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Brand safety refers to keeping brands’ campaigns – and reputation – safe from risky online content or environments. From exclusion lists to inclusion, here’s your glossary of key brand safety terms. For more on brand safety, check out our guide.
Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC):
The ABC offers independent auditing services, delivering certification for verification providers that meet industry-agreed criteria. This U.K.-based organization is governed by the media industry and represents the differing interests across the industry.
Exclusion list:
A list of domains that a brand is not willing for it’s advertising to appear on.
Blocking:
The ability to keep ads off web pages that are unsafe. If the page is identified as unsafe then the ad will not serve.
Brand risk:
Pages identified as posing various levels of risk to brand image and/or reputation through association.
Fake news:
Fake news is any website or web page that is actively creating and/or distributing deliberately inaccurate content as news.
High risk:
Content that is either moderately or explicitly offensive, and even possibly illegal.
Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB):
A global organization that develops industry standards, conducts research, and provides legal support for the online advertising industry.
Keyword list:
A list of words a brand wishes to avoid their advertising appearing adjacent to.
Low risk:
Content that is acceptable for all ages and audiences, and does not contain anything offensive in nature and/or theme.
Media Rating Council (MRC):
A U.S.-based industry organization that aims to secure valid, reliable, and effective measurement services for the media industry through an audit and accreditation system. When MRC accredited, a verification providers’ measurement services meet the established criteria.
Moderate risk:
Content that is mostly acceptable for brands; thought should be given to the subjective nature of this content, such as alcohol, or tobacco.
Pre-bid:
Occurring before a purchase takes place. A brand or agency may want to know the likelihood that inventory will meet certain criteria before bidding on it – that is, pre-bid.
Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG):
A cross-industry accountability program that works to create transparency in business relationships and transactions in the digital ad industry, while continuing to enable innovation.
Inclusion list:
A list of pre-approved domains that a brand finds acceptable for it’s advertising to appear on, regardless of any brand safety settings that may already be in place.
