Third parties are not direct users of Ad Manager in that they might not have
their own Ad Manager network. Instead, they create services or integrations with
Ad Manager for their clients, who are Ad Manager customers. This guide covers
the basics of third-party integrations by providing best practices, tips, and
tricks.

This guide assumes you have a working knowledge of the Ad Manager API. If you're
unfamiliar with the Ad Manager API, see our [getting started
documentation](https://developers.google.com/ad-manager/api/beta/getting-started).

## Get started as a third party

To use the Ad Manager API to access an Ad Manager customer's network, follow
the guidelines on this page. No additional approval from Google is required,
though note that by accessing or using the Ad Manager API, you agree to the Ad
Manager API [terms and conditions](https://developers.google.com/ad-manager/api/terms).

## Authentication

Follow our [Authentication](https://developers.google.com/ad-manager/api/beta/authentication) guide to
determine your preferred authentication implementation.

If you use a Service Account, you must ask your client to [add the service
account](https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/6078734) to their
Ad Manager network.

Discuss with your client what
[roles and permissions](https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/177403) your
account should have so that your application can access the data it needs on
your client's network.

## Test your Ad Manager integration

The recommended testing approach is to [create a test network](https://developers.google.com/ad-manager/api/environments). You don't need an existing Ad Manager account to
create a test network.

Test networks cannot serve ads or contain all the features that your
clients have available on their production networks. If you need to test against
Ad Manager features that are not available on your test network, contact
[support](https://developers.google.com/ad-manager/api/beta/support).

You should be explicit with your clients about what features they need
to have available on their production network in order for your application to
work properly. Your application should handle cases where features might not
exist. It is your client's responsibility to work with their contact at Google
to manage features on their network.

## Getting support

If you run into issues with your Ad Manager integration, we offer the following
support channels depending on your issue. If you have a product-level question,
post in the [Ad Manager product
forums](https://support.google.com/admanager/). If you have an API specific question,
contact [API support](https://developers.google.com/ad-manager/api/beta/support).