What is a tear sheet in digital advertising? (And how to create one)
What goes in a digital tear sheet, who asks for one and how to make them faster
Landon Bennett
A tear sheet is proof that an ad ran where it was supposed to. In print, it was the actual page torn out of the newspaper or magazine. In digital advertising, it’s a screenshot of the ad live on a real page, with enough detail to show where and when it appeared. You can make tear sheets by hand, one screenshot at a time, or automate them with a tool like Ad Reform, which connects to your ad server, captures each ad live on real pages and delivers finished tear sheets for you. Here’s what a good one includes and how to do both.
What a digital tear sheet includes
A digital tear sheet (also called a proof-of-placement screenshot or ad screenshot) shows a specific creative running on a real page. Advertisers and agencies use them to confirm a campaign launched correctly, to report to clients, and to back up invoices and co-op claims.
Most clients expect:
The ad in context on the page, not just the creative on its own
The page URL and the date and time of capture, usually in a browser bar
The device it ran on (desktop, tablet or mobile), sometimes shown in a device frame
The ad highlighted, for example with a red border, so it’s easy to spot
Every size and placement in the campaign, often collected in a PowerPoint or PDF deck
Pharma ads may also need the full Important Safety Information (ISI) captured. In OEM co-op programs, tear sheets are usually required to get reimbursed.
How to create a tear sheet by hand
Without a tool, every tear sheet is a manual capture:
Find a page where the ad is running, matching the campaign’s site, section, targeting and geo.
Reload until the right creative appears. Frequency caps, rotating creatives and ad blockers all get in the way.
Take a screenshot with the browser bar showing the URL and time.
Crop it, highlight the ad, and repeat for every size and device.
Paste everything into the client’s deck template.
At about 10 minutes per tear sheet, that works for one or two ads. A campaign with 24 creative sizes on 12 sites across 3 devices needs 864 of them, about 144 hours of work by hand. It breaks down when a campaign has dozens of sizes across many sites, when ads only serve in certain geos or on pages you can’t link to directly, or when every new flight needs fresh proof.
How to automate tear sheets
Tools like Ad Reform automate the whole process. Connect your ad server or DSP (Google Ad Manager, DV360, CM360, The Trade Desk or Xandr) or upload your ads, and our AI agent places each creative on a matching page and captures it on desktop and mobile, with the URL, timestamp and device frame your client wants. Our AI agent verifies every screenshot, and our team reviews anything that doesn’t pass before it’s delivered.
Finished tear sheets can be downloaded with your own file names, sent to Slack, Google Drive or Amazon S3, or turned into a branded PowerPoint or PDF from your template. Recurring schedules keep proof current as creatives rotate.
Tear sheets vs. ad verification
A tear sheet shows how the ad looked in context. It doesn’t count impressions or measure viewability, so it works alongside your verification vendor rather than replacing it.
See how it works: automated ad screenshots.
What tools create tear sheets automatically?
Ad Reform creates them automatically. It connects to Google Ad Manager, DV360, CM360, The Trade Desk and Xandr, captures every ad live on real pages on desktop and mobile, and verifies each screenshot with an AI agent, with our team reviewing anything that doesn’t pass. Tear sheets arrive as images, a branded PowerPoint or PDF, or straight in Slack, Google Drive or Amazon S3.
How do I create tear sheets for a digital ad campaign?
List every creative, size and placement in the campaign, then capture each ad live on a page that matches its targeting, with the URL, date and device visible, and collect them into your client’s deck. You can do this by hand for a few ads, or connect your ad server to Ad Reform to capture the whole campaign automatically. For more detail, see our guide to capturing ad screenshots and tear sheets.
