How brands and agencies are reacting to Elon Musk’s radical changes at Twitter
As brand safety risks increase, some advertisers are waiting to see whether Twitter will be a respected platform or a free-for-all hellscape.
Topic: Brand safety
Meta earns MRC accreditation for content-level brand safety on Facebook
Meta says they have made significant progress and investments into brand safety and suitability controls.
Google launches new content suitability center in Google Ads
This update should improve efficiency, reduce errors and help advertisers going forward.
30+ brands suspend their Twitter marketing campaigns after finding their ads next to child-pornography accounts
Twitter has landed in hot water after some brands discovered their ads associated with the content, but are they doing enough to stop it from happening again?
Does Reddit even have an ads policy?
According to Marketing Brew and a third-party tool called Pushshift, the answer is, maybe?
TikTok launches Inventory Filters for safe ad placements
The solution provides advertisers with more control over the content that appears around their In-Feed Ads.
Spotify commits to brand safety for podcasts
This is Spotify's latest attempt at keeping the platform a safe environment for creators, listeners and advertisers.
TikTok Pulse puts brands next to the top 4% of videos
TikTok Pulse is an advertising revenue-sharing program that will launch in June in the U.S. for creators with at least 100,000 followers
Elon Musk taking over Twitter, but most marketers not worried
Despite concerns about "free" speech, 58% of marketers we polled think Musk owning Twitter will be good for brands, marketers and users.
Facebook confirms ‘massive ranking failure’
A bug allowed Facebook posts with nudity, violence, Russian propaganda to appear in users' news feeds.
Google removed App campaign placement data from Ads and AdWords API reports
To view these reports, Google recommends referencing the App Campaigns Brand Safety Placement report within Google Ads instead.
TikTok’s brand safety center consolidates transparency updates, announcements and partnerships
As TikTok builds out more monetization opportunities to win over creators, this resource may be a convenient reference for brands to understand the platform’s brand safety options.
Google Ads launches placement reports for Performance Max campaigns
Placement reports show where Performance Max ads have served, which may help with brand safety efforts, as well as how many impressions they’ve received.
Google heightens adult ad policy enforcement after Reuters finds illicit ads
“Spotty” enforcement can result in inappropriate ads being shown to minors and an unfair advantage for advertisers that slip through the cracks.
Facebook’s topic exclusion controls test rolls out to more advertisers
In its early tests, advertisers were able to avoid appearing next to exclusion categories 94-99% of the time.
15 years of Google Trends; Thursday’s daily brief
Plus, Instagram tests out more ecommerce support and adds contact “Limits.”
New research shows Google serves almost half of all ad traffic on fake news sites
New data indicates that unless advertisers are paying careful attention to their exclusion lists, there's a chance that ads could be showing up next to fake news online.
Some new local search changes you should be aware of; Wednesday’s daily brief
Also, Google updated its event structured data report in Search Console.
We’re all in this together: The partnership between marketing and automation; Monday’s daily brief
Plus, the local SEO problem of 1-star, no-comment reviews
Google Ads to roll out dynamic exclusion lists in coming weeks
Dynamic exclusion lists can make it easier for your brand to avoid showing near unwanted content while requiring less of the advertiser's time and attention ongoing.
Google blocks 3.1 billion ads in a tumultuous 2020, says annual Ads Safety Report
The report lists misinformation around COVID-19 and the political climate as well as ad fraud as top concerns last year.
Facebook testing brand safety topic exclusions for advertisers
"This is the first time the Feed environment would be managed though controls," company says.
Contextual links in featured snippets may present new opportunities and risks
The change has SEOs questioning which sites will win and which will lose, but one thing is certain: Nobody is going to stop optimizing for featured snippets.
Google pauses all political ads through inauguration
Amidst the volatile US political climate, Google has banned all ads mentioning political topics until after the inauguration.
Facebook blocks Trump for remainder of term while Twitter sets permanent ban
Numerous advertisers have paused their social media campaigns over the events at the Capitol.
Halting campaigns shouldn’t be your only brand safety precaution
After the storming of the Capitol, some brands are going dark with their social media ads, but a rapid response workflow and diversifying channels can help them continue to drive business.
Social Shorts: YouTube expands ad inventory, Twitter launches Fleets, more
YouTube to show ads on channels that aren’t in the Partner Program In it’s latest terms of service update, YouTube creators agree to allow the service to monetize their content with ads (or by charging users for access) but are not necessarily entitled to revenue sharing. To be eligible for YouTube’s revenue sharing Partner Program […]
Social Shorts: Snapchat advertiser certifications, YouTube masthead ads go full CPM, more
Facebook Ads bugs unnerve advertisers Last week, more bugs beset a wide number of advertiser accounts and ads, causing temporary ad disapprovals and accounts being disabled. “This is the second widespread bug that we’ve seen impact Facebook campaigns in the last 4 weeks,’ said Zenia Johnson of 3Q Digital. Why we care. Advertiser frustrations over […]
Social Shorts: Pinterest users index high on gift giving, TikTok’s brand safety solution, more
Pinterest users are heavy gift shoppers Compared to other social media, Pinterest users are the top spenders on gifts and holiday shopping. That’s among the findings from StatSocial which looked at the purchases of millions of U.S.-based users of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat and Pinterest. It found that Pinterest users spend 39.2% more on […]
Antisemitic memes in image results highlight vulnerabilities in search
“Data voids” enable offensive content to rise to the top of the search results.
Microsoft Advertising adds brand safety with IAS partnership
Audience Network ads will be blocked from pages deemed to have moderate or high brand risk.
Social Shorts: Facebook’s 20% rule, Pinterest Story Pins, Reddit brand safety options
So long, 20% text limit in Facebook ad images Facebook Ads is officially removing its 20% text rule. The company’s rule that text not take up more than 20% of ad images is now a mere suggestion: “We’ve found that images with less than 20% text perform better. With this in mind, we recommend keeping […]
Paid Social Recommendation: Twitter Ads
UPDATE November 2023: I no longer recommend Twitter Ads due to widely reported brand safety issues. This is a shame because I previously quite liked it as a platform despite its lacklustre performance. Hopefully, they can right the ship again. Old Review: Twitter Ads is the only paid social platform that actually makes […]
Social Shorts: Twitter ad engagement drops, Snap Minis launch, more brands pause Facebook Ads
Twitter ad engagement suffers. Snapchat user gains slow We’re starting to get a clearer picture of how the pandemic affected social platforms last quarter. This week, even as monetizable daily active users increased by a whopping 34% to 186 million, Twitter reported ad revenue fell by 23% year-over-year to $562 million in Q2 (total revenue […]
Social Shorts: Google’s ShopLoop, Instagram Shop overhaul, Snapchat brand pages
ShopLoop: Google’s mobile commerce experiment Google’s experimental lab Area 120 is out with a new e-commerce experience for mobile web that incorporates social feed engagement and video product demos common on YouTube. Shoploop features a feed of short (90-seconds max) videos from creators using or talking about products. Every post links out to the relevant […]
Black Lives Matter content: Latest in unintended brand safety consequences
Advertisers are reportedly blocking ads from appearing on Black Lives Matter-related content.
Facebook expands test for in-stream ads on Live
Advertisers concerned with brand safety can choose to exclude ads from appearing in Live content.
Create display network exclusion lists with this (free) tool
A tool born out of frustration could save you time managing brand safety.
Search marketing to enjoy ‘late-stage renaissance,’ according to analyst firm
Privacy, brand safety and other factors will make paid search even more attractive to marketers going forward, according to Forrester Research.
Site category exclusions for Google Display Network getting brand safety update
The changes are related to updates first announced in March in response to an advertiser YouTube boycott.