Short-form video has swiftly become a key component of digital advertising campaigns. Reaching more than two billion users worldwide, YouTube Shorts is one of the most popular short-form video platforms in the world, making it an essential tool for marketers to reach a vast and engaged short-form video audience.

Starting today, IAS is expanding our partnership with YouTube to bring Brand Safety and Suitability measurement to YouTube Shorts inventory across Video View Campaigns, Video Reach Campaigns, and YouTube Select Shorts campaigns, as part of Total Media Quality for YouTube. 

With Brand Safety and Suitability measurement on YouTube Shorts, marketers get:

• Valuable third-party assurance that ads running on YouTube Shorts are appearing in brand safe and suitable environments at the video-level and aligned with the GARM framework
• Comprehensive coverage with Brand Safety and Suitability reporting across 30+ languages, alongside Viewability and Invalid Traffic measurement with Total Media Quality for YouTube

Access the most actionable data to maximise returns on your investment on YouTube Shorts inventory.

Download the one sheet now to get started. 

The post IAS brings Brand Safety and Suitability measurement to YouTube Shorts appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

This latest accreditation achievement is further demonstration of our commitment to bringing even greater transparency and quality to all aspects of the digital measurement landscape.

Read the press release or reach out to your IAS representative to learn more about what IAS’s industry-first accreditation means for your brand.

The post IAS earns industry’s first MRC accreditation for CTV Viewable Impressions appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

Video content is rapidly increasing, blurring the lines between what is and isn’t suitable for your brand. Gain control of your brand message amid the content boom with IAS’s industry-leading brand safety and suitability measurement for YouTube.

IAS’s global solution gives marketers granular classification at scale, thanks to cutting-edge, machine learning technology. What’s more, IAS is certified in the YouTube Measurement Program, making us a trusted partner to drive your marketing performance on YouTube.

With IAS’s brand safety and suitability measurement on YouTube, you get:
– Deeper Insights with machine learning-powered details about video content, providing you best-in-class brand safety and suitability scoring
– Industry Alignment with scoring classification consistent with the GARM Brand Safety and Suitability framework
– Granular Classification at Scale with daily reporting across the GARM categories and four risk levels, allowing advertisers to stay informed and take action.

Maximise your campaign impact on YouTube with sophisticated brand safety and suitability measurement. Download the one sheet now to get started.

The post Brand Safety and Suitability Measurement for YouTube appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

In this exclusive “Masters of Media” series, Integral Ad Science (IAS) speaks to the Movers and Shakers of the APAC advertising industry on all digital matters.

Isabella (also known as Bella) Spragg is the Director of Partnerships, APAC, at Media.Monks. After almost a decade of commercial lawyering, Bella moved into the digital media/advertising world, joining the American digital media start-up, MightyHive, as its first operations focused employee in APAC. Over 6.5 years with the company (now called Media.Monks), Bella has been a media trader, led account management teams and focused on growing the business through its tech vendor relationships.  In her current role as Director of Partnerships, APAC, her focus is managing Media.Monk’s regional corporate relationships with key strategic technology partners to drive growth and maturity for the business (and its clients). In December of 2022, she was also awarded Google Marketing Platform’s Practitioner of the Year and is an inaugural member of the Tealium Partner Advisory Board.

Outside of work, Bella is a wife, mum to two little boys, deeply obsessed with her ageing (gracefully) aussie bulldog named Meatball, a book lover, gigantic sweets lover and, most importantly, a Survivor fanatic.

Questions:

IAS: Please tell us about your journey in digital media and your current role at Media.Monks

Isabella: My journey into the digital media/ advertising world started as the fun police ensuring the copy on advertising campaigns wasn’t breaching any laws, and the ‘Terms & Conditions’ listed at the bottom were jam packed with all the good legal stuff. At that point in my career, I had no value for how powerful those M-RECS were and how many more I’d see in my life! I’d been lawyering for almost a decade and was feeling super burnt out when a friend was approached to open the APAC office of an American digital media start-up focused on reselling and servicing Google Marketing Platform (at the time it was called Double Click). He was just beginning his search for staff and I’d decided I was ready to jump ship into something different. Seven interviews later, copious amounts of research into what digital media actually was, how it worked and trying to understand why there were so many acronyms – I landed myself a job as the first operations focused employee in APAC (and I think I was within the first 40 employees globally). We swiftly hired a bunch of smart folks straight after me and boom, shots fired – our race was off! 

What “they” say about joining a rocketship start-up during the tech boom is true. Within a year, I had been to Mexico for the weekend to celebrate the company’s birthday, multiple trips to San Francisco and all around Asia. My career progression was equally as crazy – within about 18 months, I was leading a team of 6 people working with all sizes of businesses (from small to enterprise) and independent agencies educating and activating digital media campaigns for them.

I’ve also stepped out of the hustle and bustle twice to have my little boys. During one of those times, MightyHive was purchased by an even bigger rocket – S4 Capital. And with that, came the name change to Media.Monks plus new friends, new businesses with different tech vendor relationships, almost 10,000 incredibly talented people, a clear POV on market trends/topics and strong messaging around our direction + future. 

After 6.5 years and a few grey hairs – I’m still here! My current role is Director of Partnerships, APAC. In conjunction with our global partnership team, relevant go-to-market teams, capability leaders and epic growth team, I am developing our APAC partnership offering. My focus is on growing and maturing our regional corporate relationships with key strategic technology partners plus identifying and building out new service offerings alongside innovative independent tech players within the media, data and creative space. 

IAS: AI-powered platforms such as ChatGPT have created a lot of buzz in various industries across the spectrum. How do you think AI will influence digital media, and transform the industry in the near future?

Isabella: Evolution is inevitable, right? It transforms our industry, pushing it to change and grow. When programmatic hit our trading desks, people proclaimed it would be the end of thousands of jobs. Whilst some may have shifted roles, it made us better, smarter, and more efficient media traders. Inefficient workflows were reduced and people were able to access more data to make educated and strategic decisions. I take a similar view with Generative AI and its powerful necessary impact on our industry – across all disciplines from data, media, and the cool stuff happening with creativity. Again, it’ll work to make us better at our jobs – leading to a pivot and upskill in labour, maturation of industry needs, shift in priorities, increase in efficiency but ultimately, it’ll result in better work being done. 

The real concern for our industry is not how AI impacts it, rather it’s how brands are being educated on what this change actually means (and it’s certainly not operational efficiency meaning fewer people and translating to a healthy bottom line) as well as completely understanding Generative AI beyond buzzwords. No point hiding in the shadows with this one i.e. our industry needs to be upskilling and creating a point of view on how generative AI can assist brands. Agencies/consultancies providing services around the adoption or incorporation of Generative AI – (through education, implementation, change management, efficiencies and upskilling of labour, etc.) are sure to not only win this transition phase but be market leaders embracing the future. 

In the spirit of inclusivity, I asked ChatGPT what it thought of its impact on the digital media industry: “AI is already transforming the digital media industry and will continue to do so in the near future. Through personalised content, content creation, enhanced user experience, better data analytics and improved search and discovery. Overall, AI is likely to play an increasingly significant role in the digital media industry, helping companies create more personalised and engaging content, improve user experience, and streamline processes”. 

IAS: What advice would you give to someone starting their journey in digital media?

Isabella: Hold on tight – this industry is a wild (often fun, sometimes stressful, but generally great) place to be. There are constant evolutions, huge pieces of work to be done, you’re surrounded by some seriously smart people across data, strategy, media, and creative who do work that drives consumerism whilst invoking all the feels with customers. The people in this industry know people/customers. They know what we want, what motivates us, how we want to spend money, where we want to spend it and when. It’s pretty amazing to watch the impact of the work we do and realise how powerful it is. 

Plenty of folks laugh whenever I say I’m in the advertising industry; then I laugh at how the beautifully engaging ad they saw this morning whilst scrolling on social media coming into work, which lead them to check out the brand’s website or research the product further, will continue to resurface at all the right times until that person decides to purchase it and absolutely none of that was by coincidence rather, it was completely strategic and planned. Watch their eyes light up with a touch of intrigue mixed with fear! 

IAS: Since brands are now bringing trading in-house, many parts of the industry are pivoting to a consultancy framework. How do you see the media landscape evolving with respect to this?

Isabella: It’s that same old story of evolution. Here the industry is successfully maturing from being the “doers” to utilising that tried and tested expert knowledge to educate others to “do”. The whole ‘give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’ concept is playing out. This movement allows brands to have more control, whilst leaning on experts to provide strategic input, training, education coupled with, no doubt, short term bursts of ‘hands on keyboards’. It’s a win that builds trust through transparency. 

We will also see the creation of new service avenues around publisher relationships. As inventory quality will be assessed more deeply (i.e. due to an increase in data requirements, and publishers needing to understand their buyers more due to working directly with them). Direct sales will evolve from working with a handful of agencies to hundreds of individual in-house teams. Will this lead the industry to shift towards partners who work with brands to assist with inventory deals? Or, do publishers become far more accessible through increased awareness campaigns, easy to use self-service platforms and education pieces? 

IAS: In your opinion, what measures can the advertising industry take to combat the trust and transparency challenges in the digital supply chain?

Isabella: Before we turn to the continued changes required, acknowledgement of the great strides already made in our industry is necessary. Over the last few years, the industry has put this issue front and centre and we’ve seen a strong evolution and improvement in trust and transparency across our supply chain; bolstered by both legislative changes and deep commitments from Vendors. 

But, the key to maintaining the momentum comes down to accountability from agencies and brands. In my opinion, both are now aware of what to ask, educated on what good looks like and, often, demand more from inventory partners or DSPs. 

Continued transparency will be driven as publishers prepare for the impact of cookie deprecation and how these supply chains are enhanced to maximise the connection of 1st party data sources; solving for addressability between logged in on site audiences and brand customers. Another initiative in combating trust and transparency issues comes with everyone speaking the same language. Standardising industry terminology, especially in reporting, reduces those pockets of misalignment, misinformation or reduced information sharing that result in a weakening of trust. 

IAS: Any advice for leaders on talent retention and supporting/ encouraging diversity at workplaces?

Isabella: I recently read that most people leave a job due to their direct leader. Our industry has its fair share of awesome leaders, so my advice for any business would be to stop and take stock of your leaders (from middle management to c-suite) – who could do with a little additional support/coaching that allows them to invest time in growing their people, who is doing a wonderful job at retaining talent and deserves a shout out for it and where are the up and coming superstars in the business that management should nurture.

More importantly, don’t be scared of the “mum returning to work”. I can guarantee she will work 5 times more efficiently and effectively whilst, probably, leaving at 4:30 to get her kids from day-care/school; but the job will be done with serious dedication. Obviously coming from a position of total bias. 

IAS: What’s your favourite book/podcast/movie and why?

Isabella: I am a book nerd and always have something on the go. I recently finished Bewilderment by Richard Flannigan, which I highly recommend. Otherwise, my other current favourite is Educated by Tara Westover. 

The post Masters of Media – Isabella Spragg, Director of Partnerships, APAC, Media.Monks appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

With over 416 million monthly active Pinners and billions of searches each month, marketers have the opportunity to reach millions of consumers while they are actively seeking inspiration. Our new solution offers access to daily refreshed Viewability and Invalid Traffic reporting for mobile in-app campaigns.

With this new integration, advertisers will now have access to:

• Viewability and Invalid Traffic monitoring and reporting across promoted pins and videos for mobile in-app inventory
• Independent, third-party reporting by IAS
• Global measurement for a holistic view across entire Pinterest campaigns

Brands that create strong emotional connections with their audience can rely on a loyal fanbase and expect positive engagement. Brand relationships agency MBLM reported Pinterest at the top of the list of applications and social platforms in 2020. Accessing the millions of engaged and active consumers on Pinterest is key for brands to make these kinds of connections. Digital ad spend continues to increase, and competition for consumers’ attention closely follows. IAS and Pinterest provides innovative, up-to-date reporting aimed to help ensure brands can creatively connect with their consumers.

Want to learn more? Download the IAS + Pinterest Viewability and IVT one sheet.

The post IAS now offers viewability and invalid traffic measurement across Pinterest appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

It’s here: Experience industry-leading transparency on Netflix. As previously announced, IAS is among the first media quality partners to measure Viewability and Invalid Traffic (IVT) on Netflix, available now.

Through IAS’s global solution for Netflix, advertisers can validate the quality of their CTV and OTT media buys by ensuring ads are seen by real viewers in a fraud-free environment with our easy-to-use reporting solution.

With IAS’s solution for Netflix, advertisers can:

• Access independent, third-party post-bid Viewability and IVT reporting for Netflix
• Identify trends and optimize campaigns to drive performance based on engagement
• Get consistent measurement across media buys to understand performance

Leverage media quality with coverage where it counts on Netflix.
Download the one sheet now to get started.

The post Validate your media quality on Netflix appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

The post Industry-leading media quality on Amazon Publisher Services Connections Marketplace appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

Megan Reichelt, Country Manager, Southeast Asia, Integral Ad Science throws light on the traps in advertising that marketers need to be aware of during holiday season.

As we approach the festive season, there is no escaping the shopping frenzy as well as the deals, discounts, and offers numerous brands offer to attract customers. With the arrival of the famous double-day sales such as 11/11 and 12/12 as well as Harbonas, the holiday season in south-east Asian countries presents an unparalleled opportunity for marketers to strengthen their brand with existing customers and attract new customers when it comes to digital advertising. One can witness the entire spectrum of digital advertising at work, with brands adopting different strategies to attract buyers. These shopping events act like ladders of opportunities for brands of all sizes to increase revenue. Big savings by offering lower prices, free delivery, and shopping rewards help eCommerce marketplaces yield more profit from existing customers and attract new customers simultaneously. The majority of consumers in Southeast Asia say they’ve purchased products online during the Mega Sale period. Particularly in Thailand and Vietnam, the number of first-time online buyers is high with 64% and 53% respectively.

While marketers see their campaigns play out, they must also stay alert and watch out for specific pitfalls, such as ad fraud, brand risk, brand safety, and false viewability metrics. To help protect these campaigns from such threats, IAS has developed cutting-edge solutions to make the internet a safe place for advertisers. Let’s look at a few advertising pitfalls marketers can avoid during the festive season to protect their digital ads, campaigns, and brands:

• Ad fraud is on the Rise Globally
  A new Juniper Research study has found that the value of digital advertising spend lost to fraud will reach $68 billion globally in 2022, rising from $59 billion in 2021. Ad fraud can exist in various forms, such as domain spoofing, cookie stuffing, pixel stuffing, ad stacking, ad injection, geo masking, and bots/ non-human traffic. Fraud fluctuates depending on the country and the device. IAS sees from its H1 2022 Media Quality Report (MQR) that, globally, ad fraud rates rose 10 times faster for campaigns that ran without anti-fraud protection (i.e. non-optimised). Unsurprisingly, campaigns not utilising any ad fraud mitigation strategy attract the most fraud globally.

Marketers can no longer solely rely on monitoring technologies to effectively mitigate ad fraud and using blocking technologies is the need of the hour. Working with a verification partner such as IAS becomes essential to help marketers maximise impact and create outcomes without worrying about ad spending going to ad fraudsters. For example, IAS’ industry-first solution, Total Visibility, delivers radical transparency into your programmatic media buys, while reducing media waste, providing financial transparency, and optimising programmatic buying.

• Adoption of Context-Based Strategies Help Prevent Brand Risk in Southeast Asia
  Google’s decision to postpone phasing out third-party cookies has provided marketers with a golden opportunity to build a solid foundation for the following age of digital advertising. Focused on first-party data targeting, context-based strategies continue to evolve, thus helping to counteract brand risk. Context-based strategies allow ad buyers and sellers to avoid misinformation with minimal impact on reach.

It is important to note that in countries like India, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam, advertising alongside irrelevant/harmful content such as illegal downloads, offensive language and controversial content, violence, and hate speech was noticeably higher according to IAS’ MQR report. These threats were identified for advertising campaigns across desktop displays, desktop videos, and mobile web displays.

Adopting context-based strategies will help marketers to protect their brands and campaigns from being advertised next to unsuitable content. In addition, contextual targeting strategies yield more substantial consumer attention, significantly boosting brand favorability and consumer purchase intent.

IAS’ Context Control Targeting reads the entire page, leveraging sentiment and emotion to classify content more granularly at scale. This allows marketers and advertisers to reach their target audience without using cookies.

• Tapping into Quality Inventory

Video inventory is in high demand because of the trend above and the prominence of advertising on Connected TV (CTV). As OTT platforms continue to dominate viewership across south-east Asian countries, we are witnessing a rise in the number of cord-cutters. Recently, IAS ran an online survey in Indonesia to determine consumer perceptions of CTV and streaming video content consumption. The survey found that CTV has become almost universally adopted — 7 in 10 consumers confirmed they have access to a CTV device.

With the upcoming world cup soccer competition followed by a festive buying season, marketers must optimise towards quality inventory. Working with trusted partners and marketplaces that provide quality will help marketers make the most of their campaigns. Focusing on video to drive effective, meaningful interactions and increase engagement through mobile devices will be key. Adopting effective solutions to mitigate these challenges becomes the next step to ensure you get the most value for your ad spends. The first step is checking whether your ads are seen in fraud-free, brand-safe, and suitable environments.

Views expressed are personal.

This article was first published on Medianews4U.

The post Advertising Pitfalls Marketers Need to be Aware of During the Holiday Buying Season in Southeast Asia appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

Our ANZ Country Manager Jessica Miles was honoured to join a fantastic webinar in association with National Online Retailers Association (NORA) alongside Nicola Clement of Myer, Bronte Jackson of Miss Amara, James Perry of Woolies X and Laura Kleiman of Crimtan, that explored how to drive the best results and increase new customers, convert existing ones and grow customer lifetime value with a lifecycle marketing approach through the following key topics:

• Media quality and how it is a critically important consideration for all retailers
• Learning how to buy digital media efficiently and reach quality targeted consumers
• Learning what are the key factors when selecting your programmatic partner

You can watch this webinar on the NORA website here.

The post Retail Webinar: Maximising Your Media Ad Spends appeared first on Integral Ad Science.

IAS Post-Bid Brand Safety & Suitability is now on TikTok, available in select regions globally and in line with the GARM Brand Safety and Suitability categories. This newest advancement joins our previously announced suite of solutions for TikTok: Viewability and Invalid Traffic (IVT) and the IAS Pre-Bid Brand Safety Solution.

Advertisers can access IAS’s end-to-end brand safety solution suite, rounding out a comprehensive set of industry-leading solutions for TikTok. With IAS for TikTok, advertisers can unlock:

• Holistic, third-party pre-bid targeting and post-bid brand safety, suitability, viewability, and IVT measurement
• Leading end-to-end coverage on TikTok through pre- and post-bid brand safety and suitability solutions
• Proprietary frame-by-frame video, audio, and text content classification technology
• Granular reporting with 24/7 access to IAS Signal
• Actionable validation of media quality across TikTok

Run across TikTok with confidence knowing your media investment is appearing next to content aligned with your brand from beginning to end. Download the one sheet to get started today.

The post Post-Bid Brand Safety & Suitability on TikTok appeared first on Integral Ad Science.