Smart implements policy blocking all bid requests that fail to meet ads.txt standards

OMG, Adelphic support ongoing efforts to combat domain spoofing and ad fraud

NEW YORK — December 11th, 2017 — Smart (formerly Smart AdServer), the fully transparent holistic ad monetization platform, announced today a new policy which presents bid requests to demand partners exclusively from ads.txt compliant publishers. Smart is the first supply-side platform to establish this policy and welcomes full participation from publishers to drive marketplace quality.

From December 20th onward, all unauthorized ads.txt domains will be blocked to cater to Smart’s demand partners’ desire to buy only ads.txt compliant inventory.  In pursuit of a fraud-free ecosystem, Smart RTB+ inventory becomes 100 percent ads.txt compliant and ensures domain authenticity. Sites which have yet to implement ads.txt will continue to receive Smart’s demand, but only for a limited period of time.

Smart has supported the ads.txt initiative since its launch, urging both supply and demand sides to implement it, and recently appointing a Chief Quality Officer, Gorka Zarauz, to ensure high quality standards.

“Along with key demand players in our industry, Smart is one of the leading ads.txt adopters, actively encouraging others to implement the initiative,” said Zarauz. “This latest announcement is a key milestone for Smart, as part of our ongoing efforts, to firmly guarantee advertisers with the highest quality inventory only. It’s the right time to do it and lead the way with our combined quality efforts.”

“Domain spoofing hurts advertiser trust,” said Steffen Kai, Chief Digital Officer at Omnicom Media Group. “By greatly reducing domain spoofing, ads.txt increases the quality of the marketplace. We fully support the ads.txt initiative, and are pleased to see the industry moving towards a cleaner ecosystem.”

“In the fight against fraud, inventory quality and brand safety is vital to maintaining brand and advertiser trust,” said Jeremy Haft, National Vice President at Adelphic. “Improving the supply chain and striving for a fraud-free environment for publishers and advertisers is vital for the growth of our industry. Adelphic is committed to leading solutions, including ads.txt, as the industry works to improve transparency in the digital advertising ecosystem.”

Smart crawls more than 300,000 domains worldwide and by mid-November, over 40,000 URLs contained a valid Smart ads.txt entry. This number has grown since as the initiative continues to be adopted by more publishers.
This news appeared first on MediaPost.

Click here to learn how to implement the ads.txt.

About Smart
Smart is a fully transparent holistic ad monetization platform built for premium publishers to serve demanding buyers. Our unique holistic and flexible approach gives full control back to publishers by driving performance and value of their loyal audience. Demand and data agnostic, Smart empowers publishers to maximize yield through all sales channels, ad products, and screens. With 11 offices and 220 employees worldwide, Smart leads the charge in building a quality global ecosystem. Working directly with 1,000 publishers and ad networks, Smart delivers ads to 50,000 sites and apps, including TracFone, Axel Springer, Le Monde and Wine Enthusiast.

Media contacts
Smart : Nessa Payet – +33 (0)1 86 26 45 68 – pr@smartadserver.com
Smart : Céline Poindron – +33 (0)1 86 26 76 13 – pr@smartadserver.com
Wit Strategy : Bill Brazell – 917-445-7316 – bbrazell@witstrategy.com