Besides having an effect on public health and safety, the pandemic had an impact on brand safety and loyalty. Half of consumers admit they stopped using a brand during the pandemic, and 16% said they did so because they didn’t agree with the brand’s stance on societal events. So, it’s no surprise that brand safety has become a top concern for more than 4 in 10 (44% 0f) advertisers, per data provided by Advertiser Perceptions.
Brand safety issues are the top concern for advertisers this year, with many focusing on ad adjacency and who profits from their ad spending. Earlier research from World Media Group revealed that the impact of the pandemic and the increasing pervasiveness of fake news has forced many advertisers to rethink their brand safety strategies. Advertiser Perceptions’ data shows that more than half (54%) of advertisers now say they are committed to defunding disinformation by changing where and how they spend their ad budgets, claiming they have (40%) or are willing to (59%) stop working with a media partner based on trust factors.
Even though 8 in 10 (82%) say they are considering corporate responsibility and brand values when making media spending decisions, more than three-quarters (77%) of advertisers acknowledge it can be difficult to track who profits from their ad placement. This has caused 1 in 4 advertisers to say they would downgrade or pause an advertising partner due to lack of transparency in paid ad placements, while 16% would do so due to lack of transparency in an advertiser partner’s supply chain or downstream partners.
With a concern for ad adjacency come concerns about unchecked, harmful content environment (39%). Research from The 614 Group found that 4 in 10 consumers say their buying decisions are influenced by where an ad appears, especially if adjacent content makes them uncomfortable. For advertisers, user-generated content is a concern. As misinformation about social issues spreads on social media and other platforms, 8 in 10 (79% of) advertisers say platforms should be held responsible for harmful content on their site, even when posted by users.
Advertisers are also expressing concern about ad fraud (40%), data security breaches (36%), misuse of first-party data (30%) and consumer data privacy (27%). Indeed, advertisers say consumer data concerns may affect their brand’s reputation. And, with one of the biggest concerns about location data being privacy, three-quarters (72%) say consumers’ precise location data should be protected.
About the Data: Findings are based on a February 2021 survey of 250 advertisers, 34% of which were marketers and 66% of which were agencies.
