Brand Safety, Monetization, Product News
Fight fraud and improve eCPMs: How to implement app-ads.txt for your app
AppLovin
Jan 13, 2023
Jan 13, 2023
Brand Safety, Monetization, Product News
The IAB Tech Lab created the app-ads.txt framework to ensure app inventory is sold through authorized channels, safeguard against fraud and streamline supply chain management. This gives developers more control over who’s allowed to sell ads on their apps and buyers the ability to validate more inventory as an authentic supply source — paving the way to increased revenue for both.
By creating an app-ads.txt file and keeping it updated regularly, you’re taking a critical step towards preventing ad revenue loss through ad spoofing and other malicious activities.
Originally developed for web sites, ads.txt combats various types of ad fraud — such as domain spoofing and illegal inventory arbitrage. It also ensures transparency in the market. App-ads.txt is an extension to the ads.txt standard for mobile apps.
42 Matters reports that app-ads.txt is more commonly adopted among the top apps in the app store than overall apps – setting a new standard of transparency and security in the mobile advertising ecosystem.
App-ads.txt files are publicly accessible and can be crawled by exchanges, supply-side platforms (SSP), other buyers, and third-party vendors. Developers host these files on the root domain of their website, which is linked from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. All ad sources authorized to sell the developer’s inventory are listed in app-ads.txt, which is cross-referenced with IAB’s system for buyers to identify authorized sellers.
Advertisers can verify that the developer ID included in the ad request matches the corresponding ID in the app-ads.txt file when sending an ad request for an app. They can do this by visiting the app store page for the app and finding the corresponding app-ads.txt file.
This ID verification prevents malicious actors from faking ad requests under the guise of an app because the developer ID in their ad request will not match the developer ID included in the app-ads.txt file. You can read more about it from the Interactive Advertising Bureau here.
With MAX, AppLovin is committed to hosting a safe and transparent app marketplace. We encourage all our developers to adopt app-ads.txt to improve revenue — and it’s important that both ad networks and developers do their part to reduce fraud. To learn more, check out our documentation here. If you have any questions, please reach out to your account team or submit a support ticket.
