Dive Brief: 

• Advertisers purchasing directly from major publishers are surprised and upset to find their ads appearing on low-quality sites. 
• It's a common practice for publishers to repackage and re-sell third-party inventory in the name of scale, but problems arise when advertisers believe they are paying for premium placement and their ads end up on other, less-than-stellar sites. 
• For example, one media agency purchased a video ad on Wired.com, but their ad also appeared on TechTickleTV—a low-quality site that is part of Condé Nast's "Entertainment Network," but "little more than an ad farm."

Dive Insight: 

Major publishers are reselling ads for smaller sites in their syndication network in this method. Along with Condé Nast's Entertainment Network, notable examples include Forbes' Audience Network and Time's Axcess network. The way the system is set up now, it's easy for ads to end up in places not approved by the original agency. A little more transparency in all ad buys would help to solve that issue.