App-Ads.txt Adoption: Google Play Stats, Trends, and more.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has taken it upon themselves to help app publishers and advertisers combat mobile ad fraud.
Back in 2017, they devised the ads.txt and app-ads.txt ad fraud prevention standards, aimed at helping advertisers acquire mobile ad space from legitimate and authorized suppliers only. Indeed, by giving app publishers the ability to declare which companies are authorized to sell their ad inventory, app-ads.txt has become an important mechanism for addressing concerns like advertising transparency and revenue loss due to app spoofing.
With this in mind, we analyzed the state of app-ads.txt adoption for published apps on Google Play. We address how many apps have implemented app-ads.txt, the most commonly listed ad providers on app-ads.txt files, and more.
Data Source: 42matters
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Contact SalesHow many apps on Google Play have adopted app-ads.txt?
27.05% of Google Play apps have implemented app-ads.txt. This means 578,863 out of all 2,139,911 published apps have adopted the standard.
App-ads.txt Adoption Trends: Month-Over-Month Growth
This chart shows month-over-month trends for app-ads.txt adoption on Google Play
Today, 26.88% apps on Google Play have implemented the standard, up from 18.16% in March 2024
How many of the top 1,000 Google Play Apps have adopted App-Ads.txt?
Of the top 1,000 Google Play Apps, 727 (72.7%) have implemented app-ads.txt. This means adoption is significantly higher among the top apps.
Looking for more App-Ads.txt insights?
Ever since the IAB announced App-Ads.txt, we at 42matters have been keeping a close eye on its trajectory. We’ve even aggregated app-ads.txt data for apps across all major app stores. This enables us to provide a list of authorized resellers for any app that leverages the IAB’s ad fraud prevention standard in a matter of seconds!
We offer App-Ads.txt insight for apps available on the following stores:
- Google Play
- Apple App Store
- Samsung Smart TV Apps
- Apple TV tvOS App Store
- LG Content Store
- Amazon Fire TV
- Google TV
- Roku Channel Store
- Amazon Appstore
- Vizio SmartCast Apps
- Huawei AppGallery
This data is updated on a regular basis and comes via our managed data service. This means you’ll have access to the latest and greatest data, without having to build and implement your own crawler or individually validate each datapoint.
Talk to SalesApp-Ads.txt Adoption Trends: Apps vs Games
These charts compare the rate of App-Ads.txt adoption among apps and games on Google Play.
Overall 58.62% of apps have implemented the standard, while 22.46% of games have done so.
App-Ads.txt Adoption Trends: By Google Play Category
This chart shows the rate of adoption by Google Play category. Currently, Simulation lead the way with 69.75% of apps in the category leveraging app-ads.txt.
The Top Ad Partners on Google Play Apps, Ranked by App-ads.txt Mentions
Ad partners are companies that have been granted permission by app developers to sell their ad space. This permission is typically given directly by the developer, but may be given indirectly via resellers.
Google.com is listed as an ad partner on 90.5% of app-ads.txt files on Google Play apps. This makes it the most common ad partner on the platform.
Coming in at second is rubiconproject.com, which is listed on 31.98% of Google Play apps, followed by pubmatic.com, which is listed on 31.9%.
The Top 'Direct' Ad Partners on Google Play Apps, Ranked by App-ads.txt Mentions
Direct ad partners are those which have been granted direct permission by app developers to sell app ad space. That is, they are explicitly listed on the app's app-ads.txt file.
Google.com is listed as a direct ad partner on 88.75% of app-ads.txt files on Google Play apps. This makes it the most common direct ad partner on the platform.
Coming in at second is facebook.com, which is listed by 24.12% of Google Play apps. applovin.com comes in at third with 17.73%.
The Top 'Reseller' Ad Partners on Google Play Apps, Ranked by App-ads.txt Mentions
Reseller ad partners are those which have been granted permission by app developers to resell their ad space.
Rubiconproject.com is listed as a reseller ad partner on 31.82% of all app-ads.txt files for Google Playapps. This makes it the most commonly listed reseller ad partner on the platform.
pubmatic.com is the next most common at 31.79%, followed by openx.com at 30.58%.
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