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Yes. If you’re managing paid search for clients and want one competitive-intelligence stack that goes beyond Google/Bing search ads into display, video, publishers, placements, and creatives, there are a few strong options.

Best tools for your use case

1. Similarweb — probably the best fit for an agency

Similarweb has substantially expanded its Ad Intelligence product. It now covers search, display, video, native and social, with visibility into advertisers, creatives, publishers/platforms, campaigns and estimated spend. Similarweb Similarweb

The interesting part for a paid-search manager is that you can connect:

competitor → keywords → search ads → landing pages → display/video campaigns → publishers → estimated spend

That makes it particularly useful for client competitive audits.

similarweb.com

2. Semrush + AdClarity — excellent if you're already in Semrush

Semrush's normal Advertising Research is particularly good for paid search: competitor keywords, ads, historical trends, landing pages and search competitors. Its database goes back to 2012 for many search-ad reports. Semrush Semrush

Then there's AdClarity, which Semrush offers through its Advertising Toolkit. That's the piece I'd look at for your specific requirement: it covers display, video and social, including competitor creatives, campaigns, publishers and placement choices. Semrush says AdClarity covers 50+ markets and 650,000+ publishers. Semrush Semrush

So you essentially get:

• Semrush Advertising Research → Google paid-search intelligence
• AdClarity → display/video/social intelligence
• Semrush PLA Research → Shopping intelligence

That's a pretty compelling agency stack.

3. Adbeat — if display placement intelligence is the priority

Adbeat is more specialized.

Its strength is answering questions like:

"Where exactly is this competitor buying display?"

It provides competitor creatives, publishers, ad networks, landing pages and media-buying information. It covers standard display, native, video, interstitials and other formats, with particular emphasis on display/programmatic. Adbeat

For an agency, I particularly like the ability to use it for publisher/placement research rather than merely looking at a competitor's ad library.

adbeat.com

4. Pathmatics / Sensor Tower — for serious spend intelligence

Sensor Tower is worth investigating if your clients are large enough that estimated media spend, share of voice and cross-channel investment matter more than just finding individual ads.

It's more of an enterprise competitive-intelligence solution than a pure PPC research tool.

What I'd use as an agency

If your primary workflow is paid search, I'd rank them:

Best overall: Similarweb
Best if already using Semrush: Semrush + AdClarity
Best for deep display placement research: Adbeat
Best for enterprise spend intelligence: Sensor Tower / Pathmatics

One important distinction: don't assume "competitor ad intelligence" means you can see every impression or placement a competitor bought. These platforms collect and model ad observations, so coverage, spend estimates and historical availability vary by market, publisher, device and format. Similarweb explicitly describes its display data as a combination of multiple sources including ad-industry partners, panels, direct measurement and broad ad collection. Similarweb

If you're building client-facing competitor reports, I'd lean toward Similarweb or Semrush + AdClarity. If you're trying to answer the much more tactical question "Which websites, apps/publishers and video environments are my competitor actually buying?", I'd put Adbeat much higher.

Yes. If you manage paid search for clients and want one competitive-intelligence stack that goes beyond Google/Bing search ads into display + video placements, the field narrows considerably.

Best options

1. similarweb.com — probably the closest match to what you're asking for

This is the one I'd investigate first if you want search + display + video in the same competitive workflow.

Similarweb says its Ad Intelligence covers paid search, display, social and GenAI, with text, banner, video and native formats. It also exposes publishers/platforms, creatives, campaigns, landing pages and estimated spend/impressions. Similarweb Similarweb

For video specifically, its Video Ad functionality lets you see the actual video creative, landing URL, campaign duration and associated networks, including YouTube pre/mid/post-roll campaigns. Similarweb

For search, it provides competitor keywords, ad position, estimated impressions, traffic share and the actual search creative. Similarweb

Agency use case:
Client → competitors → search terms/ads → display creatives → publishers → video creatives → landing pages → estimated spend

That's a much more complete competitive picture than a traditional PPC spy tool.

2. semrush.com + AdClarity — excellent if you're already in the Semrush ecosystem

Semrush's native Advertising Research is particularly strong for Google paid search: competitor keywords, positions, ad copy, historical activity, landing pages and estimated traffic/cost. Its historical database goes back to 2012. Semrush Semrush

The important part for your question is AdClarity. Semrush specifically positions AdClarity for discovering display and video advertising competitors, including ads running across publisher sites, YouTube and social platforms. Semrush

So I'd think of the combination as:

• Semrush Advertising Research → Google/search competitive intelligence
• AdClarity → display/video/media-buying intelligence

That can be particularly attractive for an agency because you can keep search research and broader media intelligence under one ecosystem.

3. adbeat.com — consider this if display is the priority

Adbeat is worth looking at if your real question is less "what keywords are competitors bidding on?" and more:

"Where are competitors buying media, what creatives are they running, and which publishers/networks appear important?"

It's traditionally been much more oriented toward display/programmatic competitive intelligence than tools such as SpyFu.

I'd put it behind Similarweb for your particular requirement if you want one cross-channel platform, but ahead of search-centric tools if display media intelligence is the main thing you're selling clients.

What I wouldn't use as the primary tool

SpyFu is very good for traditional PPC competitor research—keywords, ads, historical search activity, etc.—but I wouldn't buy it specifically to answer "where are my competitors running display and video?"

Likewise, Semrush by itself shouldn't be evaluated solely on its core Advertising Research product for this requirement. The display/video piece is really where AdClarity becomes relevant. Semrush

My shortlist for an agency

If I were evaluating these for client work, I'd demo them in this order:

1. Similarweb Ad Intelligence — best candidate for a single cross-channel competitive intelligence platform.
2. Semrush + AdClarity — particularly compelling if you already use Semrush for SEO/PPC.
3. Adbeat — strongest candidate to investigate if display/programmatic placement intelligence is the differentiator.
4. SpyFu / iSpionage — use primarily when your competitive research is overwhelmingly search/PPC.

One important distinction: these tools generally provide observed/inferred competitive intelligence, not a perfect real-time dump of every impression a competitor bought. Similarweb, for example, describes its display data as being assembled from multiple sources including ad-industry partners, contributory networks, panels, direct measurement and broad ad collection. Similarweb

If you're evaluating this specifically for an agency, I can also break down Similarweb vs Adbeat vs AdClarity by actual data you'll get: publisher/placement visibility, YouTube, creative history, spend estimates, geographic targeting, search keywords, exports/API, and approximate pricing.

It's traditionally been much more oriented toward display/programmatic competitive intelligence than tools such as SpyFu.

I'd put it behind Similarweb for your particular requirement if you want one cross-channel platform, but ahead of search-centric tools if display media intelligence is the main thing you're selling clients.

What I wouldn't use as the primary tool

SpyFu is very good for traditional PPC competitor research—keywords, ads, historical search activity, etc.—but I wouldn't buy it specifically to answer "where are my competitors running display and video?"

Likewise, Semrush by itself shouldn't be evaluated solely on its core Advertising Research product for this requirement. The display/video piece is really where AdClarity becomes relevant.

Semrush's native Advertising Research is particularly strong for Google paid search: competitor keywords, positions, ad copy, historical activity, landing pages and estimated traffic/cost. Its historical database goes back to 2012.

The important part for your question is AdClarity. Semrush specifically positions AdClarity for discovering display and video advertising competitors, including ads running across publisher sites, YouTube and social platforms.

If you manage paid search for clients and want competitor intelligence across search ads + display + video placements, you’ll usually need a combination of tools. No single platform has perfect visibility into every channel, but these are the main players:

support.similarweb.comwww.semrush.comwww.adbeat.com

My shortlist for a paid search agency

1. Best all-around agency stack

• Semrush + AdClarity
  • Search competitors, keywords, ad copy
  • Display/video creatives
  • Publisher and YouTube placement insights via AdClarity
  • Good for client audits and pitch decks

www.semrush.com

2. Best for seeing where competitors actually run display/video

• Adbeat
  • Shows competitor creatives
  • Publisher sites
  • Ad networks
  • Landing pages
  • Native/display/video campaigns
  • Particularly strong for industries with heavy programmatic spend

www.adbeat.comsupport.similarweb.com

3. Best executive/client reporting tool

• Similarweb
  • Useful for saying things like:
    • "Competitor A is increasing paid media investment"
    • "Competitor B relies heavily on display"
    • "These publishers overlap with your audience"
  • Less granular than Adbeat for individual placements

support.similarweb.com

4. Best inexpensive search-only tools

• SpyFu
• iSpionage

These are good for:

• competitor keywords
• historical ad copy
• estimated PPC activity
• identifying gaps in Google Ads coverage

www.spyfu.com

If your goal is specifically "show me where competitors' ads appear"

Prioritize:

1. Adbeat → display/native/video placements
2. AdClarity (inside Semrush) → cross-channel ad intelligence
3. Similarweb Ad Intelligence → broader paid media mapping
4. Pathmatics → enterprise-level spend and media intelligence

support.similarweb.comwww.semrush.comwww.adbeat.com

For an agency managing multiple clients, a common workflow is:

• Semrush / SpyFu → paid search competitor keyword + copy research
• Adbeat / AdClarity → display/video creative and placement research
• Similarweb → market-level story and client reporting

The big caveat: these tools generally provide modeled intelligence, not the exact Google Ads auction data competitors see internally. Use them for directional strategy, creative inspiration, placement discovery, and benchmarking rather than exact spend/bid reconstruction. www.adbeat.comsupport.similarweb.com

Yes. If you manage paid search for clients and want one competitive-intelligence stack that goes beyond Google/Bing search ads into display + video placements, these are the main tools I'd evaluate:

My shortlist

1. Similarweb — best all-around option

Similarweb's current Ad Intelligence covers paid search, display, social and video, including creatives, publishers/platforms, campaigns and estimated spend. Its display coverage includes banner, native, in-banner video and VAST video. support.similarweb.com

For an agency, this is probably the first one I'd demo if your goal is to answer:

"Where is this competitor advertising across the entire paid-media ecosystem?"

See Similarweb Ad Intelligence

2. Semrush + AdClarity — probably the most convenient if you're already a Semrush user

Semrush's regular Advertising Research is particularly strong for paid search: competitor keywords, ad copy, positions, historical activity and competitors. www.semrush.com

The interesting piece for your use case is AdClarity. It adds competitor intelligence for display, video and social, including creatives, placements, publishers, buying methods and spend. Semrush says AdClarity covers 650,000+ publishers across 50+ markets. www.semrush.com

So you can essentially have:

Search → Advertising Research
Display/video → AdClarity
Shopping → PLA Research

That's a pretty compelling agency workflow.

See Semrush Advertising Toolkit

3. Adbeat — best if display/video placement intelligence is the priority

I'd take a serious look at Adbeat if your clients are doing meaningful programmatic/display/video.

It specifically exposes competitor publishers, ad networks, placements, creatives, landing pages and media-buying information, with coverage of standard display, native, video, interstitials and page takeovers. www.adbeat.com

Its placement data is particularly interesting for an agency because it can show the actual publisher placement URLs and, on higher tiers, direct publisher buys. www.adbeat.com

See Adbeat

One important caveat

None of these should be treated as a literal mirror of a competitor's Google Ads account. Competitive-intelligence platforms observe/sample ads and model things like spend, impressions and traffic. Semrush explicitly notes that its search data can miss local-only campaigns, time-specific ads, keywords outside its database and highly targeted audience campaigns. www.semrush.com

What I'd buy for an agency

If I were building a competitive research stack for client PPC:

• Mostly Google/Bing search: Semrush or SpyFu
• Search + display/video: Similarweb or Semrush + AdClarity
• Clients spending heavily on programmatic: Adbeat + your existing search tool
• Want the fewest separate platforms: Similarweb
• Already deeply invested in Semrush: Semrush + AdClarity is likely the easiest upgrade

If you tell me roughly how many clients you manage and whether they're mostly B2B, ecommerce, local, or lead-gen, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools that are actually worth paying for, including approximate agency pricing and what each can/can't reveal about Google Display Network, YouTube, Meta, programmatic and publisher-level placements.

Yes. If you manage paid search for clients and want one competitive-intelligence stack that covers search + display + video placements, I’d look at these:

My picks for an agency

1. Similarweb — probably the closest match to what you're describing.

Its Ad Intelligence covers search, display and social, with formats including text, banners, video and native, and provides publisher/platform information. support.similarweb.com

It also specifically exposes competitor video campaigns, including the actual video ads, target URLs, campaign duration and associated networks/ad networks. support.similarweb.com

So you can go from:

"Who are my client's competitors?"

to:

"What are they advertising?"

to:

"Where are those ads appearing?"

That's particularly useful for client competitive-audit decks.

2. Adbeat — strongest if display/video placement intelligence is the priority.

Adbeat is much more specialized around display. It says it covers standard display, native, video, interstitials and page takeovers, and lets you identify competitors' ad networks, publishers, landing pages and creatives. www.adbeat.com

Its placement-oriented functionality is particularly interesting: you can discover publishers where competitors are spending and compare publishers, creatives and landing pages. www.adbeat.com

I'd choose Adbeat over a general PPC tool if your question is:

"Where is Competitor X actually buying display/video inventory?"

3. Semrush + AdClarity — excellent if you're already a Semrush shop.

Semrush's native Advertising Research is very strong for paid search: competitor keywords, positions, ad copy, historical activity, landing pages, etc. www.semrush.com

For display/video, Semrush now points users toward AdClarity, which can identify display and video competitors across publisher sites, YouTube and social platforms. www.semrush.com

So the combination is pretty compelling:

Semrush Advertising Research → Google/search competitive intelligence
AdClarity → display/video/social competitive intelligence

If I were building your agency stack

I'd narrow it to:

• Mostly Google Ads / PPC: Semrush
• PPC + display + video: Similarweb
• Heavy display/video/media buying: Adbeat
• Enterprise-level media intelligence: Pathmatics/Sensor Tower or MediaRadar

One important distinction: "seeing a competitor's ad" and "knowing where they bought it" are not the same capability. For your use case, I'd put much more weight on publisher/placement, network, campaign and historical creative data than simply having an ad-spy gallery.

If you tell me your typical client size/verticals and approximate monthly ad spend, I can also compare Similarweb vs Adbeat vs Semrush/AdClarity vs Pathmatics specifically for an agency workflow, including which ones are best for client reporting, historical data, Google Ads intelligence, YouTube, programmatic placements, and estimated spend.

Yes. If you manage paid search across clients, I’d separate these into cross-channel ad intelligence platforms versus search/PPC-focused tools.

Best fits for seeing Search + Display + Video

1. Similarweb — probably the closest match to what you're describing

Similarweb's Ad Intelligence covers paid search, display, social and GenAI, with text, banner, video and native formats. It also provides visibility into publishers and platforms, along with competitor creatives, campaigns and estimated spend. support.similarweb.com

For an agency, this is attractive because you can go from:

Competitor → channel mix → campaigns → creatives → publishers/placements → spend trends

rather than having to stitch together separate tools.

Similarweb Ad Intelligence

2. Semrush + AdClarity — particularly compelling for PPC managers

Semrush's normal Advertising Research is strong for Google paid search: competitor keywords, ad copy, ad history, positions and paid competitors. www.semrush.com

Its AdClarity product adds competitor intelligence for display, video and social, including creatives, placements and spend. Semrush currently says AdClarity covers 50+ markets and 650,000+ publishers. www.semrush.com

So if your workflow is already heavily Google Ads/search-oriented, I'd seriously consider Semrush + AdClarity rather than buying a separate search tool and display tool.

Semrush Advertising Toolkit

3. Adbeat — particularly good for where competitors are buying

Adbeat is more specialized. Its strength is answering:

"What sites/publishers are carrying my competitor's display and video ads?"

It covers standard display, native, video, interstitials and other formats, and exposes publishers, ad networks, landing pages and placements. www.adbeat.com

Its current plans specifically include publisher placement URLs, with higher tiers adding direct publisher buys and competitor alerts. www.adbeat.com

For media-planning work, I would put Adbeat very high on the list.

4. SpyFu — still excellent, but don't buy it for display

SpyFu is very good at competitive PPC/search intelligence: paid keywords, estimated spend, ad history, current ads and PPC competitors. www.spyfu.com

But if your requirement is specifically "show me my competitor's display/video placements", I'd choose Similarweb, AdClarity or Adbeat instead.

What I'd shortlist for an agency

If I were evaluating these for client work:

Best single platform: Similarweb Ad Intelligence
Best search + display combination: Semrush + AdClarity
Best display/programmatic placement intelligence: Adbeat
Best inexpensive/straightforward search competitor research: SpyFu

One important caveat: none of these should be treated as a literal record of every ad a competitor has run. Competitive ad databases rely on observed/crawled/impression data, and search results in particular can vary by geography, audience, time and query. Semrush explicitly notes that its search data won't capture every locally targeted or highly audience/time-specific ad. www.semrush.com

If your main use case is "I have 20–100 clients and want to routinely produce competitor ad/placement reports for each one," I can also compare these on pricing, API/export capabilities, historical lookback, geographic coverage, and agency reporting—that's where the differences become much more important.

If you manage paid search for clients and want competitor visibility across search ads + display/video placements, you’ll usually need a combination of tools. No single platform is perfect because search intelligence and programmatic/display intelligence are collected differently.

Here are the main competitors I’d evaluate:

support.similarweb.com

My shortlist for a paid search agency

1. Best all-around client reporting stack

• Semrush + Similarweb
• Semrush gives you:
  • competitor keywords
  • paid search copy
  • historical ads
  • landing pages
  • auction competitors
• Similarweb adds:
  • channel mix
  • display/video intelligence
  • estimated spend trends
  • competitor media strategy

www.similarweb.com

2. Best for “where are competitors actually running ads?”

• Adbeat
• Strong for:
  • publisher/domain placements
  • banner creatives
  • native ads
  • video placements
  • landing page paths
  • seeing which publishers competitors buy on

support.similarweb.comwww.adbeat.com

3. Best budget PPC competitor research

• SpyFu
• Useful for:
  • Google Ads keywords
  • ad history
  • competitor messaging
  • identifying missed keyword opportunities

www.spyfu.com

If your goal is specifically “show my client where competitors advertise”

I’d rank them:

1. Similarweb Ad Intelligence — broadest cross-channel view (search/display/video/social) support.similarweb.com
2. Adbeat — deepest display placement intelligence support.similarweb.comwww.adbeat.com
3. Semrush + AdClarity — good agency workflow combining PPC and display/video research www.semrush.com
4. SpyFu / iSpionage — search-only competitor work www.spyfu.com

For most PPC agencies, the practical setup is:

• Semrush or SpyFu → search competitor keywords/copy
• Adbeat or Similarweb → display/video placements and creative intelligence
• Google Ads Transparency Center + Meta Ad Library → free validation sources

The main caveat: these tools estimate spend, impressions, and activity from observed data; they are best used for directional competitor analysis rather than exact competitor budgets. support.similarweb.comwww.adbeat.com

Yes. If you manage paid search for clients and want one competitive-intelligence stack that goes beyond Google search ads into display/video placements, I’d look at these:

1. Similarweb Ad Intelligence — probably the closest match

Similarweb's current Ad Intelligence product covers search, display, social and GenAI, with formats including text, banner, video and native. It can show competitor campaigns, creatives, publishers/platforms, landing pages and estimated spend. support.similarweb.com

For an agency, that's particularly useful because you can answer questions like:

• Which competitors are advertising on the same publishers?
• What display/video creatives are they running?
• Where are their campaigns appearing?
• Which landing pages are they sending traffic to?
• How does their spend mix compare with the client's?
• What are they doing in search vs. display/video?

Similarweb also specifically provides actual competitor video ads, target URLs, campaign duration and associated networks. support.similarweb.com

My pick if you want one platform for cross-channel competitive research.

2. Semrush + AdClarity

This is an especially compelling agency setup.

Semrush's Advertising Research is strong for traditional PPC: competitor keywords, paid positions, ad copy, historical activity, landing pages and estimated spend. Its database can go back to 2012. www.semrush.com

Then AdClarity fills the display/video gap. Semrush says AdClarity covers display, video and social, including competitor creatives, placement choices and spend patterns, across 50+ markets and 650,000+ publishers. www.semrush.com

It can also identify competitors advertising on the same publisher sites, social platforms and YouTube channels as the business you're researching. www.semrush.com

So the workflow becomes:

Semrush Advertising Research → Search
AdClarity → Display + Video + Social

If you're already paying for Semrush, I'd investigate this before adding another standalone tool.

3. Adbeat — best if placements are the priority

Adbeat is much more specialized. It's built around display advertising competitive intelligence, and its coverage includes standard display, native, video, interstitials and page takeovers. www.adbeat.com

The interesting part for a paid-media manager is the placement intelligence:

• Publishers competitors buy from
• Specific publisher placement URLs
• Ad networks
• Creative/ad copy
• Landing pages
• Direct publisher buys
• Estimated spend
• Alerts when competitors launch new ads/publishers

Its higher tiers explicitly provide publisher placement URLs and, on Advanced, direct buys from publisher sites; Enterprise adds estimated advertiser spend and campaign-level analysis. www.adbeat.com

So if the question is:

"Where exactly are my competitors buying display inventory?"

I'd put Adbeat ahead of Semrush.

4. SpyFu — excellent search complement

SpyFu is worth considering if your primary need remains Google/Bing paid-search competitive intelligence—keywords, ads, historical PPC activity, competitors, etc.

But I wouldn't choose it specifically for your stated requirement of display + video placements. That's where Similarweb, AdClarity and Adbeat are substantially more relevant.

What I'd use for an agency

If you're doing this across multiple clients, I'd rank the setups:

Best single platform:
Similarweb Ad Intelligence

Best agency stack:
Semrush + AdClarity → search + display/video/social

Best deep-dive stack:
Semrush/SpyFu + Adbeat → excellent search intelligence + very deep display placement intelligence

Best if display/video is becoming a major service:
Similarweb + Adbeat

One important caveat: these platforms are competitive-intelligence estimates, not a literal feed of every impression a competitor purchased. Coverage varies by country, device, publisher, network and ad format. For example, Similarweb says its display data combines multiple sources including panels, contributory networks, direct measurement and ad collection. support.similarweb.com

If you tell me your typical client verticals (e.g. SaaS, ecommerce, local services, B2B) and roughly how many client accounts you manage, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools I'd actually pay for, including pricing/value and which one gives the best placement-level visibility.

Yes. If you manage paid search for clients and want one competitive-intelligence stack that covers Search + Display + Video, there are a few strong options—but they have different strengths.

1. Semrush + AdClarity — probably the best fit for an agency

Semrush's Advertising Research is strong for Google Search: competitor keywords, ad copy, historical activity, landing pages, estimated spend and paid-search competitors. www.semrush.com

The important part for your question is AdClarity. Semrush says it covers display, video and social, including publisher/placement choices, creative strategy and spend patterns, across 50+ markets and 650,000+ publishers. www.semrush.com

It can also identify competitors advertising on particular publisher sites and YouTube channels, then show top ads, advertisers and campaigns. www.semrush.com

I'd choose this if: you want a client-friendly platform where Search intelligence is the core and Display/Video is an increasingly important second layer.

2. Adbeat — best for seeing where competitors are buying

This is the one I'd look at most closely if your clients are asking:

"Where exactly are our competitors running display/video?"

Adbeat is much more specialized in display advertising intelligence. It tracks standard display, native, video, interstitials and page takeovers, and exposes advertisers, ad networks, publishers, creatives and landing pages. www.adbeat.com

Its particularly useful features include:

• Publisher placement URLs
• Ad creative history
• Ad networks
• Competitor publishers
• Video/pre-roll coverage
• Estimated spend on higher tiers
• Alerts when competitors launch new ads/networks/publishers
• Direct publisher buys
• Ad paths and campaign-level analysis

Its Advanced plan currently lists publisher placement URLs, country filtering, alerts and one year of data; Enterprise adds estimated advertiser spend and additional campaign/path intelligence. www.adbeat.com

I'd choose this if: Display/programmatic competitive research is a serious part of your client offering.

3. Similarweb — best for putting ads into the broader media picture

Similarweb's Ad Intelligence combines paid-search and display data, including competitor CPMs, creatives and media mix. www.similarweb.com

The advantage is that you can move from:

"What ads are they running?" → "Where are they spending?" → "How does that relate to their overall traffic/channel strategy?"

That's useful for strategy decks because you're not just showing a swipe file—you can contextualize the competitor's paid media footprint.

I'd choose this if: you're doing broader market/competitor analysis in addition to PPC.

4. SpyFu — excellent Search complement

SpyFu remains very useful for Google Search competitor research, particularly keywords, ad history, competitors and PPC-focused intelligence.

But I wouldn't buy it specifically for your Display/Video requirement. That's not where its comparative advantage lies.

What I'd actually recommend for an agency

If you're managing multiple clients, I'd narrow it to two stacks:

Option A — one primary platform:
Semrush + AdClarity

Best balance of Search + Display + Video + reporting.

Option B — deeper competitive-media intelligence:
Semrush + Adbeat

This is probably the more powerful combination if your clients care about actual placements, publishers, ad networks, creatives and programmatic strategy.

In other words:

Semrush = "What are they doing in Search?"
Adbeat = "Where and how are they buying Display/Video?"
AdClarity = "Give me broader Display/Video/Social intelligence inside the Semrush ecosystem."

One caveat: none of these should be interpreted as a literal, complete view of a competitor's ad account. The data is inferred/observed from their respective datasets, so estimated spend, impressions, placements and campaign activity aren't equivalent to first-party Google Ads/CM360 data.

If you tell me whether your clients are mostly B2B, ecommerce, local services, SaaS, or lead gen, I can also rank these specifically for agency use and client reporting, including which ones give you the best actual creative/placement examples rather than just estimated spend.

Yes. If you manage paid search for clients and want one competitive-intelligence stack that goes beyond SERPs into display/video placements, I’d look at these:

My top picks

1. Similarweb — best all-around competitor intelligence

Similarweb Ad Intelligence

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing. Similarweb says its Ad Intelligence covers search, display, social and video, with visibility into advertisers, publishers/platforms, creatives, landing pages, campaigns and estimated spend. www.similarweb.com

For an agency, the interesting part is that you can go from:

Competitor → channel → campaign → creative → publisher/placement → landing page

rather than just seeing which keywords they're bidding on.

2. Semrush + AdClarity — best if search is still your core workflow

Semrush Advertising Toolkit

Semrush's regular Advertising Research is very strong for paid search: competitor keywords, ad copy, historical activity, landing pages, paid competitors, etc. www.semrush.com

Then AdClarity adds the display/video side. Semrush says AdClarity covers 50+ markets and 650,000+ publishers, including display, video and social, and lets you investigate creative strategy, formats, placement choices and spend patterns. www.semrush.com

This is an especially attractive agency setup because you can use one broader platform for client competitive reports rather than maintaining completely separate search and display intelligence systems.

3. Adbeat — best if placement intelligence is the priority

Adbeat

Adbeat is much more focused on display/programmatic intelligence. It covers standard display, native, video, interstitials and page takeovers, and lets you investigate competitors' publishers, ad creatives and landing pages. www.adbeat.com

I'd consider Adbeat if your question is specifically:

"Where exactly is this competitor buying display/video inventory, what creatives are they running, and which publishers appear important?"

rather than:

"Give me a complete picture of their paid marketing."

What I'd choose for a paid-search agency

If you want one platform: Similarweb

If Google Ads/search is your primary service and you want to add display/video intelligence: Semrush + AdClarity

If you have sophisticated programmatic/display clients: Adbeat + your existing search tool

If you're primarily doing PPC audits and competitor keyword research: Semrush or SpyFu, without necessarily paying for a display-intelligence platform.

One important distinction: these platforms generally provide competitive estimates/observed ad intelligence, not the competitor's actual Google Ads account data. So "placement" can mean observed publisher/channel/creative activity rather than a guaranteed complete list of every impression.

If you tell me whether you're mostly managing Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, or both, I can also give you a 5–7 tool comparison specifically for agency use, including approximate pricing, geographic coverage, placement granularity, historical lookback, and which ones are actually worth paying for.

Yes. If you manage paid search but want to extend competitor intelligence into display + video + search, there are a few tools worth separating by what they actually reveal.

My picks for an agency

1. Adbeat — probably the closest match to what you're asking for.

Adbeat

Adbeat is specifically built around display advertising intelligence. It can show competitor display, native, video and interstitial creatives, along with the publishers/sites where ads appeared and how the media was purchased. www.adbeat.com

That's substantially different from a typical SEO/PPC platform. If your question is:

"Where is this competitor actually buying media, what ads are they running, and which publishers seem important?"

Adbeat is one of the strongest options.

2. Similarweb — best if you want one broader intelligence platform.

Similarweb

I'd look at Similarweb if you're trying to combine paid search + display + video + traffic sources + competitor benchmarking rather than going deep on display placements alone. It's more of a market/traffic intelligence platform than a pure ad-spy database.

3. Sensor Tower / Pathmatics — best for serious enterprise competitive media analysis.

Sensor Tower

Pathmatics is now part of Sensor Tower and is aimed much more at enterprise competitive intelligence. It tracks display, video, social and mobile advertising, with estimated spend and creative intelligence. adlibrary.com

If you're managing large client accounts and need something you can use for media planning, competitive spend analysis and executive reporting, I'd put this near the top.

4. Semrush — keep it for the search side.

Semrush Advertising Research

Semrush's Advertising Research is very good for competitor paid-search keywords, ads, landing pages, competitors and historical PPC activity. www.semrush.com

But I wouldn't buy Semrush specifically expecting it to answer "where is this competitor's display/video inventory?"

5. SpyFu — excellent complement for PPC.

SpyFu

SpyFu is particularly useful for Google/Bing PPC keyword intelligence, historical ads and competitor search strategy. www.spyfu.com

It's much less useful for the display/video-placement question.

The stack I'd consider for your use case

If you're an agency managing multiple clients, I'd probably structure it as:

Semrush or SpyFu → Search intelligence
+ Adbeat → Display/video/placement intelligence
+ Google Ads Transparency Center → Google's own advertiser/creative source

That gives you a much more complete picture than trying to force one SEO tool to cover everything.

One important caveat: no competitor tool gives you a perfect real-time view of another advertiser's media buying. Search tools generally infer activity from observed SERPs, while display intelligence is based on observed/crawled ads and modeled data. So I would treat spend, impression and placement estimates as directional rather than audited numbers. www.reddit.com

If you tell me roughly how many clients you manage and whether they're mostly B2B, ecommerce, local/service, or enterprise, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools I'd actually pay for and compare their agency pricing, data coverage, exports/API, and white-label reporting.

Yes. If your goal is competitor paid-media intelligence across search + display + video, I’d separate the market into a few categories because no tool is equally strong at all three.

My shortlist for a paid-search agency

1. Similarweb — best single-platform option

Similarweb's Ad Intelligence explicitly covers display, video, social and search, including competitor creatives, landing pages, keywords, spend trends and where competitors are investing. www.similarweb.com

Similarweb Ad Intelligence

If you're trying to answer a client's question like "What are our top 5 competitors doing across the entire paid funnel?", this is probably the first platform I'd demo.

2. Semrush + AdClarity — strongest agency stack

Semrush's traditional Advertising Research is particularly good for paid search: competitor keywords, ads, historical trends and landing pages. www.semrush.com

Its AdClarity product extends that into display, video and social, with publisher/placement information, creative strategy and spend patterns. Semrush says AdClarity covers 50+ markets and 650,000+ publishers. www.semrush.com

Semrush Advertising Research

This is attractive if you're already using Semrush for keyword/SEO work and want one client-reporting ecosystem.

3. Adbeat — best for actually understanding display placements

Adbeat is much more specialized. It can show display, native and video ads, publishers, placement URLs, ad networks and direct publisher buys. www.adbeat.com

Its paid plans specifically include publisher placement URLs, date/network filtering, alerts and direct-buy placement data. www.adbeat.comwww.adbeat.com

Adbeat

For an agency, I'd seriously consider Adbeat alongside a search-focused tool rather than expecting one platform to do everything.

4. SpyFu — best search-focused complement

SpyFu is excellent when the question is "What Google Ads keywords and ads are my competitor buying?" It provides competitor keywords, ad history/current ads, estimated clicks and budgets. help.spyfu.com

SpyFu

But I wouldn't buy SpyFu specifically for display/video intelligence.

What I'd use depending on your workflow

If you want one tool:
→ Similarweb

If search is your core business and display/video is increasingly important:
→ Semrush + AdClarity

If you're doing serious media-planning/placement research:
→ Adbeat + SpyFu/Semrush

If you're primarily doing Google Ads competitor research:
→ SpyFu or Semrush

If you're doing competitor creative audits:
→ Similarweb/AdClarity + the free Google/Meta transparency libraries.

One important distinction: "seeing a competitor's ad" and "seeing where they bought it" are different capabilities. Adbeat is particularly compelling for the latter because it exposes publisher/placement URLs and direct buys. www.adbeat.comwww.adbeat.com

If you tell me roughly how many client accounts you manage and whether they're B2B, ecommerce, local, or mixed, I can narrow this to a 3-tool agency stack with approximate pricing and exactly what each tool gives you that the others don't.

Yes. If you’re managing paid search for clients and want competitor intelligence across search + display + video, I’d look beyond the traditional SEO/PPC tools.

Best options

1. Similarweb — probably the closest to what you're describing

Its Ad Intelligence product covers paid search, display, social and GenAI, with formats including text, banners, video and native. It also provides information about publishers/platforms, campaigns, estimated spend/impressions and competitor advertising activity. support.similarweb.com

Similarweb Ad Intelligence

I'd shortlist this if your agency wants one platform for:
Google/Bing search → display → video → social → publisher/channel analysis.

2. Semrush + AdClarity — very strong agency combination

Semrush's standard Advertising Research is primarily excellent for paid search: competitor keywords, ads, landing pages, historical activity, estimated spend, etc. www.semrush.com

But the interesting part for your use case is AdClarity. Semrush specifically describes AdClarity as providing display and video competitor intelligence, including ads across publisher websites and platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. www.semrush.com

Semrush Advertising Toolkit

This is probably the option I'd investigate first if you're already doing a lot of PPC work. You get search intelligence from Semrush + broader creative/display/video intelligence through AdClarity.

3. Adbeat — if display is particularly important

Adbeat is much more specialized around display advertising intelligence. It's worth considering if the question you frequently get from clients is:

"Where are our competitors running display ads, what creatives are they using, and what publishers are they appearing on?"

I'd put Adbeat ahead of SpyFu/Ahrefs for that particular job.

Adbeat

4. SpyFu — excellent for the search side

SpyFu remains useful when the objective is essentially:

"What is this competitor doing in Google Ads?"

It can identify competitors based on shared paid keywords/ads and provides historical PPC information. help.spyfu.com

SpyFu

I wouldn't buy SpyFu specifically to solve display/video intelligence, though.

My agency-oriented ranking

If your requirement is all three — search + display + video:

1. Similarweb Ad Intelligence → best single-platform fit
2. Semrush + AdClarity → arguably best if search/PPC is your core workflow
3. Adbeat → best if display/native/video intelligence is disproportionately important
4. SpyFu → best inexpensive complement for search/PPC
5. Ahrefs → not something I'd choose primarily for this use case

One important caveat: competitor-ad platforms are generally estimation/observation systems, not access to the competitor's actual Google Ads account. Search data can be modeled from observed SERPs, while display/video data is generally collected from observed ad inventory. So I'd use spend, impressions and "top ads" as directional competitive intelligence, not as audited numbers.

If you tell me your typical clients (e-commerce, SaaS, local services, B2B, etc.) and whether you care more about actual creatives, placements, spend estimates, or targeting, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools I'd actually pay for as a PPC agency.

Yes. If you're managing paid search for clients and want competitor intelligence across search + display + video, I’d look beyond the traditional PPC-only tools.

Best options

1. Similarweb Ad Intelligence — probably the closest fit

Similarweb's current Ad Intelligence product covers search, display, social and GenAI, with text, banner, video and native formats, plus publisher/platform information. It is specifically designed to compare competitors' paid marketing mix, creatives, landing pages, keywords and spend trends. support.similarweb.com

For an agency, this is attractive because you can move from:

"Who are my client's competitors?" → "What are they advertising?" → "Where are they running?" → "What creative/landing pages are they using?"

I'd put this at the top if you want one platform rather than stitching several tools together.

2. Semrush + AdClarity

Semrush's core Advertising Research is particularly good for paid search: competitor keywords, ads, historical trends, landing pages and estimated paid traffic/spend. www.semrush.com

The interesting part for your question is AdClarity – Advertising Intelligence, available through the Semrush App Center. Semrush says AdClarity can identify display and video competitors across publisher sites and social platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok. www.semrush.com

So if you're already using Semrush for client PPC/SEO, this is worth investigating before buying another platform.

3. Adbeat — particularly good for placements

This is the one I'd look at if your real question is:

"Where is my competitor actually buying display/video inventory?"

Adbeat focuses heavily on display advertising intelligence. It reports advertisers, ad networks, publishers, landing pages and creatives, and its coverage includes standard display, native, video, interstitials and page takeovers. www.adbeat.com

It also offers things that are useful for client reporting—competitive comparisons, estimated spend/share-of-voice data, alerts and exportable reports. www.adbeat.com

For a PPC agency, I'd consider Adbeat complementary to Semrush/SpyFu rather than a replacement.

4. SpyFu — search specialist

SpyFu remains useful when the core question is Google paid search: competitor keywords, PPC history, ad copy, etc.

But I wouldn't buy it specifically for your display/video requirement. The major advantage of SpyFu is the search/PPC intelligence, not comprehensive placement-level display/video intelligence.

5. Google Ads Transparency Center — free supplement

Don't overlook Google's own Ads Transparency Center. It's particularly useful for checking actual Google advertiser creatives rather than relying entirely on third-party estimates.

The important distinction is that tools such as Semrush, SpyFu and Similarweb are generally competitive-intelligence/estimated datasets, so I wouldn't treat their spend, impressions or exact auction participation as ground truth. Even PPC practitioners point out that third-party tools can miss advertisers because search ads rotate by geography, time, audience and impression share. www.reddit.com

What I'd use in an agency

If I were building a competitive-intelligence stack for client PPC:

Budget-conscious
→ Semrush/SpyFu + Google Ads Transparency Center

Best cross-channel
→ Similarweb Ad Intelligence

Search + serious display/video placement research
→ Semrush + Adbeat

Heavy enterprise competitive intelligence
→ Similarweb + Adbeat

The key distinction I'd make is "show me their ad" vs. "show me where they're placing the ad." Adbeat is particularly compelling for the latter, while Similarweb is stronger if you want the broader search + display + video + social picture. support.similarweb.comwww.adbeat.com

If you tell me roughly how many clients you manage and your monthly tool budget (e.g. <$300, $500–1k, $2k+), I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools I'd actually pay for and compare their agency pricing/features.

Yes. If you manage paid search for clients and want one competitive-intelligence stack that goes beyond Google/Bing search ads into display + video placements, I’d shortlist these:

My take for an agency

1. Similarweb — probably the closest match to what you're describing.
Its current Ad Intelligence product covers paid search, display, social and GenAI, and specifically supports text, banner, video and native formats. It also reports publishers/platforms, campaigns, creatives, estimated spend and impressions. support.similarweb.com

That's useful when you want to answer a client question like:

"Where are our three biggest competitors actually buying media?"

rather than just:

"What keywords are they bidding on?"

2. Semrush + AdClarity — very compelling if search is your core workflow.
Semrush's normal Advertising Research is strong for competitor paid-search keywords, ads, positions and historical activity. www.semrush.com

The important part for your use case is AdClarity, which Semrush now offers through its App Center. It adds display and video competitor intelligence, including publishers, YouTube channels, social platforms, creatives, placements and campaigns. www.semrush.com

In fact, Semrush's current Advertising Toolkit Pro specifically lists competitor insights for display, video and social ads, including creatives, placements and spend. www.semrush.com

3. Adbeat — I'd look at this if display is particularly important.
Adbeat is much more display-centric. It can show competitor ads, publishers, traffic sources and how media was purchased, with coverage of standard display, native, video, interstitial and page-takeover formats. www.adbeat.com

It also has particularly useful publisher placement URLs, direct-buy information and advertiser/publisher comparisons. www.adbeat.com

So if you're doing media-planning-level competitive analysis, I'd put Adbeat high on the list.

What I'd buy for a paid-search agency

If your clients are primarily Google Ads accounts, I'd rank the options:

Best single platform: Similarweb
Best search + display/video combination: Semrush + AdClarity
Best for digging into display placements: Adbeat
Best inexpensive/search-focused complement: SpyFu

SpyFu remains very useful for identifying paid-search competitors and keyword overlap, but I wouldn't choose it for your stated requirement because its strength is fundamentally PPC/search rather than display/video placement intelligence. help.spyfu.com

One important caveat: none of these tools should be treated as the competitor's actual account data. They're third-party intelligence/estimates, so spend, impressions, placements and historical coverage can differ from what the advertiser actually bought. For Google specifically, I'd supplement them with Google's own Ads Transparency Center when you're trying to verify actual creatives.

If you tell me roughly how many client accounts you manage and your monthly tool budget (e.g. $200, $500, $1k+), I can narrow this down to the best agency stack, including which tools overlap and which are actually worth paying for.

Yes. If you're managing paid search for clients and want competitor intelligence across search + display + video, I'd look at these:

My picks for an agency

1. Similarweb Ad Intelligence — best overall fit

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing. Similarweb says its Ad Intelligence product covers display, video, social, and search, including competitor creatives, landing pages, keywords and estimated spend trends. www.similarweb.com

I'd use it when you want a client-level answer like:

"Where is Competitor X spending, what ads are they running, what publishers/channels are they using, and how has that changed?"

2. Adbeat — best for display/video placement depth

Adbeat is particularly interesting if placements are the priority. It reports the ad networks, publishers and landing pages competitors use, and covers standard display, native, video, interstitial and other formats. It also offers publisher-level analysis, spend/share-of-voice comparisons and alerts for new campaigns. www.adbeat.com

For a PPC agency, I'd consider Adbeat complementary to rather than a replacement for a search-focused tool.

3. AdClarity — very good for display + video

AdClarity is available through the Semrush App Center and specifically covers display and video competitors, including ads appearing on publisher sites, social platforms and YouTube. You can investigate top ads, advertisers and campaigns, including competitors advertising on the same publishers or YouTube channels. www.semrush.com

This is especially useful if your clients are asking:

"Which sites and YouTube channels are our competitors buying?"

For the search side

Semrush Advertising Research is one of the stronger choices. It gives you competitor keywords, search ads, historical ad activity and competing advertisers. www.semrush.com

SpyFu is another good search-focused option, particularly for historical PPC keyword/ad research. It lets you examine competitors' Google Ads keywords and historical ad tests. www.spyfu.com

If I were building an agency stack

I'd probably structure it:

Semrush + Adbeat
→ excellent combination for Google search + display/video intelligence

or

Similarweb Ad Intelligence
→ if you want one broader cross-channel platform and care about client-level competitive reporting.

One important caveat: none of these should be treated as a literal real-time view of every competitor impression. Search tools such as Semrush/SpyFu infer activity from observed SERPs and historical data, while display/video intelligence is based on the inventory their crawlers/data partners can observe. So "competitor is spending $X" should generally be presented to clients as an estimate, not a fact.

If your specific goal is "I want to enter a competitor and see the actual display/video creatives + every publisher/site/YouTube placement + estimated spend + search ads", I can narrow this down to the 3 best tools for exactly that workflow, including current pricing and agency/multi-client considerations.

If your goal is to uncover where competitors are advertising across Search, Display, YouTube/CTV, and programmatic, you'll likely need more than one tool. No single platform has complete visibility, but a few come close.

Best tools for each use case

1. Search ads (keywords, copy, budgets)

• Semrush – Best overall
  • Competitor keywords
  • Estimated CPCs
  • Ad copy history
  • Position changes
  • Landing pages
• SpyFu
  • Historical Google Ads
  • Keyword overlap
  • Estimated spend
  • Long-term PPC trends

2. Display ad placements

If you're trying to answer:

• Which websites run my competitor's banners?
• Which publishers are they buying?
• What DSPs are they using?

The strongest tools are:

Adbeat

• Publisher/domain list
• Estimated spend by publisher
• Display network detection
• Native vs banner
• Programmatic exchanges
• Creative history

This is one of the best dedicated display intelligence tools.

Similarweb

Excellent for:

• Top publisher placements
• Display traffic sources
• Audience overlap
• Programmatic partnerships
• Media mix
• Channel allocation

Especially useful when pitching PPC accounts.

3. YouTube & video ads

Pathmatics

One of the industry leaders for:

• YouTube campaigns
• CTV
• Connected TV
• Online video
• Video creatives
• Estimated impressions
• Spend trends

Many agencies use Pathmatics instead of relying only on Semrush.

4. Creative library

If you mostly want to see ad creatives:

• MOAT
• Google Ads Transparency Center
• Semrush Ad Copies
• Pathmatics

These let you browse historical creatives without necessarily exposing all placements.

5. Publisher-level placement intelligence

For questions like:

• "Where is Nike advertising?"
• "Which news sites is HubSpot buying?"
• "What blogs display Salesforce banners?"

The leaders are:

1. Adbeat
2. Similarweb
3. Pathmatics

These provide the strongest publisher visibility.

Agency stack (recommended)

If I were managing multiple paid search clients, I'd use:

• Semrush → Search competitors, keywords, ad copy, landing pages
• Similarweb → Overall digital strategy and media mix
• Adbeat → Display placements and publishers
• Google Ads Transparency Center → Verify active Google display, search, and YouTube creatives
• Pathmatics (if budget allows) → Enterprise-level display and video intelligence

That combination gives a much more complete view than any one tool alone.

Budget recommendations

• Under $300/month: Semrush + Google Ads Transparency Center
• $300–$800/month: Semrush + Similarweb
• $1,000+/month: Semrush + Similarweb + Adbeat
• Enterprise agencies: Semrush + Similarweb + Pathmatics + Adbeat

For agencies focused on Google Ads, Semrush + Adbeat is often the most practical pairing: Semrush covers search keywords and copy, while Adbeat fills the gap on display publishers and video placements.

If you're managing paid search across Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, no single platform gives a complete picture of competitors' search, display, YouTube/video, and programmatic placements. The best approach is to combine a few tools.

Here's how the major platforms compare:

My top recommendations

1. Similarweb (Best all-around)
If you can only justify one premium tool, this is usually the strongest choice.

It shows:

• Paid search keywords
• Display publishers
• Referral traffic
• YouTube advertising activity
• Audience overlap
• Channel mix
• Landing pages

Best for agencies because you can quickly benchmark multiple competitors.

2. Adbeat (Best for display)

Adbeat specializes in:

• Which websites competitors advertise on
• Estimated display spend
• Ad networks used
• Native vs display mix
• Banner sizes
• Historical creatives

It excels if clients spend heavily on Google Display Network, DV360, or programmatic.

3. Pathmatics

Probably the strongest enterprise competitive intelligence platform.

It tracks:

• Search
• Display
• Connected TV
• Online video
• YouTube
• Social
• Creative assets
• Publisher-level placements
• Estimated spend

Agencies working with national brands often rely on this.

4. Semrush + Adbeat

This combination covers most agency needs:

Semrush

• Search keywords
• Ad copy
• Position history
• Competitor overlap

Adbeat

• Display placements
• Publisher inventory
• Creative
• Networks
• Spend estimates

Together they provide a fairly complete picture.

5. Similarweb + Semrush (my favorite combination)

These complement each other well.

Semrush

• PPC keywords
• Search ad copy
• Historical search data

Similarweb

• Display
• Video
• Channel mix
• Audience insights
• Competitor discovery

Free resources worth using

Google Ads Transparency Center

• Current Google Search ads
• Display ads
• YouTube ads
• Advertiser identity
• Active creatives

It's useful for seeing actual creative, though it doesn't provide placement or spend data.

Google Ads Auction Insights

• Impression share
• Overlap rate
• Position metrics

Limited to advertisers competing in your own auctions.

If your goal is "Where are my competitors advertising?"

Use:

1. Adbeat
2. Similarweb
3. Pathmatics

These are the strongest for publisher and placement intelligence.

If your goal is "What search keywords are they buying?"

Use:

1. Semrush
2. SpyFu
3. Similarweb

If your goal is "Show me every ad they run"

Use:

1. Pathmatics
2. Moat
3. Google Ads Transparency Center
4. BigSpy (for broader creative discovery)

For a mid-sized PPC agency, I'd generally recommend:

• Budget-conscious: Semrush + SpyFu
• Growth stage: Semrush + Similarweb
• Enterprise: Similarweb + Pathmatics + Semrush

That combination gives visibility into search ads, display placements, video advertising, estimated spend, creatives, and landing pages without relying on a single source.

For paid search competitor intelligence, you’ll usually need a combination of tools because no single platform has perfect visibility across Google/Bing search ads + display placements + YouTube/video ads. The strongest options are:

Best stack for a PPC agency managing clients

For Google Search Ads

• Semrush — competitor keywords, ad history, landing pages, PLA/PPC insights
• SpyFu — historical ads and keyword overlap
• iSpionage — PPC-focused monitoring

For Display + YouTube/video placements

• Adbeat — one of the most PPC-agency-friendly options for seeing:
  • publishers where competitors advertise
  • creatives
  • ad formats
  • estimated spend
  • messaging trends

• Pathmatics — stronger for enterprise clients needing:
  • estimated media spend
  • impression estimates
  • creative history
  • advertiser benchmarking

For an all-around competitive picture

• Similarweb + Semrush is a common agency combination:
  • Similarweb → where traffic comes from and channel mix
  • Semrush → search terms and paid search activity

Free/low-cost options worth using

• Google Ads Transparency Center — Google’s own searchable database for advertisers’ ads, including many display and YouTube placements.
• Meta Ad Library — useful for competitor social/display creative research.
• Microsoft Advertising Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool — useful for Bing/Yahoo search visibility.

For a paid search manager specifically, I’d typically rank them:

1. Semrush → daily PPC competitor workflow
2. Adbeat → display/video competitor intelligence
3. Pathmatics → enterprise reporting and spend analysis
4. SpyFu/iSpionage → deeper search-only analysis
5. Similarweb → strategic market context

One caveat: competitor tools are estimates. They generally cannot see every impression, placement, audience, or spend number because platforms like Google Ads and YouTube do not expose complete auction data.

If you're managing PPC across Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, there isn't one platform that reliably exposes search ads + display placements + YouTube/video placements at the same depth. Most tools specialize. Here's how the leading competitors compare.

Best options by use case

1. Semrush (best all-around PPC platform)

• Search keyword intelligence
• Competitor ad copy history
• Landing pages
• Limited display creative database
• Good for agencies managing Google Ads

Strength: Excellent search intelligence, but display placement data is relatively limited.

2. Similarweb (best cross-channel view)
Shows:

• Google Search
• Display
• Social
• Native
• Video
• Traffic sources
• Publisher relationships

Useful if you want to answer:

"Where else is this advertiser spending besides Google Search?"

3. Adbeat (best display placement intelligence)

This is probably closest to what you're describing.

It reveals:

• Websites where display ads appeared
• Estimated impressions
• Networks used (Google Display Network, programmatic exchanges, etc.)
• Banner sizes
• Creative history
• Landing pages
• Spend estimates

Very useful for reverse-engineering display campaigns.

4. Pathmatics (best enterprise option)

Often used by larger brands and agencies.

It tracks:

• Display
• Connected TV (CTV)
• Online video
• YouTube
• Mobile
• Social
• Creative history
• Publisher placements
• Estimated spend

If budget isn't a concern, this is one of the strongest competitive intelligence tools available.

5. Google Ads Transparency Center (free)

This won't show placements, but it does show:

• Current creatives
• Search ads
• Display ads
• YouTube ads
• Geographic availability (for many advertisers)

It's useful for quickly seeing what ads a competitor is actively running.

If you're specifically after YouTube placements

Few tools reveal actual placement targeting because Google doesn't make that data public.

The closest options are:

• Pathmatics (estimated YouTube/video activity)
• Similarweb (video channel estimates)
• Google Ads Transparency Center (creative library)
• Adbeat (for display/video outside YouTube)

Agency stack recommendation

If you're regularly conducting competitive research for clients, a strong combination is:

• Semrush for search keywords, ad copy, and landing pages.
• Adbeat for display placements and publisher intelligence.
• Similarweb for overall media mix and channel allocation.
• Google Ads Transparency Center for current search, display, and YouTube creatives.

That combination gives you visibility into competitors' search strategy, display inventory, publisher relationships, and creative execution, even though no third-party tool can reveal the exact targeting settings or complete placement lists used inside Google Ads.

If you're managing paid search for clients and want to understand competitors across Search + Display + Video, there isn't a single perfect platform. Most agencies end up using 2–3 complementary tools.

Here's how I'd rank them.

1. Similarweb Ad Intelligence (my top recommendation)

This has become one of the strongest enterprise tools because it combines:

• Google Search ads
• Display
• Native
• Video
• Landing pages
• Publishers running the ads
• Estimated impressions
• Estimated spend
• Creative history
• Cross-channel comparisons

You can also see:

• Which publishers competitors buy from
• Which creatives have run the longest
• Traffic generated from paid channels
• Campaign trends over time

For agencies, it's one of the closest things to an "ad intelligence suite." support.similarweb.com

2. Adbeat (best for display buying)

If your goal is answering:

• Where are competitors buying inventory?
• Which websites run their banners?
• Which ad networks are they using?
• Which creatives stay live the longest?

Adbeat is excellent.

It shows:

• Publisher URLs
• Display creatives
• HTML5 ads
• Native ads
• Pre-roll video
• Ad networks
• Landing pages
• Estimated spend
• Share of voice

This is especially useful for clients spending heavily on programmatic display. www.adbeat.com

3. Semrush + AdClarity

Semrush itself is excellent for:

• Google Ads keywords
• Ad copy
• Historical PPC ads

Its AdClarity app extends that to:

• Display competitors
• Video competitors
• YouTube advertisers
• Publisher overlap
• Social platforms

It's a strong option if your agency already pays for Semrush. www.semrush.com

4. SpyFu

SpyFu remains one of the best budget tools for Google Ads:

• PPC keyword history
• Historical ad copy
• Estimated CPC
• Competitor keyword overlap
• Long-term ad history

It doesn't provide meaningful display placement intelligence. www.techradar.com

For display placement research specifically

If your question is:

"Which sites are my competitors advertising on?"

The leaders are:

1. Similarweb
2. Adbeat
3. AdClarity

These platforms identify publisher domains and placements, though all spend and impression figures are modeled estimates rather than direct Google data. support.similarweb.comwww.adbeat.com

Free resources worth using

Even with paid tools, I recommend checking:

• Google Ads Transparency Center for active Google ad creatives.
• Meta Ad Library for Facebook and Instagram ads.
• LinkedIn Ads Library for LinkedIn advertisers.

These don't estimate spend or placements, but they let you inspect real creatives directly from the platforms.

If I were equipping a PPC agency today

• Best overall: Similarweb Ad Intelligence
• Best for display/media buying: Adbeat
• Best search intelligence: SpyFu or Semrush
• Best free creative libraries: Google Ads Transparency Center + Meta Ad Library

That combination gives broad visibility into search keywords and copy, display and video creatives, publisher placements, and estimated media investment across channels.