Pulse #4: ads.txt & app-ads.txt

The transparency standard for programmatic buying has finally reached mobile apps.

A few weeks ago IAB (Interactive Advertising Boureau) launched app-ads.txt, the mobile version of its transparency and safety standard for programmatic ad buying.

In that context, it’s a good idea to go over this initiative and the problems it intends to solve.

In 2017, IAB introduced a standard that aims at giving transparency to the programmatic ad ecosystem in a simple and secure way. Since then, every digital publisher includes in their domain a list of Authorized Digital Sellers (ADS) that are the only ones who can sell their inventory.

To see the list of authorized sellers, one can simply add “/ads.txt” to a web site’s URL.

The systems’ objective is to avoid inventory falsification, that is, when someone pretends to be a representative of a prestigious site and deceives publishers with false impressions. This type of fraud is called domain spoofing, and it costs publishers millions of dollars every year.

In a way, it’s as if someone offered us a Rolex that might be fake. The first clue is who is selling it: we more or less know that a jewelry is more reliable than a street vendor. But in an open programmatic exchange, full of re-sellers and intermediaries, it may not be so clear. With ads.txt, the DPS receives offers (“Rolexes! Get your Rolexes!”) and can check them against a whitelist of the authorized sellers, in order to know which are legitimate.

Because of its advantages, and thanks Google’s support, the standard was adopted by 73% of global publishers. For it to work, however, media buyers have to use it, and that is taking a bit longer. By the end of last year, 86% of American digital media had implemented ads.txt, while only 23% of local advertisers had.

While ads.txt was designed for desktop and mobile websites, IAB has just finalized the beta phase of Authorized Sellers for Apps, known as app-ads.txt.

In this version, the app’s information in the stores leads to the developer’s site, where the list of authorized sellers can be found. The app stores work like a neutral entity that connects each app with a web site, so that crawlers get to their file app-ads.txt.

With this new feature, the system manages to cover the mobile apps inventory as well, which used to be its big blind spot.

Pulse is a Flame Ads series created to empower all participants that make up the in-game advertising world to feel comfortable in this ecosystem full of possibilities. If you want to get this content right in your mailbox when it’s released, don’t forget to sign up.