Overview
The IAB launched the Authorized Digital Sellers initiative (known as ads.txt) in 2017 to increase transparency and reduce fraud in the programmatic ecosystem. Ads.txt enables site owners to publicly declare (via a .txt file added to their domain) the companies allowed to represent and sell their digital inventory via programmatic channels.
Buy-side platforms (DSPs) regularly crawl these files and use the information before buying to determine whether a particular platform has been authorized to sell a site’s inventory. This makes it harder for bad actors to profit from unauthorized reselling or domain spoofing. You can find a sample ads.txt file here: http://www.bbc.com/ads.txt In that file, you’ll see several lines of text, each line representing an individual entry or company authorized to sell or resell the site’s inventory. Each entry must follow the same format:
# SSP Domain, Publisher ID, Relationship, TAG ID themediagrid.com,117954434eff,DIRECT,35d5010d7789b49d themediagrid.com,5IJLC8,RESELLER,35d5010d7789b49d
Ads.txt Field Description¶ | ||
Field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
Field 1 | (Required) Domain of the SSP/exchange representing publisher inventory |
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Field 2 | (Required) Publisher account ID with SSP/exchange Domain of the SSP/exchange representing publisher inventory |
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Field 3 | (Required) Publisher commercial relationship with SSP/exchange
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Field 4 | (Optional) Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) ID (should reflect the TAGID for the platform listed in Field 1) |
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When implemented properly, ads.txt restores confidence to buyers that media dollars are flowing to the intended publishers. It also ensures site owners aren’t losing money to middlemen and fraudsters. That’s why many major agencies and trading platforms are evolving their programmatic strategies to only buy ads.txt compliant inventory. It’s also why more than 75% of top-tier publishers have implemented ads.txt.
Ads.txt for Publishers
As a publisher connecting to Agency Deals Console, you will need to add a new entry to your ads.txt file authorizing Agency Deals Console to sell your inventory directly. To minimize human error, an integration specialist will provide this entry to you directly.
Once your ads.txt file(s) has been updated and crawled, buy-side platforms will start to recognize Agency Deals Console as a legitimate and approved channel for accessing your inventory. If Agency Deals Console is not listed in your ads.txt file, most major platforms will reject bid requests for your supply coming through Agency Deals Console by default, resulting in revenue loss.
Ads.txt for SSPs and Authorized Resellers
If you are connecting to Agency Deals Console as an SSP or authorized reseller of specific sites, meaning you don’t own or operate those domains directly, you will need to work with your publisher partners to update their ads.txt files to include a RESELLER entry for Agency Deals Console.
To minimize human error, an integration specialist will provide these entries to you directly. Once those ads.txt files have been updated and crawled, buy-side platforms will start to recognize Agency Deals Console as a legitimate and approved channel for accessing your inventory. If Agency Deals Console is not listed in your ads.txt file, most major platforms will reject bid requests for your supply coming through Agency Deals Console by default, resulting in revenue loss.
Ads.txt and app-ads.txt
As ads.txt was originally designed to be hosted on a publisher’s domain, it was only able to safeguard desktop and mobile web inventory (both display and video). In-app inventory was not covered. The IAB’s recent release of the app-ads.txt standard changes that by extending the original ads.txt functionality to provide app developers (mobile and OTT) a mechanism for declaring who is authorized to sell their inventory.
Your ads.txt and app-ads.txt files will be formatted in the same manner, but will require two different host locations/URLs (site.com/ads.txt vs site.com/app-ads.txt). Once you’ve implemented app-ads.txt, you must ensure your developer URL is properly listed across all app stores. You can find a sample app-ads.txt file here: https://weather.com/app-ads.txt