Table of Contents
Overview
Below are the best practices for programmatic buys in order to serve on premium inventory.
INCLUDE Lists
Using an INCLUDE list is the most stringent method for curating supply. An INCLUDE list provides control over the specific domains, app bundles, or app/site IDs to deliver against, and because INCLUDE lists by definition involve opting-in to inventory, new inventory becoming available will not impact where ads serve without a user reviewing it and adding it to the INCLUDE list.
EXCLUDE Lists
EXCLUDE lists can block serving on unwanted inventory. The downside to using an EXCLUDE list is that ads may serve on new inventory that becomes available, so users will have to keep a close eye on their inventory reports.
For more information on how to create a list and include or exclude it in targeting, see Lists.
Ads.txt
For all web-based inventory, targeting Ads.txt statuses can help avoid fraudulent inventory. Below are Ads.txt statuses to target on, as well as notes on their risk levels:
- Authorized-Direct (recommended)
- Authorized-Reseller (recommended)
- Ads.txt file not scanned (optional to increase scale, but a medium risk)
- No Ads.txt File (optional to increase scale, but higher risk)
For more information about Ads.txt, see Ads.txt and App-ads.txt Targeting.
Content Category/Rating
Blocking content categories can help remove unwanted inventory. It is safer to use EXCLUDE instead of INCLUDE for content categories, because they are not always passed in the bid request by publishers. Additionally, blocking “unknown” content categories is not recommended, as this encompasses all requests where a category is not present, which includes a large percentage of available inventory.
For more information on content targeting, see Content Targeting.
Integral Ad Science Pre-Bid Targeting
Integral Ad Science (IAS) provides pre-bid segments for anti-fraud, brand safety, and suspicious activity to help avoid placing bids on low-quality inventory.
For more information on the available types of IAS segments, see IAS Pre-Bid Targeting.
Private Marketplace
Targeting private marketplaces is the surest option to deliver on high-quality inventory. However, this approach generally requires more overhead if the deals are struck with individual publishers. We recommend working with top exchanges to procure high quality, multi-publisher deals. These deals can then be targeted directly on a line item or be included as Passthrough Deals.
Traffic Filtering
An additional benefit of implementing the above strategies is they can also be applied to QPS filters to maximize return on contractual volume. Below are specific options for filtering:
- INCLUDE & EXCLUDE lists (domain, app bundle, app/site IDs)
- Ads.txt statuses for web inventory
- Content Categories/Ratings (Exclude only recommended)
- Private Marketplace (Deal IDs)