Google denies allegations that it may have violated its own rules and misled advertisers regarding ad viewership on third-party websites. The company handles the placement of video ads on external websites and apps through the Google Video Partners network and TrueView, an ad product also used on YouTube. According to a report, Google fails to live up to its own standards around 80% of the time.
Adalytics, a third-party analytics company, conducted a review of ad campaigns for over 1,100 brands between 2020 and this year. The report suggests that Google’s ads often appear on lower-quality websites with misinformation or pirated content. It also highlights that the ads can be positioned in small video players away from the main content and sometimes run without audio. Adalytics claims that some ads autoplay without viewer engagement and viewers are forced to watch the entire ad due to obscured skip buttons. These violations of Google’s quality standards for TrueView ads may have led to artificially inflated ad metrics and caused advertisers to pay more.
The report from Adalytics states that major brands such as the US government, the European Parliament, Disney+, HP, Samsung, Sephora, TikTok, Microsoft, and General Motors may have bought misrepresented TrueView skippable in-stream inventory. Adalytics accuses Google of “ad fraud” and claims that brands are not getting what they paid for. Some advertisers have demanded a refund, and Adalytics suggests that the misalignment could have cost brands billions of dollars in advertising spending.
Google, however, strongly rejects the findings of the report. Marvin Renaud, the company’s global video solutions chief, claims that Adalytics used unreliable sampling and proxy methodologies. Renaud states that an “overwhelming majority of video ad campaigns” actually run on YouTube, and brands have the option to opt out of running ads on Google Video Partners-affiliated apps and websites at any time. Renaud argues that over 90% of Google Video Partners are visible to people across the web, and the company uses real-time ad quality signals to determine if people are present and paying attention before serving a video ad.
Related Post
Renaud also emphasizes that Google enforces policies prohibiting third-party sites from using deceptive or disruptive techniques to generate advertising revenue. He notes that last year, Google took action and stopped running ads on more than 143,000 websites that violated its rules.
These allegations against Google come at a time when the company is facing scrutiny over its advertising practices. The Department of Justice has sued Alphabet, Google’s parent company, in an attempt to break up its ad business. Additionally, the European Union is considering breaking up Google’s ad business due to antitrust violations.
In conclusion, Google denies the allegations and insists that the overwhelming majority of video ad campaigns run on YouTube. The company claims to enforce strict policies and takes action against websites that violate its rules. However, the allegations from Adalytics raise concerns about the quality of ads on third-party websites and the potential impact on advertisers. As Google faces increased scrutiny over its advertising practices, it remains to be seen how these allegations will affect the company’s reputation and future actions.
