Ensuring Brand Safety Is a Perennial Problem

Last year’s brand safety controversies stirred fears that advertisers would back away from platforms like Facebook and YouTube, but spending has continued to surge.

Indeed, US advertisers continue to pour more than nine in 10 new digital ad dollars into the Facebook-Google duopoly.

Still, virtually all brands are making changes in how they operate in digital media to be safer going forward. This includes demanding more transparency and investing more ad dollars in quality environments.

According to November 2017 data from Teads, more than nine in 10 US CMOs surveyed had already begun making changes to their digital strategy due to brand safety concerns.

"Conversations with brands, ad tech firms, programmatic partners, publishers and platforms suggest all are making moves in this direction thanks to brands’ reawakened concerns about safety," said senior analyst Nicole Perrin, author of a new eMarketer report, "The Brand Safety Dilemma: Looking Beyond Scale and Efficiency to Quality, Context and Common Sense."

The report examines why brand safety became a major concern in 2017, and what advertisers, publishers and their partners are doing to ensure ads are placed appropriately and to avoid future controversies. eMarketer PRO subscribers can access the full report here. Nonsubscribers can learn more here.