{
  "id": 13635416,
  "title": "Google Ads Transparency Center API: export a competitor's Google ads",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/11/google-ads-transparency-center-api-export-a-competitors-google-ads",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-11T04:03:53.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/garje/google-ads-transparency-center-api-export-a-competitors-google-ads-4fag"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Google's Ads Transparency Center offers a platform to view and filter ads across various platforms such as Search, YouTube, Shopping, Maps, and Play. Users can explore ads by advertiser or website. To access this data for competitive analysis, a specific API request was employed. The median lifespan of ads for three major CRM companies—HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zoho—was determined to be 319.5, 195, and 757.5 days respectively. Upon analyzing a larger dataset of 4,578 ads, the median days of existence varied by ad format, with text ads (164 days), image ads (52 days), and video ads (21 days) standing out. It was observed that most text ads were exported as images, with 96.9% of text ads appearing as rendered pictures rather than textual content. Video ads were comparatively easier to parse, as they accompanied YouTube links with their start and end dates. However, it should be noted that the transparency center provides region-specific first-shown dates and impression ranges only for EU countries, whereas outside the EU, a per-region last-shown date is provided. A Python script was employed to facilitate the export process, requiring an Apify account and API token as input. The author has conducted multiple tests with varied parameters, such as selecting only new ads since a specific date, to fine-tune the export process. The Google Ads Transparency scraper API, utilized for this research, is widely available for public use.",
  "summary": "Google's Ads Transparency Center shows the ads that advertisers run with Google, and lets you filter them by Search, YouTube, Shopping, Maps and Play. You can browse it by advertiser or website. If you want those ads as data, to watch competitors or build a swipe file, here is what I learned exporting them, and the request I use. How long competitors keep an ad running I exported 10 US ads each…",
  "key_points": [
    "Ads Transparency Center API allows export of competitor's Google ads",
    "HubSpot CRM ads median lifespan: 319.5 days",
    "Python script with Apify account facilitates export process"
  ],
  "editors_take": "Exporting competitor ads via the Google Ads Transparency Center API enables businesses to gather market intelligence, analyze ad strategies, and potentially adjust their own advertising approaches accordingly.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}