A recent study of programmatic supply chain costs showed that as much as a third of the costs are unattributable. By passing through the hands of multiple resellers, just 51% of digital ad spend was getting to the publisher. That is wasteful for the industry as a whole.

Sellers.json and SupplyChain Object

Launched in July 2019 as a standard category by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Sellers.json was introduced to give advertisers transparency into the buying chain that their ad dollars travel on the way to the publisher. 

The Sellers.json is a JSON file hosted in the media seller’s home page URL, which contains all its seller authorized media sources, each marked as either Owned & Operated or Intermediate. The SupplyChain Object is the technical parameter sent in each ad call and It indicates all intermediates involved in the transaction leading back to the publisher. 

The serious push towards transparency was introduced with the ads.txt initiative, which was created to help prevent domain spoofing and unauthorized reselling of inventory.

Publishers and ad tech vendors often work with other intermediaries and resellers, which turns the ad-tech landscape into a complex web. An Association of National Advertisers study uncovered just how complex the supply chain is. Over 260 Million impressions were analyzed, and only 12% of them could be mapped. Of 15 advertisers that were studied, researchers identified nearly 300 distinct supply chains leading to just 12 publishers. Sellers.json allowed ad buyers to see the complete media chain. 

Both the ads.txt initiative and sellers.json create a transparent supply path from the ad on-page to the media buyers. It regulates the supply side of the industry for better transparency facing the demand side.

How Sellers.json Works

The sellers.json file can contain several fields, some are mandatory and others are dependent on what the seller would like to share. Bear in mind that sharing more details can impact the buyer’s buying decision. Here is an example:

“seller_id”: “12345”,

“name”: “Best Media Publisher”,

“seller_type”: “PUBLISHER”,

“is_confidential”: 0,

“is_passthrough”: 0,

“domain”: “BestMediaPublisher.com”

Passing the information to the buyers by using the OpenRTB Supply Chain Object (Schain) parameter. The parameter is required and should be passed on each ad call. 

4 Reasons Why Sellers.json Is So Important

Transparency

The ads.txt initiative was an important move towards making the industry supply-chain more transparent, but it was not enough. The initiative, which was adopted industry-wide, shows which vendors are allowed to sell a publisher’s inventory. However, it doesn’t give information on who is listed behind the ads.txt line nor who is actually paying the publisher. Sellers.json fills in that gap by letting buyers understand the full buying chain and make smarter decisions. 

Supply Path Optimization (SPO)

Advertisers, and media buyers on their behalf, want to reach their audience in the most efficient way possible. With Sellers.json, that is possible. Buyers can analyze their supply-path and focus their efforts on paths that give them the most value for every media dollar spent. 

An additional advantage for DSPs, and eventually to buyers, is the ability to reduce the number of Queries Per Second (QPS) they receive. Many DSPs get the same exact ad request/query from many sources, which inflates their serving costs. A transparent buying chain can help them cut longer and wasteful chains, allowing them to reduce the number of calls and costs. The reduced costs for the DSP can ultimately lead to lower costs for buyers.

Publishers Receive Much Needed Ad Revenue

When transparency is introduced to ad sales, sellers have the ability to prioritize shorter and more efficient supply-chains. More efficient supply-chains mean less commission cut along the way and publishers will get more of the ad revenue.

Focusing on Value

Sellers.JSON gives media buyers the ability to optimize the supply chain and identify the valuable partners of each part of the chain. Who has real value in the path and who is simply another stop along the way that just takes a commission. Buyers can choose the most valuable partners to purchase media from 

What’s Next?

The ad tech industry is maturing, becoming more transparent, efficient, and focusing on driving value. After the ads.txt initiative introduced much-needed transparency, Sellers.json has been adopted by several strong actors. We could only hope that the IAB and other organizations will keep on finding ways to promote transparency and efficiency for us all.

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