YouTube Exec Says Three-Month-Old Brand Safety Measures Have Been “99% Effective”

Back in January, among a slew of updates, YouTube announced its plan to reinforce its Google Preferred ad tier by ensuring potential buyers that all the videos included in that catalog would be pre-reviewed by humans. Three months later, one of the YouTube execs who oversees the Google Preferred program has delivered a status report on the video site’s January initiative. During a panel at the Medialink Kick-Off Breakfast, which served as the opening event for the 2018 NewFronts, Google VP of Agency and Brand Solutions Tara Walpert Levy said that the aforementioned change has been “99% effective” during the first quarter of the year.

YouTube announced its plan to review Google Preferred videos two months after a Business Insider report revealed that some advertisers were wary of brand safety concerns on YouTube’s premium ad tier. The report cited several videos that advertisers deemed sexually suggestive or racially insensitive. In response, YouTube vowed to double-check the safety of Google Preferred videos by employing a force of humans that it said would grow to 10,000 people in 2018

Walpert Levy, in updating advertisers about the status of that program, stressed “how important it is to get [brand safety] right.” She said the human review promise has been warmly received by YouTube’s brand partners, who have welcomed the extra security the video site has provided.

In addition to assuaging YouTube’s business partners, Walpert Levy’s update also foreshadowed that brand safety, for the second year in a row, will be one of the main talking points at this year’s NewFronts. The annual conference will continue through Friday.