The latest research, this time from Project Sunblock, has revealed that more than a third of brands are unaware about where their advertising content is appearing.
Overall, around 7.78 billion display advertising impressions are put alongside the more nefarious areas of the web, from phishing and malware to violence, pornography and illegal drugs.
The figures conclude that approximately £2.4bn is spent on advertising that “could end up anywhere”, with almost two thirds (62%) of marketers admitting they had no access to real-time analytics to assess their campaigns.
This news should send alarm bells ringing for campaign managers, with the big fear that advertising placed on illegal or sordid content will be damaging the company’s brand value, impression by impression.
“Big brands are effectively allowing their collateral to be hosted on illegal or sexually explicit websites, and each time that happens, brands are putting money in the back pocket of criminals,” warned Andrew Goode, COO of Project Sunblock.
“We’ve even seen examples of banks appearing on porn sites, or broadband providers appearing on peer-to-peer sites where visitors can illegally download the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Brands need to address the threat sooner rather than later,” he added.
Naturally, Project Sunblock is announcing a new product which helps companies out with this – a new user interface amongst its content verification tool that can “automatically protect brands from appearing next to damaging content.”
It’s worth mentioning, of course, that users get targeted online ads which match their surfing habits – but sophisticated content verification tools help vet against some of the sites on which they appear.
There are many solutions out there which target this particular segment – particularly real-time bidding (RTB), with research from Adform back in June noting that RTB mobile ad spend had gone up 275% to an all time high – a remarkable figure especially considering the traditional slumps of January and February.
But what do you make of this news?
