What is the pid cookie?
Stores a unique user identifier assigned by Equativ to support frequency capping, personalized ad targeting, and cross-network cookie syncing.
Table of Contents
About pid
| Vendor | Equativ |
|---|---|
| Cookie Domain | smartadserver.com |
| Category Category The functional category of the technology, such as Web Analytics or Social Media. Learn more | Advertising & Paid Media |
| Consent Category Consent Category The consent category this cookie most commonly falls under across sites we scan, normalized into four standard categories. Learn more | Targeting & Advertising |
| Prevalence | Very Common |
| Popularity Popularity Popularity is calculated from our dataset of 4.5B+ cookies analyzed across hundreds of millions of web pages. Learn more | Found on 12.5% of scanned pages |
| Expiration Type | Timestamp |
| Expiration Duration | 29 days |
| Party Type Party Type Whether the cookie is first-party or third-party. Learn more | 3rd-Party |
| Risk Level Risk Level Rates how sensitive the data stored by this cookie is (High, Medium, or Low) based on data classification and distribution. Learn more | Medium |
| Vendor Privacy Policy | https://equativ.com/end-users-privacy-policy/ |
| Vendor Website | https://equativ.com/ |
What is the purpose of pid?
The pid cookie is set by Equativ (formerly Smart Adserver, rebranded in 2022) and functions as a proprietary unique user identifier. This persistent tracking cookie is used to identify returning users across websites within Equativ's advertising network, facilitating essential programmatic advertising functions such as frequency capping, personalized audience targeting, and campaign reporting. Furthermore, the pid cookie plays a critical role in user syncing (also known as cookie syncing) processes between Equativ and its demand-side platform (DSP) partners (observed via the rtb-csync.smartadserver.com and sync.smartadserver.com endpoints syncing with partners such as Rubicon/Magnite and LiveRamp) to ensure users can be recognized and targeted by advertisers across different programmatic ecosystems.
What are the Privacy Risks of pid?
Risk Level: Medium
The pid cookie is assigned a Medium risk level because it contains a persistent, unique identifier used for cross-site user tracking and behavioral profiling. Although it does not directly store personal information like names or emails, the persistent ID is actively shared and synced with third-party demand partners (DSPs) in the programmatic advertising ecosystem to build user profiles and deliver targeted advertisements.
How to Remove pid from a Website
This cookie is set by the Equativ (formerly Smart Adserver) advertising technology and is integral to its ad serving and cookie-syncing functionality, so it cannot be selectively disabled while keeping the service active. To stop the pid cookie from being set, a website administrator must remove the Equativ/Smart Adserver integration from the site entirely - this includes removing any Equativ ad tags or the Smart.js library, removing the Equativ adapter from any Prebid.js/header-bidding configuration, and removing or disabling any server-to-server cookie-sync (csync/getuid) calls to *.smartadserver.com. If Equativ is loaded indirectly via a supply-side partner, SSP, or tag manager, the administrator should remove or disable that integration in the relevant platform or tag management system. If the site operator needs the Equativ service to remain in place, there is no supported way to keep the technology while preventing this identifier cookie; the administrator should contact Equativ to discuss whether any account-level configuration can limit the cookie's deployment.