By Jack Nicas
Google on Friday said it plans to give advertisers more control
over where their ads appear online after major clients in the U.K.
withdrew their spots because some ads ran before extremist videos
on its YouTube site.
Tensions between Google, the world's biggest advertising
platform, and its advertisers have increased over the past several
days following a report showing ads by the British government and
several companies -- including French cosmetics giant L'Oréal SA
and British grocery chain J Sainsbury PLC -- appeared before videos
supporting terrorist groups.
In response, many advertisers, including the British government,
pulled their spending from YouTube and the Google Display Network,
a network of more than 2 million websites that partner with Google
to serve ads.
The British unit of France's Havas SA, the world's sixth-largest
ad-agency holding company, said it was suspending all advertising
on YouTube and the Google Display Network for its clients in the
U.K., including Domino's Pizza Inc. and British mobile operator O2,
because it couldn't be assured that the "environment is safe,
regulated to the degree necessary and additive to their brands'
objectives." Havas SA said its British unit's policy was "a
temporary move made by the local team" and that Havas didn't change
its use of Google globally.
Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., said in a blog post that it has
"heard from our advertisers and agencies loud and clear that we can
provide simpler, more robust ways to stop their ads from showing
against controversial content." The company said it has started
reviewing its policies and "will be making changes in the coming
weeks to give brands more control over where their ads appear
across YouTube and the Google Display Network."
The advertising industry is starting to demand more transparency
and say over placement of their ads after several reports showing
big brands being promoted alongside hateful content and fabricated
news stories, some of which garner significant audiences.
The videos that sparked the most recent controversy, revealed in
stories in the Times of London, were made by supporters of
terrorist groups, including Islamic State and a violent pro-Nazi
group, and were broadly condemned.
Procter & Gamble Co., the world's top advertising spender,
has publicly complained in recent months about problems in the
digital-ad industry, including ads being placed next to
inappropriate content. P&G's marketing chief, Marc Pritchard,
has called on advertisers to increase pressure on the effective
digital-ad giants, Google and Facebook Inc., which together account
for roughly half of world-wide digital-ad revenues, according to
estimates from research firm eMarketer.
Advertisers are also concerned about the accuracy of data fed to
them by Google and Facebook about their ads. The companies say they
are auditing their metrics.
On Friday, the British government demanded that Google officials
provide an explanation soon about how it will prevent ads from
appearing on inappropriate content.
The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers, a British
ad-industry trade group, called on Google to immediately pull from
its inventory of ad slots any YouTube videos or websites that "it
cannot guarantee as a safe environment for advertising." The group
also pushed Google to study whether it should first review videos
before placing ads on them, rather than automatically placing ads
on videos after they are uploaded. "Google should ensure that
content is quarantined until properly categorized," the group
said.
L'Oréal and Sainsbury, two of the companies whose ads appeared
during the videos supporting terrorist groups, didn't respond to
requests for comment.
Google said it already employs software to automatically scan
YouTube video titles and images to decide whether they are
appropriate for advertising before placing ads on them. But those
checks can miss many videos because offensive content can be
nuanced.
Google policies prohibit it from showing ads on a variety of
websites or videos, including those that are pornographic, promote
illegal behavior or incite violence. Google also allows advertisers
to exclude their ads from being shown next to certain topics or
categories of sites, such as content that is sexual, profane or
discusses tragedies.
Google said it employs thousands of people to stop violations of
its ad policies. The company said that last year it removed more
than 100,000 websites from its ad inventory and blocked ads from
more than 300 million YouTube videos. "However, with millions of
sites in our network and 400 hours of video uploaded to YouTube
every minute, we recognize that we don't always get it right,"
Google said in its post Friday. "We know we can and must do
more."
Advertisers can also blacklist certain YouTube channels or sites
in the Google network. Google is planning to ask advertisers and ad
agencies what additional controls they want, but it declined to
comment further on potential changes.
Havas UK, which spends about $217 million annually on digital
advertising in the U.K., said it decided to pull its YouTube
spending because Google couldn't guarantee Havas ads would only run
next to appropriate content.
Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the world's largest ad
agency, WPP PLC, said in a statement that Google and Facebook must
take more responsibility in screening content on which they place
ads. "They cannot masquerade as technology companies, particularly
when they place advertisements," he said.
In an email to clients Friday, WPP said Google "deploys brand
safety technology but it is not infallible....We have communicated
at the highest levels with Google and are working toward a solution
in respect of un-curated content, if there is one."
Nick Kostov, Jenny Gross and Suzanne Vranica contributed to this
article.
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 17, 2017 19:03 ET (23:03 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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