What is Ads.txt ?
Ads.txt is .txt file which should be hosted at the root domain of the sites or Developer url of the app which publisher wanted to ad monetizations
Ads.txt entries signify that the entries that are added in the file are authorized seller or Demand provider to publisher and there is agreement between Demand partner and publisher to run ads on their site.
It is an IAB-approved text file that aims to prevent unauthorized inventory sales.If you check Ads.txt generator,ads.txt manager,ads.txt admob,app-ads.txt
How does ads.txt work and How can buyers use ads.txt to check who is authorized to sell? ?
Publishers drop a text file on their web servers that lists all of the companies that are authorized to sell the publishers’ inventory. Similarly, programmatic platforms also integrate ads.txt files to confirm which publishers’ inventory they are authorized to sell. This allows buyers to check the validity of the inventory they purchase.
If an exchange and the pubs it represents each adopt ads.txt, bidders can check their tags for the presence of an ads.txt file to verify that the exchange and publisher have a legitimate connection to each other.
Are there any other ways to check which sellers are authorized using ads.txt?
Yes. Let’s say a buyer bought HuffPost inventory but was skeptical of the exchange the inventory came from. If HuffPost used ads.txt, the buyer could head to huffpost.com/ads.txt to see if the exchange is listed as an authorized seller of HuffPost inventory, said Steve Sullivan, vp of partner success at Index Exchange.
The IAB Tech Lab released a crawler that can rapidly pull ads.txt files from publishers’ websites. For buyers looking to check the ads.txt files for multiple publishers, the crawler helps them accomplish this quicker, said Alanna Gombert, gm of the IAB Tech Lab.
Why does ads.txt or app-ads.txt is compulsory ?
Publishers drop a text file on their web servers that lists all of the companies that are authorized to sell the publishers’ inventory. Similarly, programmatic platforms also integrate ads.txt files to confirm which publishers’ inventory they are authorized to sell. This allows buyers to check the validity of the inventory they purchase.
If an exchange and the pubs it represents each adopt ads.txt, bidders can check their tags for the presence of an ads.txt file to verify that the exchange and publisher have a legitimate connection to each other.
Are there any other ways to check which sellers are authorized using ads.txt?
Yes. Let’s say a buyer bought HuffPost inventory but was skeptical of the exchange the inventory came from. If HuffPost used ads.txt, the buyer could head to huffpost.com/ads.txt to see if the exchange is listed as an authorized seller of HuffPost inventory, said Steve Sullivan, vp of partner success at Index Exchange.
The IAB Tech Lab released a crawler that can rapidly pull ads.txt files from publishers’ websites. For buyers looking to check the ads.txt files for multiple publishers, the crawler helps them accomplish this quicker, said Alanna Gombert, gm of the IAB Tech Lab.
Ads.txt Format and What should you use DIRECT or RESELLER in ads.txt ?
The format logically consists of:
A non-empty set of records, separated by line breaks. The records consist of a set of
lines of the form:
Where
| Field | NAME | Description |
| Field #1 | Domain name of the advertising system | (Required) The canonical domain name of the SSP, Exchange, Header Wrapper, etc system that bidders connect to. This may be the operational domain of the system, if that is different than the parent corporate domain, to facilitate WHOIS and reverse IP lookups to establish clear ownership of the delegate system. Ideally the SSP or Exchange publishes a document detailing what domain name to use. |
| Field #2 | Publisher’s Account ID | *(Required) The identifier associated with the seller or reseller account within the advertising system in field #1. This must contain the same value used in transactions (i.e. OpenRTB bid requests) in the field specified by the SSP/exchange. Typically, in OpenRTB, this is publisher.id. For OpenDirect it is typically the publisher’s organization ID. |
| Field #3 | Type of Account/ Relationship | (Required) An enumeration of the type of account. A value of ‘DIRECT’ indicates that the Publisher (content owner) directly controls the account indicated in field #2 on the system in field #1. This tends to mean a direct business contract between the Publisher and the advertising system. A value of ‘RESELLER’ indicates that the Publisher has authorized another entity to control the account indicated in field #2 and resell their ad space via the system in field #1. Other types may be added in the future. Note that this field should be treated as case insensitive when interpreting the data |
| Field #4 | Certification Authority ID | (Optional) An ID that uniquely identifies the advertising system within a certification authority (this ID maps to the entity listed in field #1). A current certification authority is the Trustworthy Accountability Group (aka TAG), and the TAGID would be included here [11]. Declaration of certification IDs are superseded by the identifiers object in sellers.json. Note: This field may be deprecated in a future version of ads.txt. |
Example:
google.com, pub-XXXXXXXX4545714, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0
adtag.com, 240, DIRECT
google.com, pub-XXXXXXXXXXX, RESELLER, f08c47fec0942fa0
ads.txt adsense
If you are seeing this kind of message in your Adsense UI then its time for you to update or add ads.txt to your root domain.
Once you are ready to implement, you will see below code which needs to be added to the ads.txt
ads txt example
https://techcrunch.com/ads.txt
http://adage.com/ads.txt
https://adtagmacros.com/ads.txt
What are the drawbacks of using Ads.txt ? Why publisher should care about ads.txt entries ?
Unauthorized reselling is a major scourge in programmatic advertising, and unless buyers contacted publishers directly, they’ve had no way to know which SSPs are authorized to sell a particular publisher’s inventory, Sullivan said. Creating a depository of authorized sellers should help buyers determine which programmatic firms have legitimate access to the inventory they seek.
This sounds nice, but will it actually matter?
That depends. The success of ads.txt depends on network effects because it will only be a reliable quick check for buyers should publishers and exchanges adopt it en masse
Ads.txt Examples with Multiple Combinations, Sub Domain Ads.txt, Ads.txt Redirection
Single DIRECT Ads.txt Entry
As defined above there are three required fields. The optional certification authority ID field is included in some of the examples.
The first example is a website with only one authorized system that is directly
controlled/operated by the website owner.
http://example.com/ads.txt
greenadexchange.com, XF7342, DIRECT, 5jyxf8k54
Single RESELLER Ads.txt Entry
The second example is a website with only one authorized system that is operated by a separate company doing resale of inventory. Their advertising system has not been independently certified, so no the optional fourth field is omitted.
http://example.com/ads.txt
redssp.com, 57013, RESELLER
Multiple SSP Adx.txt Entry
The third example is a website with multiple authorized systems and multiple resellers. Some of their authorized advertising systems are independently certified and have an ID issued.
http://example.com/ads.txt
# ads.txt file for example.com:
greenadexchange.com, 12345, DIRECT, d75815a79
silverssp.com, 9675, RESELLER, f496211
blueadexchange.com, XF436, DIRECT
orangeexchange.com, 45678, RESELLER
silverssp.com, ABE679, RESELLER
CONTACT Records
The fourth example is a website with multiple authorized systems and multiple contact records.
http://example.com/ads.txt
# ads.txt file for example.com:
greenadexchange.com, 12345, DIRECT, d75815a79
blueadexchange.com, XF436, DIRECT
[email protected]
contact=http://example.com/contact-us
SUBDOMAIN Referral
The fifth example is a website that refers the crawler to a subdomain with a different set of authorized systems. The crawler should take the subdomain as another URL to fetch data from and associate to the the subdomain and NOT the parent domain.
http://example.com/ads.txt
# ads.txt file for example.com:
greenadexchange.com, 12345, DIRECT, d75815a79
blueadexchange.com, XF436, DIRECT
subdomain=divisionone.example.com
http://divisionone.example.com/ads.txt
# ads.txt file for divisionone.example.com:
silverssp.com, 5569, DIRECT, f496211
orangeexchange.com, AB345, RESELLER
File Without Authorized Advertising System
The sixth example is a website that does not publish any authorized advertising systems,reflecting this intent within a properly formatted ads.txt file.
http://example.com/ads.txt
placeholder.example.com, placeholder, DIRECT, placeholder
Free Ads.txt Generator And Validator
Appnexus
https://wiki.appnexus.com/display/industry/AppNexus+Support+for+Ads.txt
Verta:
https://adstxt.vertamedia.com/
OpenX
https://docs.openx.com/Content/demandpartners/quality-ads-txt-demand.html
Cedato
http://cedato.com/ads-txt-generator/
Smart+
http://demo.smartadserver.com/shared/smart/spain/adstxt/
Reference:
https://www.iab.com/?s=ads.txt
https://adexchanger.com/the-sell-sider/ads-txt-web-1-0-solution-web-3-0-problem/
https://support.google.com/dfp_sb/answer/7441288
https://iabtechlab.com/blog/industry-aligns-to-adopt-ads-txt-specification/
https://iabtechlab.com/ads-txt/
https://adstxt.adnxs.com/
