Brand Safety is Also a Publisher Issue
The more technological digital advertising became, and more profitable, the more there became a need for safety precautions against the growing sophistication of ad-fraud. This brought rise to several brand-safety initiatives and vendors catering to the many ad tech companies in the industry. Their influence on online advertising, including on the way SSPs and DSPs decide whether or not to advertise on a given site, has grown dramatically.
These days, all major SSPs and DSPs are using at least one, if not several brand safety vendors. Based on the vendor’s reporting, they decide whether or not to advertise on the ad inventory they receive. That has an immediate impact on ad revenue, which is why it is crucial that publishers take a bigger interest in their brand safety rankings.
As most publishers don’t work directly with brand safety vendors, they are usually not aware of any brand safety situation they might have. They might not even know that the concept of brand safety exists. For that reason, we gathered the 6 ideas and actions that every publisher needs in order to improve their brand safety performance:
- Demand Partner Vendors – Find out which brand safety provider your demand partners are using. SSPs and DSPs are using several brand safety vendors and decide whether or not to publish on a specific site based on their results.
- Know Your Ranking – Get to know your brand safety rank on the various brand safety platforms. Demand performance can be impacted by brand safe rank, resulting in lower bids and fill rates.
- Understand Your Metrics – Find out which metrics you are lacking. The vendors measure different metrics using different algorithms. While one partner may approve the traffic, another can block it altogether.
- Constant Feedback – Make sure to ask your demand partners for any feedback regarding the quality of traffic they are seeing. The publisher may be exposed to potential complaints and chargebacks from his associates due to the results they are seeing with the vendors they are using.
- Learn More – Understand the different metrics meanings. Publishers should know the meaning of the IVT reasons of the different vendors to have an easy and fast fix in case of a problem.
- Get Your Own – Work directly with a brand safety vendor. It can be very helpful as the publisher has direct access to the information and can work together with his AM in case of an issue, without involving middle men.
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Becoming knowledgeable about every aspect of your business is always a good idea. But for such an integral part of the advertising chain it becomes even more important. The fact that there are so many different vendors and metrics, and each one of them can have an impact on your revenue, does add to the complexity. However, ignoring the issue, and not taking control of your brand safety standing is simply not an option. Stay safe!
