Dive Brief:
- Brands have been surprised to find out that their video ads are running in YouTube pre-roll spots before videos from the terror group ISIS.
- Budweiser, Aveeno, Bounty, and Secret deodorant have all been spotted ahead of the group's videos, including a jihadist recruitment video for ISIS.
- Over 300 hours of video content are uploaded to YouTube every minute, so the videos aren't always screened before ads are paired with them.
Dive Insight:
CNN reached out to brands for comment on seeing their ads run alongside terrorist propaganda. Budweiser parent company Anheuser-Busch's response summed up the brand's surprise: “We were unaware that one of our ads ran in conjunction with this video. We have strict guidelines with our media partners that govern when and how our ads appear. We are working with YouTube and our media buying agency, Mediacom, to understand and rectify the matter.”
The automated process of placing video ads without quality control means that these type of problems are inevitable. YouTube relies heavily on its community members to flag inappropriate content, but viewers don't always catch every potential problem.
