Centro Implements Transparency Requirements to Bring Advertisers and Publishers Closer

Advertising Exchange and Network Partners will Need sellers.json and SupplyChain Object; Centro Integrates with Connatix, ENGINE Media Exchange, IronSource, Mediavine, and Unity

Centro, a global provider of advertising technology, announced transparency requirements that bridge the relationship between programmatic marketers and publishers. Now, advertising exchanges and advertising networks that want ad spend from Centro will need to implement sellers.json and SupplyChain Object. Centro will block ad intermediaries that do not comply. Centro is also setting a ‘two-hop’ limit, whereby its demand side platform (DSP) will accept an impression only when an exchange works with a publisher directly, or when an exchange works with an ad monetization intermediary that works with the publisher directly. Centro’s efforts to create more direct supply paths have led to recent integrations with supply partners Connatix, ENGINE Media Exchange (EMX), IronSource, Mediavine, and Unity.

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Centro operates Basis, the industry’s most comprehensive, automated, and intelligent digital media platform with an omni-channel DSP at its core. When sellers.json, SupplyChain Object and two-hop limits are in effect, advertisers:

• Reduce the exposure to ad fraud
• Block duplicate impressions (to limit bidding against itself for impressions)
• Increase the percentage of media investment going towards working ad spend
• Gain visibility on the best-performing ad selling intermediaries

“Centro’s supply path optimization strategy focuses on minimizing the number of partners it takes to deliver an ad to a publisher and reducing the duplicative efforts of advertisers,” said Ian Trider, director of RTB operations, Centro. “By operationalizing our new requirements in parallel with our ongoing enforcement of ads.txt and app-ads.txt, Centro’s actions clean, shorten and streamline the programmatic ad ecosystem’s supply chain.”

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sellers.json and SupplyChain Object are systems for intermediaries to verify from where they source ad impressions and how many other intermediaries a publisher’s impressions has passed through already. ads.txt and app-ads.txt ensure that ads are served to validated publishers. They are all designed to be technically simple for sellers to adopt and have been vetted and developed through the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). When advertisers optimize their ad spend using insights from the complementary technology, publishers have more opportunity to secure higher value in the ad tech ecosystem.

“It is illogical for advertisers to spend money through supply paths with multiple parties taking a cut,” said Shawn Riegsecker, CEO, Centro. “Campaigns running through Centro’s technology benefit from our always-on quality practices, where the most efficient and effective channels between buyers and sellers materialize.”

sellers.json and SupplyChain Object data unravel the intricate supply chain in the ad tech ecosystem. Based on these systems, Centro’s current data on ad selling partners shows that:

• Almost all major exchanges have implemented sellers.json and most have implemented SupplyChain Object.
• There are 20+ exchanges that are each selling on 30+ other ad exchanges. Some to as many as 50+ other parties.
• Percentage of inventory sources in an exchange that is coming from another intermediary (versus a publisher directly) varies significantly; outlier intermediaries show nearly 100% of inventory being sold from other intermediaries.
• Most exchanges disclose their sources, but there are a few that label nearly 100% of sources as ‘confidential’ (i.e. not transparent).
• A handful of sellers misclassify nearly all their sources as a direct relationship (publisher), when the sources are, in fact, intermediaries.