Fresh off yet another ad scandal, the video-sharing giant has spent the better part of the year dogged by criticism that it hasn’t done enough to regulate where advertisers’ placements end up.
Now, as a byproduct of policing its platform, YouTube will “jack up” ad prices on its top-performing channels by as much as 20%.
Back in April, several big YouTube advertisers boycotted YouTube after they found their promotions being placed alongside hate videos. And last month, advertisers expressed concern over their placements ending up on content featuring sexually suggestive comments about children.
YouTube’s troubles with policing have led to a demand for “brand safety” from advertisers who want to know exactly where their ads will end up.
First off, you’ve got the ads that viewers can skip over after a designated amount of seconds. Advertisers who buy into these bad boys can’t choose where their ads will go.
Then, there’s the “reserved inventory” ads — those which are purchased in advance and scheduled to appear on very specific video content (typically, top-performing channels). This is what YouTube is bumping up by 20%.
In other words, they’re charging a premium for f*ck up-free ads — essentially telling advertisers that if they want to be 100% sure they won’t end up on child molester videos, they’ll have to pay a higher price.