As concerns about media transparency rise, marketers are becoming more selective about where they place their media investment. They are asking questions like: Where are my ads being shown? Are they being served to humans or lost to fraud? Are they delivering maximum ROI?
The industry has developed several solutions that bring greater transparency to the supply chain. This also helps marketers identify publishers that provide quality advertising platforms. When layered together, each of these complementary solutions offers more comprehensive protection. They also minimize fraud risk and assure marketers that their ads are being seen by humans.
Here are a few ways publishers can use these solutions to optimize their websites, improve system performance, and minimize fraud risk.
1. Implement Industry Tools
It is important for marketers to understand how their digital ads move through the supply chain. The IAB Tech Labdevelops standards and solutions to increase supply chain transparency. IAB Tech Lab tools such as Ads.txt, App-ads.txt, sellers.json, and OpenRTB 3.0 (Ads-Cert) give marketers insight into the buying process by identifying authorized sellers of inventory. It is helpful for publishers to implement these solutions. However, they should also be sure to incorporate other IAB Tech Lab tools into their websites as they are released. In fact, implementation should not be considered a “one and done” process.
Once these tools are implemented, it is important to regularly update and edit these files to ensure accuracy. Publishers can analyze their site to learn who is selling their inventory with this new resource, Sellers.guide. Providing buyers with up-to-date information makes it easier for them to see who is authorized to sell your inventory as they compare your list with their ad tech vendor’s sellers.json file.
