Google MD apologises to brands with a little help from Elton John

Google’s top local executive has issued a public mea culpa to advertisers with a little help from Elton John.

Elton John performs in Mackay last week.

Google’s top local executive has issued a public mea culpa to advertisers over ads appearing alongside extremist content with a little help from Elton John.

A global advertising boycott by more than 250 companies including Coca-Cola and Toyota was prompted by ads appeared alongside racist, antisemitic or jihadist content.

The tech giant struggled to contain the fallout as it emerged antisemites and banned hate preachers were receiving payouts from YouTube commercials. It is estimated to cost Google more than $1.3 billion.

Speaking at YouTube’s annual Brandcast in Sydney, Jason Pellegrino attempted to put a bruising year behind the firm as he rolled out pop superstar Elton John for a live performance.

In his opening address, Mr Pellegrino, managing director of Google Australia and New Zealand, declared that “the last twelve months have been challenging at times” in his first public comments on the issue.

“You’ve told us clearly that we need to do a better job at ad placement on the platform, and we’ve worked with you to make changes to our controls, our enforcement and our policies to make the platform even stronger,” Mr Pellegrino told a crowd of 1500 marketers, media owners and agencies.

“You have all taken the time to work with us to find out what works best for your brands. These conversations have not only made our relationships stronger and helped us to truly more deeply understand your brands but they have helped to make YouTube a better place for advertisers, users and creators.”

Among a raft of presenters was Media Federation of Australia chairman and Omnicom Media Group chief executive Peter Horgan.

Mr Horgan said the top media buying firm was “disappointed it took a crisis” to jolt YouTube into action following years of concerns over brand safety.

But Mr Horgan gave YouTube credit for deploying “resources quickly to address the issues,” adding “you won’t be the first organisation in history where a crisis has been a catalyst.”

To stop the problem, Google has trained computers to automatically recognise hate videos on YouTube.

The idea is for Google’s computers to learn to distinguish between an actor holding a gun and an Islamic State terrorist doing the same. Independent companies will also be allowed to verify where brands’ adverts appear on the site.

It remains to be seen how effective the new measures will be at creating a brand safe environment as the initiatives are in their infancy.

As the rivalry between traditional media companies and online behemoths intensifies, executives at commercial television networks and publishers are talking up their ability to offer premium brand safe environments at scale.

Equally important, traditional media environments offer ad campaigns that are viewable, executives point out.

Google and Facebook, meanwhile, have been under fire of late for a series of embarrassing issues including fraudulent traffic, and ad metrics errors.

Advertisers have been frustrated by how Google and Facebook do the equivalent of grading their own homework, while not allowing for genuine third-party inspection of statistics like viewability.

A question mark also hangs over how long ads on Google and Facebook’s platforms appear on various screens and whether sound is on for video ads.

Mr Pellegrino said YouTube has pledged to undergo more robust audits by third-party measurement services.

“One area where we’ve heard you loud and clear and one of my absolute priorities is measurement because measurement underpins business results,” he said.

“As an industry, we all agree that we could be more progressive, that more could be done to ensure we understand how to measure audiences and results across all screens.”

Mr Horgan also addressed the issue, underscoring the importance of “third-party verification”.

“We face some big decisions for the year ahead … voices pulling us in different directions asking us to pick sides,” said Mr Horgan.

“Those sides appear to be polarised down the line of the old world and the new … a battle between a world of digital and traditional.”

It was Mr Pellegrino’s first public appearance since he was accused of misleading a parliamentary committee over how many billions of dollars in ad revenue his company generates in Australia.

Facebook admitted it was still booking revenue from Australian advertisers in tax-haven Ireland, despite a government crackdown designed to stamp out the practice.