AdColony has always put quality first. From our very first mobile games as Jirbo, Inc. in 2008, to the award-winning ads we produce for our clients around the world today, we’ve always been focused on doing things right, and doing the right thing. It means working with partners to help us protect our clients and end-users, but there are processes and measures we have internally, too.
In the spirit of true transparency, we’re going to take a 30,000-foot view of how AdColony protects everyone we touch in the mobile ecosystem from bad actors. We’ve still got a lot of secret sauce, but we don’t mind sharing our list of our herbs and spices either.
Publishers
You don’t get brand advertisers like Disney, Toyota, and Coca-Cola to trust you with their campaigns without having the right supply, and AdColony’s SDK-powered mobile gaming supply is second to none for quality.
Anyone can get started with our SDK today. We’re incredibly proud of how easy the AdColony SDK is to integrate for both iOS and Android (as well as our Unity plug-in) and after over a decade of open access for developers who want to monetize, we’ve gotten pretty good at analyzing and vetting our supply. As part of the onboarding process, the AdColony Monetization team members (and our proprietary optimization algorithms) look at each app, and assesses some basic questions:
- Does this app deliver a good experience for end-users?
- Does this app functionally work the way it says it does?
- What campaigns would fit with this app’s tone/style?
- What are opportunities this publisher might have to further optimize their KPIs?
Often, this process occurs in the background, and for many self-service publishing partners of ours, the only sign we’ve taken a look is that as your eCPMs scale as our ad server learns how to optimize for an app’s audience and engagement.
When we identify a publisher that could benefit from a more hands-on approach from our monetization managers, we’ll reach out! Answer that email! Your bank account will thank you!
On the other side of the coin, we also quickly identify and turn off demand for apps that we identify as being dishonest about their experience, their promises to end-users, or exhibit a number of fraudulent behaviors. As we’ve said before, the fight against fraud is ongoing and it’s with great partnerships like Pixalate that we work to constantly keep our supply clean.
Advertisers
AdColony exclusively works with trusted advertisers to ensure supply is being filled with legitimate advertisers and safe creative messaging. Due to our incredibly high standards, AdColony does not currently offer a self-serve option for advertisers on our network. This means that advertisers and creative messages are vetted by real humans (and often created by our own award-winning creative team!) before campaigns go live on our network. We’re working on self-serve options that will allow us to maintain our high-quality advertising experiences for mobile developers and end-users alike and hope to have something soon!
In that same vein, our programmatic partners go through an extensive review process before they are integrated and able to bid into our network, protecting our publishers from unfavorable traffic. Not only do we ensure the DSPs are in solid financial standing, but we also require them to disclose the types of campaigns they run and have advertisers tag every creative with the appropriate IAB category so that the publisher has complete control of what they allow on their apps.
Additionally, we utilize a third-party verification partner, GeoEdge, that closely monitors ad quality and pauses integrations for troubleshooting if there are infractions. AdColony’s guidelines and policy block adult-themed ads, firearms, and promotion of illegal products, keeping content clean and safe for publishers.
It is AdColony’s priority to ensure that publishing partners’ apps only show the highest quality demand, and that end-users only see great ads for legitimate products and services. These safeguards allow us to maintain successful, long-term relationships with our publishers.
For Publishers, Advertisers, and Users
As part of AdColony’s GDPR/CCPA compliance, any ad that runs on our network contains the AdChoices logo button which allows users to reach our privacy policy, contact AdColony directly, and exercise their privacy rights, which we honor no matter where in the world they live.
If a user reports technical issues with an app, this allows us to point them in the right direction and immediately troubleshoot. Additionally, if we notice a trend of reports across one particular app, this allows us to work directly with the publisher to resolve what is likely an app integration issue.
Moreover, as part of our vetting process, we are constantly analyzing feedback in the app store through our Apptopia partnership. This partnership allows us to monitor both app ratings and written review comments so that we can work with developers and identify any technical problems or consistent user challenges, protecting users and advertisers while simultaneously allowing developers to optimize their offerings.
Finally, AdColony has a number of third-party verification solutions to ensure we deliver ads in viewable, fraud-free, and brand-safe app environments. Our inventory has proven to exceed all benchmarks with inherently brand-safe, 90%+ viewable & 99% fraud-free environments. AdColony safeguards our advertisers’ media spend in partnership with Pixalate to block invalid traffic, pre-bid.
Additionally, AdColony has been TAG certified against fraud since 2018 and is newly TAG Brand Safety certified. We are also integrated with industry leaders, IAS, DoubleVerify, and MOAT, as well as IAB’s Open Measurement SDK, to measure viewability and ensure quality.
From a safety standpoint, we offer COPPA and LDA-compliant inventory. These partnerships bring only the highest quality experience to users, advertisers, and publishers.
Join the Conversation
Interested in learning more about how we protect you? Tweet us at @AdColony. For the latest AdColony mobile news and updates, follow @AdColony on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or connect on Linkedin.
- How AdColony Protects Our Partners, Clients, and Users - April 30, 2021
- The Mobile Gaming Experience: Motivations and Multitasking - October 5, 2020
