Google has been running a secret test in collaboration with a handful of publishers to assess the extent of the online ad fraud problem. The findings showed that “spoofing”, or tricking ad buyers into paying for advertising space they are not getting, is alarmingly widespread in the online ad industry, Business Insider reported [1].
Google found out that even if a programmatic ad inventory was shut off for a period of time, “thousands if not millions” ads continued to be available on ad exchange networks. The “spoofing” issue concerns programmatic ads trading specifically.
However, a technical solution called Ads.txt [2] has been developed by Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Tech Lab, together with industry leaders, in the hopes that it would help curb unauthorised selling. The solution involves publishers inserting on their sites a text file that specifies which ad exchanges are allowed to sell their ad space.
According to Business Insider the online ad industry is ready to embrace as a solution, and IAB says [3] its adoption is rising rapidly.
