Updating links in the Admitad Russia affiliate network under the advertising law

According to the recent amendments to the advertising law, all Russian ad creatives must be labeled with unique identifiers called tokens. Since December 7, unique tokens will be added to most links in programs of the Admitad Russia affiliate network, one of Qbiqtech’s businesses. Publishers only have to update the links on their ad spaces.

The new advertising law: key takeaways

New amendments to the Federal Law “On advertising” came into force on September 1, 2022. From now on, every online ad in Russia must be marked as “Advertising” and have a token, a unique identifier showing all members of the advertising chain (advertiser, distributor, etc.). Ad data must be submitted to the Online Advertising Register.

Information about advertising campaigns is submitted to the Online Advertising Register by advertising data operators, which also issue tokens. So far, the Admitad Russia affiliate network has signed an agreement with a few advertising data operators, including Pervyy ADO, owned by Vimpelcom.

What’s already been done

The Admitad Russia affiliate network is doing its best to help publishers comply with the new legal advertisement requirements.

We’ve signed additional agreements with most advertisers and updated the terms of use.

We’ve set up the automatic data collection workflow. We are currently building a process for submitting monthly advertising campaign statistics to the advertising data operator.

All banners of Russian programs already contain an “Advertising” mark. Old banners have been updated automatically, and new banners have been marked. Please note that, according to the applicable laws, banners must contain the TIN (INN) and the name of the original advertiser. Please add this information to banners on your own since we can’t do that automatically.

We’ve received unique tokens for all Russian ad creatives and affiliate links. Since December 7, most affiliate links will contain tokens. Publishers will need to replace links in their ad spaces with new ones containing tokens.

What publishers need to do

Check all the necessary information about you (full name/company name, TIN) in your account. As the amended advertising law prescribes, this information will be submitted to the advertising data operator. All Russian affiliate programs are subject to this rule. If you’ve already filled out the details, ensure they’re correct. 

Update your affiliate links for other programs. You can get a new link with a token in any section you used to generate affiliate links (“Coupons and promo codes”, advertiser cards, etc.).

If you placed links manually, update the existing ones. The links with tokens will contain the new parameter, “erid”. Example: https://website/?….&erid=LatgBuoYd. If you use SubIDs (for example, you have the following SubIDs: moscow, 2, man), make sure the final link looks like https://website/?….&erid=LatgBuoYd&subid=moscow&subid1=2&subid2=man (learn more about using SubIDs in the Help Center).

If you used Admitad Russia’s automatic tools (e.g., API) to place affiliate links, ensure that those contain a token. If you use deeplinks and XML feeds, default links will contain the token. 

We’ve prepared a special filter for the program catalog to simplify things. You can use it to find all advertisers whose links need to be updated. You’ll have to replace links on each ad space for all programs in the filter. Roskomnadzor plans to carry out automatic audits to comply with the new advertising law. Violators will be fined.