Infectious Media launches guide to address growing advertiser concern over media quality

Today we launched a new guide to increase awareness of how the risks associated with ad fraud, brand safety and viewability can be mitigated without restricting scale and performance of programmatic ad campaigns. 

A survey published this year found media quality topped the list of challenges identified most often by advertisers when buying online media. High profile press, particularly The Times’ recent investigation into how advertisers are inadvertently funding terrorist groups online, has led many to question the value of programmatic and consider if it is worth the risks.

A common response has been for brands to take more control over their programmatic advertising activities by restricting their digital spend to very select lists of trusted sites they consider to offer premium content, a process referred to in the industry as ‘whitelisting’. However, this is driving up CPMs and significantly decreasing return on investment for brands.

Infectious Media’s guide lays out how advertisers can minimise the risks over media quality through an active and many layered approach, including human expertise and technological procedures. It gives practical advice on how advertisers can demand full data transparency from their agency and ad-tech partners and incentivise better quality media buying with more sophisticated measurement tools and metrics.

Other findings from Infectious Media also shed light on the types of sites most often blocked over media quality. Illegal download or intellectual property-infringing sites topped the list with 39 per cent of the total, followed by fake domains (31 per cent) and pornography (24 per cent). Together these account for over 90 per cent of the sites most regularly being blocked.

The study involved analysing millions of media placements using Media Ratings Council (MRC) certified ad verification technology, designed to filter out unsafe media before the ad is served.

Andy Cocker, Infectious Media’s Chief Operating Officer and co-founder, said:

“Many in the industry are understandably worried about advertising spend being wasted because of poor quality media in the supply chain. The benefits of programmatic still far outweigh the dangers though and a lack of understanding is undermining that. We launched this study to give advertisers a more rounded view of the media quality debate, identify the biggest threats and educate them on how they can better protect themselves, whilst still getting the best out of programmatic advertising. It’s crucial now that media agencies and ad-tech companies play their full part in increasing awareness and driving up standards.”