Brand safety has been a buzzword in the past few weeks, as advertisers across industries have boycotted Facebook and called on the company to monitor and denounce hate speech on its platform. After years of obstinacy, Facebook is showing signs that it’s listening to its users and the companies that rely on it to reach those millions. Yesterday, Facebook agreed to a brand safety audit from the Media Rating Council (MRC), a nonprofit that certifies the reliability of audience measurement services. (It also audits companies like Nielsen). The MRC has a number of different standards that digital platforms can earn accreditation in, from data pipeline to third-party viewability vendors to brand safety.
The brand safety standards introduced back in 2018 are relatively new. Since then, MRC has tried to (unsuccessfully) get Facebook to agree to a review. Given the pressure Facebook has been facing recently, it makes sense that the company would be more receptive to an external review of its policies and practices. But it’s important to note that this isn’t the first time that advertisers have led a boycott against a social platform based on brand safety and lack of oversight. That happened back in 2017, with YouTube. (YouTube is the only social media platform to formally agree to an MRC audit of brand safety standards, which is still in progress.)
In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook was at-risk of losing key credentials from MRC due to deficiencies in how it reports advertising effectiveness. Remember the revelation a few years ago that the mass “pivot to video” among digital publishers was all for naught because Facebook had been inflating its video metrics? That’s what the MRC viewability audit is meant to address. Facebook failed to act on those concerns, hence jeopardizing its certification.
That story didn’t get much attention when it was reported a few months ago because, as AdWeek recently reported, at the time many media buyers viewed MRC certifications as “nice to have,” second to campaign results. The tide is likely changing on that.
The scrutiny social platforms have been under in the past few weeks has made it clear how much regulation is missing when it comes to advertising on digital media. Publishers like Vox, whose premium advertising marketplace, Concert, was built on brand safety, have been one step ahead on this. Similarly, as a premium publisher of video content, Studio71 gives brands a way to advertise on social media that’s protected. Out brand-safety technology, Context, launched in 2017, combines technology and human review to make sure that the content our partners run ads against is in line with their values. For brands looking to reach audiences with precision and peace of mind, premium publishers have solutions.
