App-Ads.txt Adoption: Google Play Stats, Trends, and more.

Last update: 30 Nov 2023 CET

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 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

At 42matters, we take a holistic approach to mobile and connected TV (CTV) app intelligence. We track app metadata, performance metrics, technical specifications, strategic insights, and more. If you would like to leverage our data for your own products, processes, or research, you can access it via our APIs, File Dumps, Explorer, SDK Explorer, and App Watchlist.

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How many apps on Google Play have adopted app-ads.txt?

Apps with App-Ads.txt

41%

1,459,213

Total Apps on Google Play 3.58m+

40.73% of Google Play apps have implemented app-ads.txt. This means 1,459,213 out of all 3,582,527 apps have adopted the standard.

App-ads.txt Adoption Trends: Month-Over-Month Growth

App-Ads.txt Adoption per Month

This chart shows month-over-month trends for app-ads.txt adoption on Google Play
Today, 1,459,213 apps on Google Play have implemented the standard, up from 1,294,456 in March 2023

The adoption increased by 2% within the last 3 months.

How many of the top 1,000 Google Play Apps have adopted App-Ads.txt?

Top Apps with App-Ads.txt

71%

713

Total of top Apps on Google Play 1.00k+

Of the top 1,000 Google Play Apps, 713 (71.3%) 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.

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App-Ads.txt Adoption Trends: Apps vs Games

Apps with App-Ads.txt

38.78%

Games with App-Ads.txt

14.94%

Adoption Rate comparing Apps VS Games

These charts compare the rate of App-Ads.txt adoption among apps and games on Google Play.
Overall 38.78% of apps have implemented the standard, while 14.94% of games have done so.

App-Ads.txt Adoption Trends: By Google Play Category

Adoption Rate Per App Category

This chart shows the rate of adoption by Google Play category. Currently, Simulation lead the way with 50.36% 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.

Top Ad Networks listed as a partner among all apps with app-ads.txt

Google.com is listed as an ad partner on 89.37% 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 31.9% of Google Play apps, followed by pubmatic.com, which is listed on 31.74%.

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.

Top Ad Networks listed as a direct partner among all apps with app-ads.txt

Google.com is listed as a direct ad partner on 87.61% 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 tappx.com, which is listed by 21.22% of Google Play apps. facebook.com comes in at third with 20.46%.

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.

Top Ad Networks listed as a reseller partner among all apps with app-ads.txt

Rubiconproject.com is listed as a reseller ad partner on 31.69% 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 31.57%, followed by openx.com at 30.56%.

Are You Looking for Data-Rich Insights into the App Market?

The App Market Explorer allows you to selectively or broadly browse the entire mobile application market. 42matters also offers all kind of APIs and a full meta data snapshots of Google Play Store and iOS App Store games. These data dumps allow you to implement and analyze the data we collect in any way you see fit. Book a demo if you have any more questions.