Verification and analytics firm Integral Ad Science (IAS) has expanded its brand safety offering to support 40 languages, which it claims covers about 99% of internet users.
IAS runs a blocking solution that allows brands to protect campaigns from running alongside adult content, alcohol, fake news, gambling, hate speech, illegal downloads, illegal drugs, offensive language, and violence. It assesses the risk across four thresholds – low, moderate, high and very high.
IAS applies data science, engineering and linguistic expertise to provide brand safety assurance.
In the second half of 2016, IAS research found that 8.9% of ads globally were served alongside inappropriate content across all digital channels, with a higher percentage for programmatically traded inventory. This is usually due to a higher proportion of cheap and questionable inventory in open exchanges.
In Australia, the risk was 5% for all buy types and 3.6% for direct placements with publishers.
A major problem with brand safety on digital media platforms like YouTube is that technology hasn't sufficiently picked up inappropriate content across different languages in the past.
Earlier this year, AdNews discovered Marketo ads running alongside an amateur Indonesian video of a thief being burnt alive (see below). The text was in Indonesian and the video had slipped through the net.
Thankfully, the video no longer carries advertising, a sign that Google's tightening of brand safety controls and vetting procedures are working.
Expanding the level of protection to 40 languages should help analytics firms provide even greater assurance and protection to brands running digital campaigns.
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