Decoding Sellers.JSON - The New Programmatic Ad Standard

There’s tons of innovation occurring in the world of Ad Tech, specifically programmatic advertising. One such breakthrough, for both sellers and buyers alike, is the development and standardization of sellers.json packaging script that will help both publishing providers and media buyers alike more effectively reach their respective target audiences. But in order to fully tap into the potential of sellers.json, it’s important to “decode” what its widespread adoption will mean to the ad industry. 

Technically Speaking

To understand the impact that sellers.json will have on the ad marketplace, it’s important to understand what exactly it is and how it’s different from existing data serialization formats. The new technology introduced by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) helps supply-side partners keep a list of inventory programmatic publishers and sellers. Sellers.json is packaged with OpenRTB SupplyChain Object which compliments the use of sellers.json by enabling buyers to see all parties selling/reselling a specific bid request. Broken down further, it provides a pathway to understanding the flow of bid requests from the website to the advertiser’s ad creative.

The new standard provides a level of transparency that has been in high demand but we hadn’t quite had the right tool for. Sellers.json, when used in conjunction with SupplyChain object, and Ads.txt is a platform for publishers and buyers alike to document the chain for custody for any given impression and allow a buyer to validate all the different links within the supply chain and ensure that they’re authorized.

Getting Deep in the Weeds

So now that we have an understanding of what sellers.json is, we now have to show how it functions in practice. As previously mentioned, sellers.json helps buyers have a more transparent look into how they’re bidding on potential ad impressions. By using sellers.json, buyers can look into the file to determine if an impression being sold is 1. From their existing inventory, and 2. If it’s being displayed through a reputable reseller. Understanding where a potential impression is coming from can help ad buyers make better determinations around which publishers are trustworthy and if they’re not, how to block spending on any given domain when monetizing through an ad network.   

Courtney Touchstone of SpotX has a really good real-world scenario in which two such examples are explained along with a sample of what the specific code would look like. 

Haven’t We Been Here Before? 

On its face, it may sound like sellers.json is very much like the existing ads.txt protocol but there are significant differences. While they both share the same proposed aim - to make ad buys/selling more transparent - that’s where it ends. On a technical level, the first obvious difference is in their names - ad.txt is a simple text file that lives on the publisher side listing the details of authorized sellers. While sellers.json is a JavaScript Object Notation format that is hosted by SSPs and ad exchanges listing partner publishers and resellers. 

The Gamechanger

Ultimately, what this means to the industry is a better way to catalog, track, and most important validate each transaction across the supply chain. The magic of sellers.json is its interconnectivity with other ad tech standards and its public accessibility helps to mitigate fraud. It allows for the buyer-side of the equation to confirm exactly who is involved in transactions and to develop a firm whitelist that keeps bad actors on the outside looking in. For publishers, it allows them to verify which SSPs are claiming to hold a relationship with them (helping to identify bad actors or unauthorized resellers). And finally, for SSPs sellers.json can help them ensure that their supply is seen as valuable and trustworthy. 

In the end, the value of sellers.json is undeniable from an anti-fraud perspective. The system will allow for the buyer, publisher, and seller-sides of the industry to better track and verify existing supply while disincentivizing fraud from would-be bad actors (again, sellers.json is public-facing code). While there’s no silver bullet solution to eliminating fraud entirely, the adoption of sellers.json and OpenRTB in conjunction with ads.txt will help keep the programmatic ecosystem honest and more valuable to all parties involved.