Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), has violated its promised standards by placing video ads on other websites, raising concerns about the transparency of the tech giant's online advertising business, according to research quoted by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Adalytics, a company specializing in brand analysis, conducted the research and found that Google's YouTube, in addition to running ads on its own platform, brokers the placement of video ads on external sites through the Google Video Partners program. However, the study indicates that Google violates its own standards approximately 80% of the time.
According to Adalytics, Google's ad placements often appear in small, muted videos located on the side of a webpage, rather than running on high-quality sites as promised. These ads frequently play automatically and fail to meet Google's standards for monetization. The research was based on observations of campaigns from over 1,100 brands, involving billions of ad impressions between 2020 and 2023.
The Wall Street Journal said it independently confirmed the presence of invalid ad placements similar to those identified in the research. While the exact scale of the problem remains uncertain, digital ad-buyers and engineers endorsed the research findings.
Responding to the findings, the newspaper said Google issued a statement stating that the report contained inaccurate claims and did not reflect their efforts to ensure advertiser safety. The company emphasized its strict policies for the video ads program on third-party sites and vowed to take appropriate actions once the full report is shared with them, the WSJ added.
Adalytics said it conducted its research by collaborating with ad agencies to analyze placement reports and examining data from web archives to identify instances of non-compliant ad placements on sites not meeting Google Video Partners' requirements.
In reaction to the research, Marvin Renaud, Google director, Global Video Solutions, said in a blog: "Brands care deeply about where their ads are placed and so do we."
He added: "The report wrongly implies that most campaign spend runs on GVP rather than YouTube. That’s just not right.
"The overwhelming majority of video ad campaigns serve on YouTube. Video advertisers can also run ads on GVP, a separate network of third-party sites, to reach additional audiences, if it helps them meet their business objectives."
-- Adds Google blog comment, link --
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com