YouTube spars with auditor over objectionable advertising

Google wants to limit the information a key auditor of YouTube can share about the risks of advertising on the video service.

Google has remained the world’s largest advertising platform. It is expected to have a roughly 30 per cent share of the $US369bn worldwide digital ad market this year. Picture: AFP

Google wants to substantially limit the information a key auditor of YouTube can share about the risks of advertising on the video service, sources say, highlighting tensions between the tech giant and Madison Avenue.

The auditor, New York-based OpenSlate, is refusing to sign a contract that would prevent it from reporting to clients when ads have run in videos with sensitive subject matter, including hate speech, adult content, children’s content, profanity, violence and illegal substances, according to an email the firm sent over the weekend to ad agencies.

Under the terms Google proposed, OpenSlate would need approval from Google to share certain metrics about YouTube’s content, a source said.

OpenSlate works with leading brands and ad agencies like McDonald’s, Pfizer, Unilever and WPP, providing them with information to confirm that their ads on YouTube are appearing alongside content that marketers deem safe.

In the email to ad agencies, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, OpenSlate said it hadn’t been able to reach an agreement with Google to be included in a new, updated version of YouTube’s ad measurement program.

“The terms of this program would severely limit OpenSlate’s ability to deliver transparency to clients,” the firm said in the email. The firm also said it remained open to an agreement that didn’t include such restrictions.

Alphabet’s Google said: “Our brand safety partners are always able to share their independent reporting with clients.” Google said OpenSlate wasn’t currently among its official brand-safety partners. The company didn’t comment specifically on whether it has proposed restrictions for OpenSlate in any categories of content, citing contractual confidentiality obligations during active negotiations.

Google said it was expanding the number of measurement companies it worked with, including brand-safety firms, changes expected to be made public on Monday. “We know how important it is for our industry to have a healthy third-party ecosystem of trusted independent solutions for driving and measuring marketing performance on YouTube,” the company said.

Google said it had invited OpenSlate to participate in its expanded program.

It is unclear if the partners for the newly-expanded program will face the same restrictions Google proposed to OpenSlate.

“We are able to freely report across the suite of services we offer, including viewability and invalid traffic, as well as brand safety and brand suitability,” Integral Ad Science, one of Google’s approved brand-safety partners, said.

Another such partner, DoubleVerify, said it “delivers transparent, unrestricted reporting across the entirety of its measurement solutions”.

The dispute comes amid upheaval in the online-ad world because of the coronavirus pan­demic. A major contraction in ad spending threatens the revenue of all companies that sell digital ads, including giants like Google and Facebook. Being on good terms with Madison Avenue is as important as ever.

Brand safety has become a critical issue for advertisers over the past few years after many brands discovered their ads were appearing next to objectionable social-media content, including on YouTube videos promoting racism or hate speech.

In 2017, many big brands temporarily suspended their ad spending on YouTube amid evidence that some ads were appearing alongside content considered to be objectionable. Last year, several brands suspended their ads on the site after revelations that inappropriate user comments were appearing under videos featuring underage girls.

Despite the controversies, Google has remained the world’s largest advertising platform. It is expected to have a roughly 30 per cent share of the $US369bn worldwide digital ad market this year.