What is Ads.txt?

Ads.txt is a simple, flexible, and secure method for publishers and distributors to declare who is authorized to sell their inventory, improving transparency for programmatic buyers. Ads.txt supports transparent programmatic digital media transactions and can remove the financial incentive from selling counterfeit and misrepresented media. Similar to robots.txt, ads.txt can only be posted to a domain by a publisher’s webmaster, making it valid and authentic. As a text file, ads.txt is easy to update, making it flexible. The data required to populate the file is readily available in the OpenRTB protocol, making it simple to gather and target. And because publishers sell their inventory through a variety of sales channels, ads.txt supports the following types of supplier relationships:

• Domain owners who sell on exchanges through their own accounts
• Networks and sales houses who programmatically sell on behalf of domain owners
• Content syndication partnerships where multiple authorized sellers represent the same inventory

Playwire Hosted Ads.txt

Playwire has developed and tested a dynamically hosted ads.txt solution. Using the IAB Ads.txt (Under 3.1 Access Method) spec, we are allowed to implement – “Only a single HTTP redirect to a destination outside the original root domain is allowed to facilitate one-hop delegation of authority to a third party’s web server domain.” Based on the spec, please set up a permanent 301 redirect pointing to the proper URL from the Playwire Dashboard (more explained below)

Your Ads.txt File

• Click on the left panel on “Advertising”
• Click on the sub-menu “Dynamic Ads.txt”
• Most Publishers will use the Playwire Ads.txt file as is, if so move ahead to Step 3
• If you need to add additional partners to the hosted Ads.txt file, copy and paste any additional partners into the text area shown in the screenshot on the right
• Make sure to press “Save Changes” to update the file

Copy Ads.txt URL

• Click on the left panel on “Advertising”
• Click on the sub-menu “Dynamic Ads.txt”
• Click on the copy

Configuring Redirect Rules

Cloudfare

• Navigate to Sites and find your install
• Select Page Rule from the top navigation
• Add the following: If the URL matches: mydomain.com/ads.txt
• Add the following: Then the settings are: Forwarding URL 301 Permanent Redirect https://config.playwire.com/dyn_ads/ads.txt

WP Engine

• Navigate to Sites and find your install
• Select Redirect Rules from the left navigation
• Select the domain from the dropdown
• Add the following: Source* ^/ads.txt
• Add the following: Destination * https://config.playwire.com/dyn_ads/ads.txt
• Expand Advanced Setting and select 301 Permanent from the Rewrite type * dropdown

Godaddy

• Navigate to Domain Manager find your domain
• Click the 3 dots and select Manage DNS
• Scroll to the bottom and to Forwarding
• Select https and input domain and 301 permanent

Htcaccess and NGINX

If you are an experienced backend developer, you may want to utilize permanent redirect directly on your servers. Please use extreme caution when using these methods, as they may cause site downtime if configured incorrectly.

htcaccess 301 Permanent Redirect

Redirect 301 https://mydomain.com/ads.txt https://config.playwire.com/dyn_ads/######/ads.txt

NGINX 301 Permanent Redirect

rewrite ^/ads.txt$ https://config.playwire.com/dyn_ads/######/ads.txt permanent;

** 2 Ways to Implement Ads.txt for your site:

• Playwire Hosted Ads.txt: Steps are outlined below; put simply, the Publisher sets up a redirect to a Playwire ads.txt file hosted on Playwire servers. The upfront work is more involved, but once configured you will never have to update the file. Additionally, the Publisher has the ability to add their own lines to the ads.txt file via Playwires’ Ads.txt Manager.
• Self Host Ads.txt: This setup involves the Publisher adding the Playwire Ads.txt file on your own self hosted server – View Self Host Ads.txt Article