Mar 02 2025 37 mins
Last month, concerns around brand safety and the opaque nature of programmatic advertising flared up again following a report from adtech transparency startup Adalytics, which found that a huge number of big-name brands have been accidentally placing ads on a website that hosts a great deal of child sexual abuse material (also known as CSAM).
How did this happen? Do brands actually care about brand safety? And, if they do, what steps can they take to make sure they’re supporting quality media?
Emily Roberts is head of digital at the Responsible Marketing Advisory, an independent marketing consultancy. She is also co-founder of the Women in Programmatic Network and an inaugural member of The Media Leader’s Future 100 Club.
Roberts joined host Jack Benjamin to unpack the Adalytics report and share tips on how brands can avoid supporting harmful content online.
Highlights:
6:17: Is programmatic advertising a sustainable model for publishers?
8:40: Unpacking the Adalytics report and the flaws in current brand-safety practices
19:26: What brands should do to avoid accidentally showing up against CSAM online
23:40: Brand safety on social media platforms
31:48: How the Women in Programmatic Network has reacted to DEI "sunsetting"
Related articles:
How can brands avoid advertising against CSAM?
Time to replace brand-safety paranoia with a nuanced approach
Brand safety in a Donald Trump-led world
Advertising adjacent to quality news content is brand-safe regardless of topic
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Thanks to our production partners Trisonic for editing this episode.
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