Adalytics, a platform that examines the quality and transparency of online advertising, took a closer look at Google Ads. Below is a summary of their reports on this topic.
source: own elaboration
TrueView In-Stream is a type of video ad available in Google Ads that can appear on YouTube, video partner sites, and in apps that are part of the Google Display Network. It includes marketing messages prepared by advertisers in the form of videos, which are placed before, during or at the end of other videos and, by assumption, the user must have the option to skip them after 5 seconds. The advertiser pays for a TrueView In-Stream ad only if the recipient interacts with it, displays at least 30 seconds of the ad or, in the case of shorter videos, when the entire ad is displayed.
However, from a report by Adalytics, a platform that examines the quality and transparency of online advertising, "Did Google mislead advertisers about TrueView skippable in-stream ads for the past three years?" shows that advertisers using this form of marketing since 2020, including Fortune 500 brands and the federal government In fact, the United States also paid for muted, out-streamed or auto-played plays under this service.
TrueView In-Stream was allegedly introduced by Google so that advertisers could more effectively reach their target group using video, but according to this Adalytics report, they were displayed on hundreds of thousands of websites and applications that didn't meet the quality standards set by Google.
The Report shows cases of the following violations:
- TrueView In-Stream ads that could be skipped or were displayed in an auto-muted video player
- playing TrueView In-Stream ads on small Out-Stream video players in the corner or side of the viewport of the consumer's deviceĆ
- placing TrueView In-Stream ads in videos with little or no actual video content between each ad
- omitting or covering the "skip" button in TrueView In-Stream ads so that it is out of the user's field of view, preventing the consumer from skipping the video
- overlaying some TrueView In-Stream ads on top of other ads of the same type
- displaying TrueView In-Stream ads on sites and applications where video ads play automatically without any viewer interaction or initiation and/or the ads play continuously in a loop
- playing TrueView In-Stream ads on sites where tens of thousands of copyright takedown requests have been filed
- delivering TrueView In-Stream ads to declared bots
- placing TrueView In-Stream ads on Russian websites, including "pravda.ru" - a website that has been cited by NewsGuard “publishing false, pro-Russian disinformation, including false claims related to the invasion of Ukraine.”
What are the possible losses for advertisers if the Adalytics raport accurately reflects the situation? It's hard to estimate, but as we read in the above-mentioned report, in some advertising campaigns, from 42 to 75% of spending on TrueView In-Stream ads was spent on displaying on websites where they should never have appeared. Additionally, it is worth taking into account the image losses that may be caused by publishing advertisements of well-known brands (including public and governmental organizations) on such websites.
Other Adalytics Report about the Google Search Partner (GSP) Network.
Google is certified by TAG Brand Safety, which states that “Digital advertisements may not be displayed in association with any content categories defined in Appendix B.”, which include “Adult & Explicit Sexual Content”, “Online Piracy”, “Hate Speech & Acts of Aggression”, “Sensitive Social Issues”. From the latest Adalytics report titled “Does a lack of transparency create brand safety concerns for search advertisers?” However, Google Ads from many Fortune 500 brands and even the US federal government were displayed on hardcore porn sites such as pornocriceto. com and pornobaza24.top, on sites containing pirated content, on various Iranian websites (including the website of the Iranian Steel Alloy Company) and on websites subject to OFAC SDN sanctions of the US Department of the Treasury.
Adalytics emphasizes that the research report isn't a legal document, isn't intended to provide legal advice and doesn't contain any allegations or claims of violation of any legal provisions. The study was conducted in connection with alarming information that reached Adalytics - including the appearance of advertiser's marketing materials within Google Ads on pages that they had listed on the brand’s account-level domain exclusion list (i.e. blocklist) - as for example Breitbart.com. The list of companies that “had specifically requested that its ads not appear on Breitbart at all” and, when it turned out that they were published there anyway, “tried to stop having its ads run on” includes BMW and Uber Technologies. Other information came from a Fortune 500 company and its media agency that hadn’t found a way to obtain a report from Google showing which specific sites their ads were displayed on within the Google Search Partners (GSP) network.
Indeed, in Google's public documentation you can find the following statement: "Google Ads doesn't provide information detailing the website where your ad was shown on the Search Network". So it appears that Google doesn't allow third-party verification pixels or JavaScript tags to be deployed in search ads, much like YouTube, which hasn't allowed third-party measurement and verification tags in its inventory since 2016. Additionally, the burden of responsibility is somewhat placed on advertisers, as each Google partner must confirm that: "By creating a campaign for the Search Network, you acknowledge that our policies meet any image and reputation standards you may have for your company."
So Adalytics decided to check on its own what websites are part of the GSP network. For this purpose, it used publicly available information and open source methodologies. What were the results?
In the report, we can read that the Google Search Partners (GSP) Network includes hardcore pornographic websites (such as pornocriceto.com and pornobaza24.top), websites containing pirated content, Iranian websites and websites sanctioned by OFAC SDN of the US Department of the Treasury. Additionally, there have also been numerous cases of search engine ads displayed in pop-ups and pages that automatically show pre-defined searches according to a script (and thus, in a sense, auto-filled), without any input from users. This problem affected over 100 globally recognized brands (including Apple, Lego, Accenture, KPMG, Microsoft, Amazon, BMW, Uber, Meta, Samsung, Paramount+, TikTok, Pinterest, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian or Snap Chat), government organizations such as the FBI or NSA, US military authorities, the US Treasury, the European Commission, advertising technology providers (such as Human Security and DoubleVerify) and numerous Non-Profit organizations.
article based on Adalytics Reports: Does a lack of transparency create brand safety concerns for search advertisers? Did Google mislead advertisers about TrueView skippable in-stream ads for the past three years?
