Concerns With Fake News Lead Some Programmatic Advertisers to Reconsider Open Exchanges

June 5, 2017

This article is included in these additional categories:

Advertising Trends | Digital | Display & Rich Media | Programmatic & RTB | Spending & Spenders

Virtually all programmatic decision-makers are concerned about fake news in programmatic advertising, reports BrightRoll in announcing the results of a recent survey. More than 9 in 10 plan to take some kind of action to tackle the problem, per the report.

The most common way of doing so is to ratchet up the pressure on programmatic tech partners to proactively screen for fake news, something which 55% of decision-makers expect to do. Roughly than 4 in 10 will try more granular site targeting, while more than one-third will use a whitelist. Interestingly, about one-quarter (27%) reported that they will shift from open exchange to private buying. Plans don’t always result in action, though: for example, MediaRadar research indicates that some advertisers that had planned to boycott YouTube continued to advertise on the platform.

Also worth noting is that a recent survey from Advertiser Perceptions found many respondents not knowing if their advertising appears on fake news sites, not caring if it did, or simply admitting that it does!

Nevertheless, advertisers’ concerns could result in some diminished spending: respondents to BrightRoll’s study were about 3 times as likely to say they’ll reduce spend with programmatic partners who inventory includes brands associated with fake news (31%) as they were to say they’d maintain their spend regardless (11%).

Meanwhile, in related news, a study from Ipsos and Buzzfeed found that a majority of adults trust the news they see on Facebook only a little (48%) or not at all (6%), with 42% of these distrustful respondents saying that Facebook doesn’t do a good job of removing fake news.

About the Data: The BrightRoll results are based on a survey of 404 programmatic decision-makers (advertisers and agencies) with an annual digital spend of at least $1 million.

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