Ads.txt and What We Know About It

26 July 2017

Programmatic made all players equal, including the shady ones. The industry regulators with sufficient tech capabilities at hands are called on to find the solution for improving ad buying experience. IAB offers us its ads.txt idea to look into.

Why

The money spent on advertising content production and delivery go down the drain, when ad fraud and brand safety issues come in play.

The quality of inventory paid for by advertisers is not assured at the level high enough. In many cases, the traffic appears to be non-human or misleading. And the volume of such fraudulent traffic is growing exponentially, which forces the buy side to sound the alarm.

Both blacklisting and whitelisting options showed their flaws. Moreover, as the tech tools of fraudsters get more sophisticated, they can mask themselves or seep through the block.

What

As the way to fight the problem, IAB has announced the final specification for its “ads.txt” project, supported by Google. Ads.txt is a public record of Authorized Digital Sellers that publishers can offer for potential buyers to use. It doesn’t overload the speed of RTB processes, but sheds more light on the actors of the supply chain.

How

The option is not mandatory now, rather it’s a recommendation. Publishers are asked to host a text file, which exposes all networks, exchanges and SSPs, authorized to sell their impressions.

sample

IAB example of ads.txt file

Advertisers start the crawler to pull all ads.txt-files from the web. This way, they are able to check legitimacy of the connection between a claimed publisher and a reseller they are buying from.

What’s next

Advantages for advertisers were somewhat mentioned above. The list helps them verify that their budget is spent on authentic inventory. And DSPs get to improve their offer to advertisers.

For publishers, it’s a really small amount of work. With that, deserving publishers get to build their brands and attract more media spend. SSPs and exchanges having direct relationship with websites can win over the spend poured onto cheap yet unchecked inventory of those without such direct relationship. Third-party networks and sales houses can stand out on the market as vendors that support bringing transparency to the ecosystem.

Ads.txt is a positive initiative that demonstrates the willingness of industry actors to build trusting relationships. Its wide implementation has the potential to leave less space for ad fraud. Still, this depends on how committed the buy and the sell sides are to take their part. Also, let’s not forget that the initiative is quite young and there’s space left for more upgrades.

Want to learn more?

    Select
    Demand
    Brand
    Agency
    DSP
    Supply
    App Developer
    Others
    Ad Network Owner
    Tech Vendor
    Other/Not Sure
    Select
    Demand
    Brand
    Agency
    Others
    Ad Network Owner
    Other/Not Sure
    Select
    Demand
    Brand
    Agency
    Supply
    Media House
    Others
    Ad Network Owner
    Tech Vendor
    Other/Not Sure
    Select
    Demand
    Brand
    Agency
    Supply
    Web Publisher
    App Developer
    SSP
    Media House
    Others
    Ad Network Owner
    Tech Vendor
    Other/Not Sure
    Select
    Supply
    Web Publisher
    App Developer
    SSP
    Media House
    Others
    Ad Network Owner
    Other/Not Sure
    Select
    Demand
    Brand
    Agency
    DSP
    Supply
    Web Publisher
    App Developer
    SSP
    Media House
    Others
    Ad Network Owner
    Tech Vendor
    Other/Not Sure
    You Might Also Like

    Over the past months, our team has been working hard to deliver not one, not two..but five good news for you. For demand partners, we’ve revamped planning, targeting, and campaign placement tools to empower more effective advertising. On the supply side, we’ve focused on improving inventory analysis and curation. Let us walk you through new […]

    NEW Admixer Update

    Over the past months, our team has been working hard to deliver not one, not two..but five good news for you. For demand partners, we’ve revamped planning, targeting, and campaign placement tools to empower more effective advertising. On the supply side, we’ve focused on improving inventory analysis and curation. Let us walk you through new […]

    Read more

    Historically, Viber inventory has been available in Admixer ecosystem via third-party intermediaires. This caused limitations for advertisers and made it difficult to realize the full potential of this advertising channel. But we are thrilled to announce a direct partnership with Rakuten Viber! Now, advertisers get access to new features available on our global programmatic platform. […]

    Admixer + Rakuten Viber: What’s in it for Advertisers?

    Historically, Viber inventory has been available in Admixer ecosystem via third-party intermediaires. This caused limitations for advertisers and made it difficult to realize the full potential of this advertising channel. But we are thrilled to announce a direct partnership with Rakuten Viber! Now, advertisers get access to new features available on our global programmatic platform. […]

    Read more

    Learn how Admixer helped an Asian mobile network carrier develop a system to collect, store and analyze data from millions of customers and billions of events to achieve real-time analytics effectiveness. Does a cellular network company need a real-time data solution? The short answer: we think yes. The long answer: we have prepared a dedicated […]

      Stay updated with Admixer
      Privacy Policy