Protect mobile ads with app-ads.txt
Mobile app advertisement publishers now claim authorized rights and protect applications selling ads with a new format app-ads.txt .
It is a new specification available here and it was created by The IAB Technology Laboratory (a non-profit R&D consortium)
It states a new concept of ads verification:
Authorized Sellers for Apps (app-ads.txt) is an extension to the Authorized Digital Sellers(ads.txt) standard, originally designed for protecting web ad inventory. It extends compatibility to support apps distributed through online app stores, linking app store listings to app developer websites.
The apps selling ads (banners, video, interstitials etc) link their app identifiers with publishers (AdMob, MoPub) by providing app-ads.txt files available on the developer's domain.
The main goal is protecting app publishers from inventory spoofing, or serving ads in unauthorized copies of applications.
How it works?
An app publisher includes ads from ad provider (AdMob) with a publisher identifier. The Authorized seller verifier (in this case, it is ad platform - AdMob itself) is looking for the verification of legal source of the app install ( bundle_id- app identifier, store_id - App Store, Google Play, storeurl - url of the app store).
The verifier (AdMob or Google) crawls the page of the app in the application store
it finds the developer website (https://example.com) and searches for the app-ads.txt file with associated data -> https://example.com/app-ads.txt
The guide for the AdMob users:
- Go to https://apps.admob.com/v2/apps/appadstxt
- How to set up APP-ADS.TXT
3. Copy your app-ads.txt file content
google.com, pub-1234567891284567, DIRECT, f567c47fec123bb
It follows OpenRTB format (by IAB Tech Lab source here) with next fields:
Field #1 Domain name of the advertising system
Field #2 Publisher’s Account ID
Field #3 Type of Account/ Relationship
Field #4 Certification Authority ID
4. Save this file and put it to your developer's website listed on App Store or Google Play.
On App Store Connect it is Marketing URL on the app's page:
5. Get confirmation from the platform of reading your app-ads.txt file.
Note that you need to wait at least 24 hours while ad platform (AdMob, Google) would crawl your developer website.
Now you have your ads up and running. The app publishers and seller verifiers (ad platform) are in the deal. This is a guide of setup in AdMob because it is mostly used mobile ads platform and you can apply this format with any other providers.
You can read more on the IAB Tech Lab official website.
Additional data:
IAB Tech Lab Authorized Sellers for Apps (app-ads.txt)
OpenRTB – Addressing Counterfeit Inventory