Ads.txt Compliance | Criteo Commerce Grid Documentation

Ads.txt Setup and Maintenance

Ads.txt compliance is essential to maximizing monetization and ensuring your inventory is eligible for premium third-party demand.

To begin unlocking full bid density and protecting your revenue with Ads.txt, take the following steps:

Review the content below, which describes Ads.txt generally, the specific entry required for Commerce Grid, and industry best practices for maintenance.
Verify your current implementation using the formatting guides below to ensure the themediagrid.com entry is present and correctly formatted with your unique Publisher ID and our TAG ID (9fac4a4a87c2a44f ).
Make the required updates to the ads.txt file hosted on your root domain.
After making the required changes, return to the Yield Advisor tool in Commerce Grid to monitor success—the Yield Advisor tool will provide real-time alerts and show progress as our crawlers verify your updated authorization status.
If you've navigated here without having visited the Yield Advisor tool in Commerce Grid first, check it out now to identify any specific domains that are currently flagged as unauthorized.

If you need additional support, reach out to your Commerce Grid support team or email us at support-cgrid@criteo.com.

Purpose: Created by the IAB Tech Lab in 2017, Authorized Digital Sellers (ads.txt) is a simple text file that publishers host on their root domain. It publicly declares which companies are authorized to sell their digital inventory.
Adoption: Today, ads.txt is an industry mandate. Most major DSPs (including The Trade Desk and Google) will filter out or significantly devalue bid requests from domains that lack a valid ads.txt file.

Eliminate Domain Spoofing: Prevents bad actors from pretending to be your site and siphoning off your ad spend.
Maximize Bid Density: Buyers only bid on "Authorized" inventory. A missing or incorrect file results in immediate revenue loss.
Transparency & Trust: Signals to premium brands that your inventory is legitimate and brand-safe.

Every line in your file must follow the IAB standard format: <SSP Domain>, <Publisher Account ID>, <Relationship Type>, <TAG ID>

Field 1 (SSP Domain): The domain of the ad system (e.g., themediagrid.com).
Field 2 (Publisher Account ID): Your specific account identifier with that partner.
Field 3 (Relationship): * DIRECT: You have a direct contract with the SSP.
- RESELLER: A third party is authorized to sell your inventory through that SSP.
Field 4 (TAG ID): A unique identifier for the ad system. For Criteo/Commerce Grid, the correct TAG ID is 9fac4a4a87c2a44f.

Create the File: Use a plain text editor (Notepad or TextEdit). Save it exactly as ads.txt.
Add Your Lines: Ensure you have the correct entry for Commerce Grid:
- themediagrid.com, [YOUR_PUB_ID], DIRECT, 9fac4a4a87c2a44f
Upload to Root: Place the file in the root directory of your domain (e.g., https://example.com/ads.txt).
- Note: It cannot be in a subdirectory like example.com/assets/ads.txt.
Verify Accessibility: Open the URL in a browser to ensure it loads as plain text and returns a 200 OK status.

Regular Audits: Perform a quarterly "cleanup" to remove "dark pool" resellers or partners you no longer work with. Excess lines can increase the risk of unauthorized arbitrage.
Redirect Handling: If using subdomains, ensure they redirect to the main domain's ads.txt file to maintain a single "source of truth."
Avoid Syntax Errors: Common mistakes include using semicolons instead of commas or including "http://" in Field 1.
App-Ads.txt: If you have mobile app or CTV inventory, you must implement a separate app-ads.txt file on your developer website to protect your app-based revenue.

Once implemented, use the Yield Advisor tool in Commerce Grid to monitor your status.
The tool will flag "Unauthorized" requests if your file is missing or if the Publisher ID being passed doesn't match the record in your ads.txt file.
Need Help? Contact support-cgrid@criteo.com for a full audit of your current file.