Disrupting the Status Quo in CTV at the Brand Safety Summit

Transparency is a cornerstone of Peer39's solutions—CTV and otherwise—so it made perfect sense for us to participate in the open and honest discussions at the Brand Safety Summit in New York City on October 29 and 30.

As anticipated, given the panelists and attendees, there were passionate discussions on the enduring topic of brand safety across advertising channels.

This year's Summit had a clear focus on disruption, with everyone sharing ideas on how to improve or expand brand safety solutions, particularly in contextual advertising, CTV, invalid traffic, and retail media.

Safeguarding CTV

I joined a panel moderated by Julian Zilberbrand, featuring Publicis SVP Suzie Eckhart and Mediaocean's Chief Development Officer Ramsey McGory. The panel, "Navigating Towards Safe Outcomes in CTV," highlighted the unique challenges and opportunities arising from the rapid growth of CTV adoption.

This is a pivotal time for all involved in the CTV supply path—CTV partners, agencies, advertising platforms, and providers—to shape the future of the medium.

We had an important and candid discussion on the need for improved content classification, contextual alignment strategies, and ways to leverage app usage to gain deeper content insights. We also addressed high-level technical challenges, particularly the lack of standardized signals and inconsistent data sharing in CTV.

Due to limited trust in the programmatic supply chain, CTV advertising remains largely direct. Slow industry-wide adoption of standards is also holding back progress. To foster greater trust and efficiency in CTV advertising, the panelists emphasized the need for:

• Transparency and scalability
• Education for brands, particularly newcomers to CTV
• Technical standards for content-data transmission

We explored the potential of CTV to drive outcomes beyond completion rates, moving away from a search-like approach and toward opportunities to segment audiences and tailor messaging. While CTV has been disruptive, as it continues to evolve, there will be a need for nuanced content classification to help advertisers confidently select suitable content.

Changing Safety and Suitability

Other presenters at the Brand Safety Summit shared key insights into the drawbacks of relying solely on static keyword blocklists, which can inadvertently harm the monetization of high-quality journalistic content. This highlights the need for sophisticated brand safety approaches that avoid overly broad restrictions, especially as CTV ad specifications are finalized.

The emphasis on transparency, education, and collaboration signals a future where brand safety is not just a priority but a fundamental part of the advertising ecosystem.

Reimagining brand safety while supporting sustainable journalism was a fitting goal given the event's location at the Times Center in New York City, underscoring the interconnectedness of brand safety and the health of the media ecosystem.