60% of Advertisers and Agencies are Concerned about Brand Safety in Programmatic Advertising

Advertisers are wasting millions of dollars on ad placements that appear in low-quality media environments next to unsafe content, as a majority are concerned about brand safety in programmatic. 

What’s going on

According to the ANA, made-for-advertising (MFA) websites, which typically use “sensational headlines, clickbait and provocative content to attract visitors and generate page views”, comprise up to 21% of open web programmatic advertising impressions and 15% of spend.

It is no surprise then, to find that 56% of advertisers and agencies consider ‘improved ad verification’ capabilities a top priority, as they look to gain more visibility into where ad impressions are being served.

This is encouraging. However, only some advertisers and agencies are currently taking action to improve the transparency of their programmatic advertising campaigns:

• Around half (49%) of advertisers have established direct contracts with key supply chain partners
• 39% are running pre and post-bid verification
• 36% have increased the number of direct inventory supply paths through supply path optimisation (SPO)
• 32% have obtained access to log-level data form key supply chain partners
• 30% have built a website inclusion list

What this means for brands

Across the media supply chain, advertisers are often the least knowledgeable about the quality of media being purchased in programmatic campaigns.

Addressing this issue of information asymmetry should be considered a priority for advertisers that want to reduce wastage and improve brand safety across their programmatic investments.

The ANA’s recommended action steps is a useful starting point for most advertisers.