Sellers Report – May 2025

Ads.txt Lines:

In April 2025, the addition of 70,232 new ads.txt lines and the removal of 58,806 existing lines resulted in a net change of approximately +11.4K lines. This is the largest positive net change we’ve seen so far this year.

The provided snapshot illustrates the distribution of line changes among different groups of publishers. While looking in-depth, it appears that ‘Emerging’ SSPs shows a good positive net change in ads.txt lines, with an increase of approximately 7,700+ lines, which looks great. 

Publishers:

We have noticed a good number of net change increases in the past few weeks. Below are the top SSPs that contributed to that spike. 

In April month, Sharethrough,Freewheel, Criteo, TrustX & Magnite demonstrated significant growth within the top SSP landscape, recording a good number of new connections.

Note: These tiers are divided based on Publisher’s rank that we assigned

Big Winners:

Analyzing the changes in direct connections among the connected publishers in the past months, the following SSPs appear as top direct domain gainers across each category that we segregated SSPs based on their rank/coverage.

• In the last month, Blis and Gumgum have connected with more than 600 partners in the Emerging list & 80+ in the Established group. Interesting to see these kinds of partners in the top list who provide good demand on digital out-of-home inventory.
• SSPs like Cadent, Connatix, adform, TrustedStack were in the top 5 list, for adding new direct connections across the groups.

Leaderboard Dynamics:

We’ve assigned ranks to each SSP based on their direct coverage among the top 10,000 publishers. Below, we highlight the significant jumps in ranks for top SSPs observed in the past couple of weeks.

• Verve surged more than 200 spots in the ‘Emerging’ leaderboard in March 2025, which is one of the highest positive changes for the month.

Note: These tiers are divided based on SSPs rank that we assigned

Auction Duplication: A Critical Issue in the AdTech Industry

• ‘Established’ SSPs are expected to have a lower share of Direct Only Domains and a higher share of Direct + Reseller Domains in comparison to other groups. This is attributed because Scaling and Emerging SSPs rely on Established to serve as a demand partner.
• However, during this process, Established SSPs may inadvertently be listed as a reseller on domains where they are already directly connected, leading to auction duplication and classification as Direct + Reseller Domains.
• For SSPs, especially established, managing intermediaries in choosing non-duplicate domains is challenging. Additionally, it becomes an added responsibility for SSPs to address both auction duplication and carbon emissions. Choosing the right intermediary is crucial for reaching unique domains where their ads.txt lines are not yet present.

At DataBeat, we offer assistance in identifying and managing ineffective intermediaries, reducing duplicate domains, and improving your green index score while not compromising on your net revenue. Leveraging our Competitive Intelligence (CI) Tool, we enable you to identify & address these challenges effectively.

Breakdown of domain connections to SSPs by relationship types (Direct Only, Reseller Only, Direct + Reseller)

• Direct Only: Domains exclusively connected through direct relationships.
• Reseller Only: Domains exclusively connected through reseller relationships.
• Direct + Reseller: Domains with both direct and reseller connection

Proportion of unique and duplicate domains, and average number of intermediaries influence on duplicates.

• Unique Domains: Domains exclusively connected to an SSP through a single connection.
• Duplicated Domains:  Domains connected to an SSP through multiple intermediaries or integrations, resulting in duplications.

Need More Insights: 

For additional insights into this report and the CI Dashboard, which serves as the foundation for the seller’s report, don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Sellers Report DataBeat’s Methodology:

• • Analyzing ads.txt files from the top 10k US publishers
  • Tracking changes in publishers and SSPs across various categories over the past two weeks
  • Publishers are categorized into three groups based on their ranks, determined by traffic volume:
    • Established: 1 to 500
    • Scaling: 501 to 2000
    • Emerging: 2001 to 10000
  • Similarly, SSPs are ranked based on the number of direct connections and are classified into three groups:
    • Established: 1 to 50
    • Scaling: 51 to 150
    • Emerging: 151 to 500
  • Ads.txt lines, Domain gains, and Ranking dynamics as key metrics