Google denies the study’s inaccurate claims, asserting advertisers pay for viewed ads
A new report alleges that Google potentially deceived numerous business and government advertisers regarding the viewership of ads shown on third-party websites and apps. The report suggests that Google charged for these ads, even though there may have been misleading practices involved.
Google’s proprietary video ad product, TrueView, is displayed not only on YouTube but also on various third-party sites and apps throughout the internet. Users have the option to skip the ad after five seconds. However, advertisers are only billed if a user watches 30 seconds of the ad (or the ad’s entire duration if it’s under 30 seconds), the video contains audio, and the ad isn’t initiated by a user passively scrolling past it on the page.
In its recent findings, Adalytics, an advertising research organization, revealed that advertisers who paid for TrueView ads to appear on external websites and apps, rather than solely on YouTube, may not be receiving the expected value for their payments.
After reviewing the ad campaigns of more than 1,000 brands across the internet, the firm discovered numerous TrueView ads that did not adhere to Google’s own guidelines. These non-compliant ads were observed to be displayed in small video players at the corner or side of the screen, fully muted, lacking actual video content between ads, or exhibiting limited user interaction and activation.
Prominent websites such as NYTimes, Reuters, Wired, Mashable, and Gizmodo were found to be running muted TrueView ads, according to the research.
Furthermore, the study identified instances where the skip button was intentionally hidden or made difficult to locate, preventing users from skipping the ad after the initial five seconds.
The research indicates that these misconfigured advertisements have been running since 2020.
One advertiser conveyed to Adalytics that this practice “serves as a way for YouTube and Google to maximize their revenue and generate more scale in a manner that appears acceptable to advertisers who may not fully comprehend it.
Government advertisers such as the US government, the EU parliament, New York City, and a Delaware police department, along with various businesses including Ernst & Young, American Express, TikTok, Disney+, IBM, HBO Max, and Pizza Hut, have been utilizing the TrueView service.
According to the report, a consumer goods brand uncovered that 20% of its campaign budget of US$75,000 was allocated to YouTube channels, while the remaining 80% went towards third-party apps and sites like investing.com and Candy Crush Saga on Android.
In response to the report, Marvin Renaud, Google’s director of global video solutions, refuted its findings in a blog post on Tuesday, dismissing them as “extremely inaccurate claims” and affirming that advertisers are solely charged for ads when they are viewed.
According to Marvin Renaud, Google’s director of global video solutions, they employ real-time ad quality signals to assess user presence and attention. This information assists in the decision-making process of whether to deliver a video ad on a Google Video Partner site or app.
Renaud emphasized that Google actively monitors compliance with its policies, highlighting that they ceased serving ads on more than 143,000 websites last year due to policy violations.
Regarding the report, Renaud disputed its assertion that the majority of campaign ads are displayed on third-party sites instead of YouTube, asserting that the opposite is, in fact, the case.
