Ensuring brand suitability in a digital-first world

As one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, India has witnessed substantial digital advancements in recent years – with a surge in internet adoption due to increased mobile usage. The move to digital has given more than half a billion Indians access to online services - from banking and education to entertainment and social media. While India's digital revolution was already gaining momentum, the advent of the Covid-19 lockdown significantly accelerated it. 

Brands saw the need to catch up with ever-evolving consumer demands and have started to prioritize digital advertising to drive revenue. According to the Digital Advertising in India 2022 report released by Dentsu India, the Indian digital advertising industry is currently at Rs 70,715 and is expected to reach Rs 93,119 crore by the end of 2023, a CAGR of 14.75%. The digital advertising ecosystem is rapidly expanding, attracting myriad new users and establishing itself as one of the most effective ways for brands to communicate with their evolving customer base.

Despite the investment in and efficacy of digital advertising, it does come with its own challenges, namely brand safety and suitability. Brand safety refers to brands avoiding content that is generally considered inappropriate for any advertiser, regardless of the brand. Examples of this include pornography, terrorism, hate speech and other potentially harmful content that should not be monetized. Brand suitability, on the other hand, encourages brands to establish a clear understanding of their core brand values, including the topics or events that may or may not align with those values.

Negative ad placements have the potential to harm a brand's reputation with consumers. Given the changing news cycle, the amount of incidents of hate speech, inflammatory politics, disinformation, and other potentially dangerous content emerging on the internet is on the rise. As a result, when a brand wants to advertise, there's a higher chance that their advertising will display alongside this unsavory content, and people may associate the brand with it, jeopardizing their brand's reputation. According to a study done by DoubleVerify and Harris Poll, nearly 90% of consumers believe that brands are responsible for ensuring advertisements run next to content that is safe and trustworthy, and 67% of consumers would be likely to stop using the brand/product if they viewed the brand’s digital ad next to false, objectionable or inflammatory content. Brands want to be assured that their advertisements are being delivered on sites and apps that align with what their brand stands for. Therefore, third-party ad verification tools have emerged as a solution to the problem, allowing advertisers to ensure their ads are displayed in the appropriate context and adjacent to suitable content. 

Third-party ad verification solutions help maintain a brand’s brand safety and suitability parameters by avoiding, blocking and monitoring content that is deemed unsafe or unsuitable by the brands. DoubleVerify’s 2022 Global Insights Report found that advertisers in APAC saw their post-campaign brand suitability violation rate fall by 31%. The decline is most likely attributable to the increased adoption of pre-bid (programmatic) brand safety solutions by brands in the region. This means that brands are seeking out tools that allow them to set their controls more granularly so that they avoid or block content that does not align with their brand values and sensitivities, and that they continue to support trusted news sites.

As the Indian advertising industry undergoes dynamic changes, advertisers need to work closely with their ad verification partners to ensure that their investments are allocated responsibly. Measuring across channels, formats, platforms and geographies will be inherently necessary. By employing ad verification tools, brands can maximize their digital investments while balancing protection and scale.

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Source: Existing DV content and open sources