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So your ad drove a million views — cool. Now, did all those views take place in a brand-safe environment? Did the video play before an extremist video? What appeared after the ad played?
These are the questions brands are finally asking themselves following the Google and YouTube controversy. And, as “Brand Safety” has emerged as the new buzzword and mission at hand, brands are also asking themselves, now what?
Until recently, media buying was focused more on reach and less on influence. After the recent discoveries of branded content on extremist videos and pages, brands and agencies were reminded that haphazard media buying can be unpredictable and detrimental to the brand as a whole.
At the end of the day, YouTube is a platform through which third-party agencies and companies buy and sell ad inventory. And it’s not the only platform brands have to carefully consider — Facebook has experienced its own inappropriate content challenges as well (to the tune of 3,000 new community operation hires), while Snap has thrown its hat into the proverbial digital ad ring.
As user-generated content outpaces traditional media in both quantity and speed, businesses have less control over their brands than ever before.
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