytics APIs

These Measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns by tracking conversions, clicks, and user journeys. Marketers use APIs like Google Analytics API, AppsFlyer API, and Adjust API to track cross-platform performance and optimize ad spend. A fitness app could integrate AppsFlyer API to determine whether users who clicked on their ads actually signed up for premium subscriptions.

• Examples: Google Analytics API, AppsFlyer API, Adjust API.
• Features: Multi-touch attribution, ROI tracking, cross-channel insights.

How ad APIs work

Ad APIs are sophisticated interfaces that allow your marketing tools to communicate directly with Facebook or Google Ad accounts.

They act as translators so your systems (like your CRM) can send and receive data seamlessly. This means real-time updates to campaigns, audience targeting and better insights to track performance metrics are possible, but the underlying complexity is significant. 

These are not plug-and-play tools; they are intricate frameworks requiring careful integration so you can rely on the data that you’re receiving to make data-informed decisions.

Why use them?

Ad APIs let you create and manage ad campaigns programmatically, cutting down on tedious manual workflows. Advanced audience targeting and segmentation are another bonus as your CRM data feeds your ad campaigns. 

Pro tip: Here at Funnel we have HubSpot configured to share data with Google Ads to improve our search efforts.

When it comes to performance and analysis, the metrics are deep and more actionable (critical in 2025). 

Why are they tricky to navigate?

Be ready to navigate strict API rate limits and quotas, which can halt essential processes mid-flow if not managed properly.

Prepare for constant changes, as APIs are regularly updated or deprecated. Staying compatible demands ongoing effort and technical skills.

Integration also isn’t straightforward. You might face significant technical hurdles, requiring skilled developers, meticulous planning and continuous oversight to avoid breakdowns in functionality.

Mastering ad APIs requires both strategic vision and technical commitment to unlock their full potential. For many companies, these tasks are better managed by a dedicated professional or SaaS provider than by you in your day-to-day work. 

Why? Because you want the insights these API setups can give you, but you don’t want to be spending your time and resources setting up and maintaining this ecosystem.

The main challenges with ad APIs

Using advertising APIs should save you time, not add more to your technical workload. Setting up campaigns in 2025 is tedious enough with advanced settings hidden behind “user-friendly” interface upgrades and search changes. Let’s dive into the main challenges so you know what to watch out for. 

Integration complexity

Connecting multiple ad platforms like Google and Facebook is no small task. Each platform has a unique API with different structures, requirements and workflows, making integration a highly technical process.

Syncing data across platforms adds another layer of complexity, as even small misalignments can create significant gaps or inconsistencies in campaign performance tracking. If your business uses Zapier for automations, you’ve likely seen a Zap — the trigger that automates an action — go off the rails and wreck an entire dataset.

Data fragmentation

Aggregating data from multiple ad and marketing APIs into a single system is a major hurdle. Each API delivers data in its own format, making it a challenge to create a cohesive view of your campaigns across platforms. 

On top of that, inconsistent metrics and reporting standards between platforms add another layer of complexity, requiring extra effort to process the data and make it actionable. Without proper alignment, your analysis risks being incomplete or misleading.

Scalability issues

High-volume campaigns across multiple channels can stretch APIs to their breaking point. Managing these operations demands robust systems built to handle massive data flows and activity levels.

Rate limiters are used to keep API systems stable.

Performance under heavy loads is another challenge. APIs often have rate limits and latency issues that can cause disruptions at critical moments, impacting your campaign workflows when you need them most.

Lack of expertise

Unless you have a team of developers at your disposal, it’s unlikely your marketing team has the technical resources needed to manage these challenges. API setup depends heavily on developers to handle integrations, troubleshoot issues and maintain the system over time.

These challenges mean working with ad APIs isn’t just about accessing data or automating tasks. It’s about building and maintaining an intricate data ecosystem, which when done manually, is a full-time job in itself.

You need to bridge the gap between marketing strategy and technical execution while staying ahead of evolving platform requirements. Therein lies the million-dollar question:

Should you handle APIs yourself?

Taking on ad APIs in-house is a big commitment. It requires advanced technical expertise to handle integration, troubleshooting and updates. The setup and ongoing maintenance are time-intensive and often need dedicated resources. Plus, the costs of developers, infrastructure and continuous monitoring add up quickly.

The risks of going it alone

Managing APIs yourself isn’t without pitfalls. Errors in syncing data or misconfigured APIs can derail campaigns. Scaling becomes a challenge, especially with high campaign volumes and keeping up with API updates demands constant vigilance. 

The real cost? Lost time and resources wrestling with tech issues instead of focusing on optimizing campaigns. 

Worse, the opportunity cost can be enormous: spending heavily to build your setup but missing ROI because of unreliable data or broken connections.

Alternatives to managing APIs yourself

Specialized platforms or services can take the load off your team. These solutions handle integration, updates and maintenance, letting you focus on strategy and execution.

A good platform automates complex tasks like reporting and data exports, saving you time and reducing errors.

Your solution should be able to integrate natively with your ad platforms.

Funnel integrates seamlessly with ad platforms, which means reliable performance and scalability. By outsourcing API management, you free up your internal team to concentrate on what matters: delivering better campaign results with the actionable insights to back them.

Simplify your ad API management

Why deal with API management on your own when you don't have to? Funnel handles the API complexities so you can focus on strategy and results. By automating API management, you free up time, have more reliable data and avoid costly errors.

Funnel’s API management tools make your data work for you. Try Funnel free today!