The future of brand safety is context and greater customisation, says DoubleVerify

Speaking as part of The Drum’s Can-Do Festival Prediction Series, DoubleVerify APAC business director, Michele Yow, explains why Coronavirus and the Black Lives Matter movement has shown that brands need a more flexible approach to brand safety.

Yow explains that there is an issue that topics such as coronavirus and the Black Lives Matter Movement are often blocked as part of brand safety measures because of the controversial or negative topics that can arise from such content. With many news publishers focusing on these important topics, and often in a positive manner, this means publishers miss out on much-needed revenue and advertisers miss an opportunity to reach their audience.

“The Black Lives Matter movement and coronavirus really changed people’s strategy but it affirmed our position because we always took a stand that it's about customization and allowing brands to have that customization. Going back to coronavirus, many brands have now taken a second look at their own brand strategies now. For example, they are open to appearing on trusted news sites, even if the site or the content on the site included coronavirus,” she explains.

Yow says a key next step in more marketers understanding that brand suitability can be customised is education, something which she says industry collaboration can help with.