Brands pull ads from YouTube after appearing next to dubious content

London - Perfection may exist only digitally, but fashion brands and luxury houses are struggling with digital outlets who display their ad campaigns alongside dubious content.

While digital advertising allows brands to choose their target demographic, region, interests and even language their ad appears in, they can't choose who their ad sits next to when it is programmed to show over time.

This is precisely the problem with YouTube which last month saw several international brands pull their advertising from Google's video business when it became apparent their ads sat next to extremist videos.

A niche has opened for social media risk companies

Enter the need for a social media risk company that can provide brands certainty their advertisements do not appear next to offensive content.

One such company, called Crisp, has designed a service to combat misplaced ads that lead to brand erosion.

Since top news publications first exposed the extent of misplaced ads on major online channels in February, big-name brands including retail giant Wal-Mart, have found their content associated with terrorism and pornographers, and those supporting extremist views. As a result, advertisers are looking for solutions which provide certainty that their brand will not appear against illegal and toxic content.

AI is used to asses webpages and digital channels

Crisp's online advertising audit service uses algorithms and AI to assess in real-time every user generated video, image and piece of text on webpages or channels, such as YouTube, where a brand's ad is shown. Its team Social Media Risk Analysts step in to further assess the nature of the video and image content, commentary, meta data and comments on the environment to understand whether it meets the brand's values and target audience.

If a webpage or video channel does not conform, it is immediately withdrawn from the advertiser's approved network, stopping their brand from appearing against high-risk content.

Brands protected from social media 'risk'

"We are constantly protecting over a thousand global brands from the risks of social media," said Adam Hildreth, Founder and CEO of Crisp. "We see first-hand how damaging offensive and illegal content can be when associated with brands, and the effects are now too devastating for brands to ignore. Our online advertising audit service gives big-spending advertisers the confidence to re-instate their online campaigns."

Photo credit; Business man walks tightrope to balance RISK REWARD by Michael D Brown, Source; Shutterstock