YouTube Advertiser Exodus Highlights Perils of Online Ads -

YouTube Advertiser Exodus Highlights Perils of Online Ads -
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI and SAPNA MAHESHWARIMARCH 23, 2017
When Google acquired YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion, it was considered a pricey gamble, one made with the belief
that an online service known for pirated videos and vapid user-generated content could appeal to major advertisers.
But more than 400 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and while Google has noted
that it prevents ads from running near inappropriate material “in the vast majority of cases,” it has proved unable to totally police that amount of content in real time.
That technology, known as programmatic advertising, allows advertisers to lay out the general parameters of what kind of person they want to reach — say, a young man under 25 — and trust
that their ad will find that person, no matter where he might be on the internet.
“While we recognize that no system will be 100 percent perfect, we believe these major steps will further safeguard our advertisers’ brands,
and we are committed to being vigilant and continuing to improve over time,” Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer, said in a statement on Thursday.
But the technology underpinning YouTube’s advertising business has come under intense scrutiny in recent days, with AT&T, Johnson & Johnson
and other deep-pocketed marketers announcing that they would pull their ads from the service.