How Do You Ensure Brand Safety in Your OTT Ad Campaign?
March 20, 2024
Brand safety in Over-The-Top (OTT) marketing is a critical concern for advertisers. Ensuring that your brand is associated with appropriate content and reaches the intended audience without compromising its values means everything, so here are some strategies to ensure brand safety in your OTT ad campaigns.
How Do You Ensure Brand Safety in Your OTT Marketing?
Establish Clear Brand Safety Guidelines
Begin by defining what brand safety means for your organization. Develop comprehensive guidelines that outline acceptable and unacceptable content for your brand's association. These guidelines should consider the nature of your products or services, your brand values, target audience, and any legal or cultural sensitivities.
Choose Reputable OTT Platforms
Not all OTT platforms are created equal in terms of content quality and audience. Partner with platforms that have a strong reputation for quality content and robust brand safety measures. Research each platform's content policies, user demographics, and available control measures. Opting for reputable and transparent platforms can significantly reduce the risk of your ads appearing alongside unsuitable content.
Use Advanced Targeting Options
OTT platforms offer sophisticated targeting options that allow you to place your ads in front of your specific target audience. Take advantage of these tools to ensure that your ads are reaching the right people and appearing in the right context. This can include targeting based on demographics, viewing behavior, content genres, and other relevant factors.
Implement Contextual Advertising
Contextual advertising involves placing your ads in content that aligns with your brand message and values. This approach goes beyond demographics and targets the environment in which your ad will appear. By ensuring contextual alignment, you can significantly mitigate the risks associated with irrelevant or harmful content juxtaposition.
Engage in Whitelisting and Blacklisting
Whitelisting and blacklisting are proactive ways to control where your ads appear. Whitelisting involves creating a list of approved content or channels where your ads can be shown, while blacklisting involves specifying where your ads should not appear. These lists should be updated regularly based on evolving content and your ongoing brand safety assessments.
Foster Open Communication with OTT Providers
Maintain open and ongoing communication with your OTT advertising partners. Discuss your brand safety concerns and expectations clearly. A strong relationship with providers ensures that they understand your brand's needs and are committed to upholding your standards throughout the campaign.
Educate and Train Your Team
Finally, we can't emphasize enough that you must educate your marketing team about the importance of brand safety. Ensure they are aware of the guidelines, tools, and best practices for maintaining brand safety on OTT platforms. A well-informed team is your first and best line of defense against potential brand safety breaches.
Ensuring brand safety in OTT advertising requires a comprehensive approach that includes establishing clear guidelines, choosing reputable platforms, and much more. By adopting these strategies, though, you can protect your brand's integrity and reputation while leveraging the many opportunities offered by OTT platforms. And you can do it all best with us: call us now at Lightcast to request a demo and see what we can do.