Compliance
ads.txt and sellers.json: who's allowed to sell your inventory
ads.txt is a public file on your domain listing the authorized sellers of your inventory; sellers.json, published by the platforms, shows who each seller is. Together they're the registry of who may sell what — the standard comes from IAB Tech Lab.
Why it matters: inventory sold by someone not in your ads.txt is revenue lost to middlemen — or worse, your domain being spoofed to sell traffic that isn't yours.
The audit is simple and almost nobody does it: check what's in the file, remove dead lines from old partners, and understand which intermediary each line represents. An orphan line is money leaking or risk sleeping.
Every integration of ours arrives with the exact ads.txt lines documented — what goes in, why, and what it authorizes. Auditing the site's current file is part of the initial analysis.
Sources and reading
IAB Tech Lab — ads.txt · sellers.json