Getting started with data onboarding

NOTE: These guides are intended for advertisers interested in uploading their first-party data themselves.

As an advertiser, you have several options for uploading your first-party data to The Trade Desk platform. Here's what you need to know to get started:

You can upload different types of first-party data and IDs to the platform.
To upload some types of data, such as email addresses and phone numbers, you must sign service agreement paperwork, unless you already have Unified IDs (UIDs).
You can upload personally identifiable information (PII), such as email addresses and phone numbers, as raw data, and we'll normalize and hash it for you. If you prefer, you can normalize and hash PII yourself. For details, see PII normalization, hashing, and encoding.
PII is temporarily stored in a separate, secure domain (called The Trade Desk Secured Environment) and is then immediately deleted after UIDs are created.
If you need product-level targeting, measurement, or optimization, use a product catalog integration to upload your product and event data.

How to upload

You can upload your first-party data yourself or use one of our integrated external providers, as described in the following table.

Upload method	Description
Self-upload	Use the First-Party Data Uploader. This is the most efficient and flexible option. See also Direct upload methods.
Integrated external provider	Use one of our integrated external providers, including several customer data platforms (CDPs) and clean rooms integrated with The Trade Desk.

You can upload your first-party data yourself using one of the integration methods in the following table, or work with one of our integrated external providers instead.

	Data SDK	First-Party Data Uploader	Databricks connector	Snowflake connector (native app)
Integration effort	Code	UI (no code) Code	Code Provides runtime	Code Provides runtime
UID2 support	Mapping	Conversion	Mapping	Conversion
Capabilities or limitations	Third-party data Offline Conversion API (CAPI) Opt-outs	Offline CAPI (excluding commerce data) NPI No third-party data No opt-outs	Third-party data Offline CAPI Opt-outs	Third-party data Offline CAPI Opt-outs
Notes	Python SDK Wraps retries, handshake, and error handling	Successor to CRM Uses UI and GraphQL	Builds on Data SDK	Builds on Data REST API

Here's what you need to know about API integration options:

"Provides runtime" means you still write integration code, but it runs inside infrastructure the platform already manages; you don't provision or maintain servers to execute it. Without a provided runtime, you're responsible for hosting and running the code yourself.
CRM is a legacy first-party data integration method, superseded by the First-Party Data Uploader. New integrations should use the Data SDK, First-Party Data Uploader, or a connector instead.

If you choose an external provider, several customer data platforms (CDPs) and clean rooms are already integrated with The Trade Desk, see Advertiser UID partnerships and integrations for the full list. For abbreviations and term definitions, see Glossary.

Workflow diagram

The following diagram illustrates the process outlined in the next section, which also includes links to the respective data onboarding guides and provides additional guidance on the decisions you might need to make along the way.

Process overview

The following table outlines the process step by step and provides links to detailed onboarding guides, while the diagram in the preceding section illustrates the decision-making workflow.

Step	Description	Notes
1	Decide if you want to build to the APIs on your own or use an integrated external provider.	If you choose to use an integrated external provider, skip the rest of the steps and continue working with the provider of your choice by following their integration instructions.
2	Identify the types of data and IDs you want to onboard: Email addresses (raw or hashed) Phone numbers (raw or hashed, APAC only) UID2s (raw or tokens) EUIDs (raw or tokens, Europe and the UK only) Cookies Device IDs (DAIDs) RampIDs (formerly known as IDLs) IP addresses	See also ID-based first-party data. For a quick overview of UID2 and EUID, see Unified IDs. Otherwise, see the UID2 documentation or the EUID documentation. IMPORTANT: If you don't already have UIDs and plan to onboard email addresses or phone numbers, work with your Technical Account Manager to sign the required paperwork.
3	Use the GraphQL First-Party Data Uploader to onboard your data and create audience segments for targeting or conversion.	For other direct upload methods, see ID-based first-party data.

If you plan to onboard geo data, contact your Technical Account Manager for the appropriate permissions. For details on geo data integration, see Geofence targeting and Geo-interest expansion for CTV.