Marketers struggling to cope with brand safety pressures

As Mars pulls ads from YouTube, Unilever drops influencers, and social media platforms crack down on Alex Jones, new research reveals the extent to which marketers are struggling to cope with brand safety concerns.

A survey of over 500 decision-making brand marketers across Europe and the US, conducted by ad platform Sizmek, found that nearly 4 in 10 marketers have delivered an advert on a harmful or unsafe web page.

64% of respondents say they find it challenging to implement an effective brand safety solution, and more than half think their current solution is too expensive.

Interestingly, 63% of respondents also say that at present, achieving brand safety on campaigns negatively impacts the performance of that content.
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Meanwhile transparency continues to be a key concern among marketers, as almost two-thirds of respondents say Facebook and Google fail to offer enough transparency around inventory, whilst 76% say they are making digital display inventory transparency a main priority.

According to Hardeep Bindra, VP product management, real-time decisioning services at Sizmek, it’s no surprise that marketers are prioritising efficiency and transparency given the “complex” and “fragmented” nature of the digital media ecosystem.

“These survey results confirm what we’ve been hearing from our clients about simplifying supply chain and the challenges they face with brand safety and a complicated vendor landscape,” he said.