Consumer perception of brand safety in the U.S. 2021

During a November 2021 survey carried out among adult consumers from the United States, nearly 80 percent of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that brands should be concerned about their ads appearing next to negative content on a website or app. The strategy to avoid publishing ads next to content which associates negatively and endangers the reputation of the advertising brand is often based on keyword blocking or blacklisting. This phenomenon causes digital ad revenue losses among online publishers who are bound to report on negative news, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, but will not be able to attract brands to advertise next to such content.