Marketers use inventory targeting to control where ads appear across the Open Web and in apps. By using Allow lists and Block lists, marketers can choose approved environments and exclude sites or apps that do not meet brand or quality standards. This helps protect brand safety, improve traffic quality, and reduce wasted spend.

At the tactic level, marketers can add sites or apps (manual or bulk uploads) to an inventory list.

Opening the Inventory targeting page

How marketers open the page depends on whether targeting applies at the journey level or the tactic level. Learn both workflows here. 

Allowing or blocking sites or apps

Use this feature when you want to allow or block all sites or all apps.

1. Expand the Site/App folder.
2. Use the toggle switches to block all sites or apps. The default setting is allow all.

Steps to bulk upload a list

Bulk upload a list of sites or apps to allow or block. The other option is to use the List Form option.

Before you start

Expand the Inventory folder. Click the Bulk Upload button

• In the example below, the Lists table shows two inventory files with the Always Blocked tag. An admin uploaded those files to the Licensee page in a separate step. illumin auto-applies Licensee-level inventory lists and auto-sets the inventory to blocked. The lock icon means the sites and apps inside the list can’t be edited or deleted at the journey or tactic level.

 

Select the CSV file option. Click the select button to upload a file from your device. After the file uploads, click the Next button. There's also a List Form option. Scroll down to read how that works.

 

If you click the File Template & Specifications link, the window unhides a field. That field provides information that explains the file format requirements.

 

The platform checks the validity of the records. If the check finds an error, a field displays a message. You can continue the upload without repairing the error (unvalidated records won't be included in the list) or stop, fix the validation issue, and upload the file again. Click the Got it button to complete the task.

 

Finally, the workflow returns to Inventory Targeting.

1. Click the Sites/Apps tab to review the list.
2. Click the Allow button to block all the sites. (optional). It's not possible to have a mix of allowed and blocked sites or apps.

The text below the Bulk Upload button shows the allow/block status of the sites/apps.  

Using the List form

This option is suitable for simple list additions. 

1. Select the List Form option.
2. Paste in (or type) properly formatted records of sites and apps. 
3. Enter one record per row.
4. Finish each row with an a for apps or s for sites. 
5. Click the Next button to validate each record. 
6. If all records pass the validation check, click the Got it button.

 

The platform adds the items to the existing list of Site/Apps records and applies the current allow/block status.

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FAQs

What does inventory targeting control?

It controls where ads appear across sites, apps, and domains. Marketers refine traffic quality and brand safety by adding allow or block lists.

Why do marketers use a fraud filter with inventory lists?

A fraud filter protects spend by removing sources with suspicious traffic patterns. It keeps performance stable, especially during prospecting or upper-funnel activity.

How does inventory targeting affect other tactic filters?

Inventory lists work together with audience, geo, device, and other filters. The DSP applies all active controls to ensure placement aligns with campaign goals.

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