The Programmatic Glossary
A practical glossary designed to help marketers, advertisers and ad-tech professionals understand the terminology that powers programmatic advertising
Fraud & Brand Safety
Brand Safety
The practice of ensuring that a brand's advertisements do not appear next to content that could harm its reputation. A family friendly brand appearing alongside extremist content or graphic violence is an example of a brand safety failure.
HOW IT WORKS
Brand safety tools scan page content and classify it using category lists such as violence, adult content, hate speech, and other potentially harmful topics. Advertisers can create blocklists, which are specific websites or content categories to avoid, and allowlists, which contain approved environments where ads can appear. This filtering takes place at the DSP (Demand Side Platform) and exchange level before a bid is placed.
EXAMPLE
A children's toy brand discovers that its ads are appearing on websites featuring violent political content due to a misconfigured campaign. The brand receives public criticism and decides to implement stricter brand safety controls. By allowlisting only verified family friendly inventory, it prevents similar incidents
RELATED TERMS
Ad fraud | Invalid Traffic (IVT) | Contextual Targeting | Domain Laundering
★ LIMELIGHT INSIGHT: Limelight works with partners to implement brand safety standards across its supply, supporting integration with third-party brand safety vendors including IAS and DoubleVerify.
