Understanding ads.txt and why it matters
ads.txt — Authorised Digital Sellers — is a simple text file that you publish on your website to declare which companies are authorised to sell your ad inventory. It was introduced by the IAB to tackle inventory fraud and unauthorised reselling in programmatic advertising.
Why it matters for your revenue
When OCM's entries are missing from your ads.txt file, many programmatic buyers will automatically exclude your inventory from their campaigns. They do this because their own brand safety and fraud prevention tools flag inventory from publishers whose ads.txt does not include the expected seller entries. A missing or incorrect entry can therefore directly reduce the pool of buyers bidding on your inventory — and reduce your revenue as a result.
Reading the Ads.txt Status widget
The widget on the Overview page gives you a quick health check across all your domains. A Critical Issues status means one or more domains have missing or incorrect OCM entries. The widget tells you how many domains are affected and how many entries are missing.
The Ads.txt Status widget checks for OCM entries only. It does not scan for entries from other partners or networks.
Fixing ads.txt issues
OCM provides a built-in ads.txt manager in the dashboard where you can view the current configuration for each domain, add missing entries, and update incorrect ones.
Custom entries are lines manually added by the publisher. Only modify these if you understand the impact. Removing or misconfiguring entries may affect monetisation.
When ads.txt shows warnings
A warning usually means a specific line is missing or a Publisher ID is incorrect. The ads.txt manager highlights exactly which line is causing the issue so you can resolve it quickly.
If you see a Critical Issues status, resolve it as soon as possible — the longer OCM entries are missing, the longer buyers may be excluded from your inventory.
See also: What counts as an impression? · Understanding eCPM