Facebook is finally taking steps to bring brand safety to its News Feed.
The company announced that it will “soon begin building and testing new advertiser topic exclusion controls with a small group of advertisers.” For example, “a children’s toy company may want to avoid content related to a new crime show, so they could select the ‘Crime and Tragedy’ topic.”
Brand safety is a growing challenge for marketers. In a December survey by TAG, 87% of respondents said a brand should make sure its ads don’t appear near dangerous or inappropriate content. Most importantly, nearly 60% blame the brand when an ad is spotted next to something unsuitable.
While the issue of brand safety isn’t new, advertisers are grappling with how to safeguard their campaigns across social platforms that traffic in user-generated content. Facebook’s News Feed is the best example of that.
To date, Facebook has partnered with third-party verification providers, like DoubleVerify and OpenSlate, for brand safety. However, the partnerships have only applied to in-stream video, Instant Articles and Facebook’s Audience Network. They haven’t applied to the News Feed.
This is likely for two reasons. First, Facebook’s News Feed is an incredibly unique content environment. It is a personalized stream of unpredictable status updates, photos, videos, links, and more. From Facebook to DV, developing tools that can successfully filter that experience takes time.
The second reason is control. Facebook does not want to cede control of its News Feed to independent actors. They like being a walled garden and will do everything possible to manage how their News Feed is monetized. There is also a privacy factor given that each feed is personalized to the end-user. Blocking will require having insight into a feed’s content types and patterns.
“It’s important we build [these controls] with safeguards to protect people’s privacy as we continue to move forward,” the company said.
While the privacy issue is important, unfortunately, having Facebook oversee its own News Feed brand safety creates obvious measurement conflicts. Should advertisers simply “trust” that Facebook will get the blocking right? Keep in mind, the company has been plagued by an assortment of measurement scandals over the last several years. Advertisers will want third-party authentication.
According to Facebook, product development for the new controls, as well as testing, will take most of the year.
