On March 13, the IAB Tech Lab released a final version of app-ads.txt an important step in the ongoing arms race against bad actors attempting to defraud the large and growing mobile app advertising market. At OpenX, we are strong supporters of this new initiative and we are encouraging all of our developer partners to implement files right away.
Since launching in 2017, ads.txt for desktop has been an overwhelming success. The initiative has seen more than 75% adoption across the top 5,000 desktop publishers, and reduced fraud rates across the board, playing a significant role in eliminating domain spoofing. Just as with this new initiative, OpenX was an early and strong proponent of the ads.txt effort and we expect the introduction of app-ads.txt to have a similar positive impact for mobile app publishers.
Going forward, many DSPs will choose to only bid on inventory where the seller is clearly identified, so it’s important publishers are prepared and do not risk any gaps in revenue when DSPs make this a requirement.
At OpenX, we were the first major global exchange to implement strict desktop ads.txt compliance to our exchange, and later this year, we will also begin requiring that all of our mobile app publisher partners that have files listed include OpenX.
We believe a trusted, well-lit environment is critical to the long-term success of programmatic advertising, and app-ads.txt compliance will ensure that buyers and DSPs can trust that all of inventory flowing through OpenX is authorized by the publisher in instances where an app-ads.txt file is available.
If app developers have questions about how to set up a file, please explore our documentation here or reach out to your OpenX Account Manager directly.