Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    Digital Transformation
    Marketing Operations
    Data
    Customer & Digital Experience
    Performance Marketing
    Marketing Management
    Special Reports
    All Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Performance Marketing » Google allows advertisers to buy ads.txt authorized-only inventory

Google allows advertisers to buy ads.txt authorized-only inventory

Display & Video 360 buyers can opt in to exclude publishers that have not published ads.txt files.

Ginny Marvin on July 26, 2018 at 9:00 am | Reading time: 2 minutes

Google announced Thursday that advertisers using Display & Video 360 (formerly DoubleClick Bid Manager) can now opt to only buy inventory that has been authorized via a publisher’s ads.txt file.

Ads.txt is an initiative spearheaded by the IAB Tech Lab to help eliminate domain spoofing ad fraud. By simply placing an ads.txt file on their domains, publishers can list the IDs associated with the seller accounts of ad networks and exchanges that are authorized to sell their advertising inventory. Advertisers can then do an ID lookup to verify they are buying inventory from authorized sellers.

Ads.txt adoption has continued to rise. Google says more than 430,000 domains have added the file since February and that close to 600,000 publishers — and 90 percent of its publisher partners — are using ads.txt.

Last fall, Google began filtering unauthorized inventory from its ad systems. Now that adoption is high, Google is giving advertisers the ability to exclude publishers that don’t have ads.txt files from their ad buys. The new feature is an opt-in.

Pooja Kapoor, head of GDPR and data trust at Google, told MarTech Today in an interview Wednesday that the company quietly enabled the opt-in feature on June 27 and that they’ve already seen 15 percent of line items in Display Video 360 opted-in as buyers came across the option.

The move to allow advertisers to exclude publishers that don’t have ads.txt files should push adoption by publishers even higher.

Kapoor noted the recent test run by The Guardian, MightyHive and Google to better understand the risks of buying unauthorized inventory. “The results showed clear evidence of unauthorized exchanges claiming to have sold Guardian US inventory and taking revenue when the buy was made through the open exchange. In contrast, there were no signs of fraud through the DSP only buying ads.txt authorised inventory,” The Guardian reported.

Publishers should care about publishing their files and making sure they are correct, and buyers should also be taking similar approaches, said Kapoor. “We are working toward a future in which authorized only is the only option on Display Video 360. Other buyers also need to follow suit and honor ads.txt files. It doesn’t work unless we have broad adoption on the buy-side.”


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


New on MarTech

    Webinar: The key to email marketing success
    The FTC weighs in on customer data privacy
    Whatever happened to customer journey orchestration?
    The latest jobs in martech
    B2B buyers are much more concerned about a company’s values than the general public

About The Author

Ginny Marvin
Ginny Marvin was formerly Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

Related Topics

Marketing OperationsPerformance Marketing

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The MarTech Conference logo.

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Training Now: Master Classes

Start Discovering Now: Spring



The SMX Conference logo.

Start Training Now:: SMX Advanced

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes

Webinars

Tracking Growth From Organic Search

Beyond the Buzzword: Transform Digitally to Drive Organic & SEO Growth

Leap or Linger: Determining Which Ad Platforms to Test for Your B2B Brand

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise Marketing Performance Management Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Customer Journey Orchestration Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Account-Based Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
Featured White Paper

The CMO’s Formula To 3x Your Digital Marketing Campaign Results

See More Whitepapers
Search Our Site

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.