Ads.txt Lines
In September 2024, the addition of 62,650 new ads.txt lines and the removal of 52,982 existing lines resulted in a net change of over 9,600+ lines. The positive net change is back after 3 months which is good news for SSP’s. However, the count of lines that were added over the past month is low when compared to its previous months.
The provided snapshot illustrates the distribution of line changes among different tiers of publishers. While looking in-depth, it appears that Tier-3 SSP’s shows a noticeable net change in ads.txt lines, with a increase of approximately 8,000 lines.
Market Shakers:
The changes in ads.txt lines are higher compared to the previous months, here are some top SSPs which continue to gain significant advantages and are moving in a very positive direction.
- STN video: Recently announced their Enhanced Online Video Platform (OVP) for Publishers, leveraging tech capabilities of new parent Minute Media, which brought them a good number of new connections.
- As observed in recent months, there has been a continuous improvement in the number of new direct entries for SSPs like Sharethrough, Conversant, and AdsWizz. Additionally, the acquisition of Sharethrough by Equativ is expected to have a significant impact in this area.
Tier – 1,2,3 Publishers:
- We have noticed a decent number of net change increases in the past few weeks. Below are the top SSPs that contributed to that spike.
- In September, AdsWizz, Magnite, & Unruly demonstrated significant growth within the top SSP landscape, recording the highest number of new connections.
Big Winners:
Analyzing the changes in direct connections among the connected publishers in the past month, the following SSPs appear as top direct domain gainers across each tier that we segregated SSPs based on their rank/coverage.
- InMobi started integrating mobile supply with Yahoo’s demand-side platform for direct advertiser access. This could be the reason to see them in our top list with over 170 new direct connections.
- SSPs like Smaato, Unruly and Teads still remain in the top 5 list, for adding new direct connections each month.
Here’s the list of top domains that were connected with the below mentioned list – Big winner domains
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.
- Nativo surged 11 spots in the Tier 1 leaderboard in September 2024, which is the highest positive change for the month.
- We have seen only 2 positive changes in ranking for Tier-2 and 0 positive changes from Tier-3.
Invalid ads.txt entries:
- On analyzing the invalid/inactive ads.txt entries by publisher tiers, we have noticed a consistent pattern over the months, where the invalid entries share is around ~40%. These inactive seats/entries are the strongest indicator that publisher’s aren’t clearing their ads.txt files properly. There is more space than expected for publisher’s to clean up their ads.txt files to remove inactive lines.
| Publisher Tiers | Avg - ads.txt entries | Avg - invalid entries | Invalid entries(%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier - 1 | 688 | 290 | 42% |
| Tier - 2 | 566 | 235 | 41% |
| Tier - 3 | 367 | 154 | 42% |
Auction Duplication: A Critical Issue in the AdTech Industry
- Tier 1 SSPs are expected to have a lower share of Direct Only Domains and a higher share of Direct + Reseller Domains in comparison to other tiers. This is attributed because Tier-2 and Tier-3 SSPs rely on Tier-1 to serve as a demand partner.
- However, during this process, Tier 1 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 Tier 1, 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.
- 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
SSP Tiers Unique Domains % Duplicated Domains % Average Intermediate Count
Tier - 1 33% 67% 2.12
Tier - 2 69% 31% 1.11
Tier - 3 83% 17% 0.99
- 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:
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- 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 tiers based on their ranks, determined by traffic volume:
- Tier 1: 1 to 500
- Tier 2: 501 to 2000
- Tier 3: 2001 to 10000
- Similarly, SSPs are ranked based on the number of direct connections and are classified into three tiers:
- Tier 1: 1 to 50
- Tier 2: 51 to 150
- Tier 3: 151 to 500
- Ads.txt lines, Domain gains, and Ranking dynamics as key metrics
