Facebook and YouTube both made a pitch to brands and advertisers during their conferences at the dmexco international expo last week. Brand safety has been a major challenge for the digital industry in 2017, and the tech giants claimed they were making moves to ensure ads are always placed against high-quality content on their respective platforms.
Facebook announced the biggest changes, as it will now implement new monetisation rules for content types. This policy means articles or videos with unsavoury topics and imagery, ranging from tragedy and conflict to violent, adult, explicit and inappropriate material, will be prohibited from ads within Instant Articles, Branded Content and mid-roll breaks.
There will also be a raft of new digital tools so brands can get a much clearer overview of the third parties that are monetising their content and create blacklists to exclude some publishers. The pre- and post-campaign reporting features will be a notable improvement, as it is currently difficult for marketers to determine exactly where their ads have featured.
Facebook’s vice president of global marketing solutions, Carolyn Everson, said the changes reflect a growing “uneasiness” in the digital industry following the high-profile cases of ad misplacement earlier in the year. She said that calls for improvements had been heard “loud and clear.”
“At Facebook, we take very seriously our responsibility to earn and maintain the trust of our advertiser partners – and give them the confidence they need to invest in us. That’s critical to their success and ours,” Everson said. “That is why we’re introducing new monetisation eligibility standards that will provide clearer guidance on the types of publishers and creators eligible to earn money on Facebook and the kind of content that can be monetised.”
Everson also touched on the growing desire for independent validation for ads and higher-quality metrics. Facebook is working with Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify to improve its brand safety controls and is set to join the Trustworthy Accountability Group to protect against fraud. Accreditation from the Media Ratings Council and reviews for first-party ad reporting will also follow shortly.
“These reviews and partnerships help with viewability verification,” Everson added. “They’ll also help us deliver the most accurate metrics possible to our partners. We know how important it is to provide the right insights to our clients so they can focus on business growth. We’re not perfect. But we are striving for accuracy, and these third-party verification efforts will help identify potential issues.”
YouTube didn’t announce new features and tools during its conference on Thursday, but it did release research showing that 95 per cent of its ads globally meet viewability standards. The platform’s chief business officer, Robert Kyncl said it is aware of its “serious responsibility” and is currently “working around the clock” to improve ad placement.
YouTube is also set to launch a new original content series backed by celebrities, including Katy Perry, Ellen DeGeneres and James Corden, as another case study to show that brands can be trusted to be a platform where high-quality videos and ads thrive.
