Dive Brief:

• Snapchat parent Snap Inc. is beefing up its third-party measurement through new partnerships with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science, according to two separate news releases.
• DoubleVerify will help ensure brand safety on Snapchat by providing advertisers with assurances ads are delivered around appropriate content.
• The Integral Ad Science partnership is also focused on brand safety through more transparency and media quality measurability with Snapchat photos and videos. Both measurability firms are now members of the Snapchat Brand Safety Coalition.

Dive Insight:

Snapchat's ephemeral messaging model, where most video disappears after 24 hours and individual slides usually last no longer than 10 seconds, has made brand-inappropriate content difficult to account for. As recently as March, X-rated posts from people like porn stars were still being followed by ads from major brands, raising some marketers' skepticism toward Snap, which was coming fresh off of its IPO. 

The new partnerships should more carefully track and flag content brands don't want to be associated with and might steer Snapchat away from measurement and brand safety controversies that have bogged down other social platforms like Facebook and YouTube. The Snapchat Brand Safety Coalition was described as a group that will regularly meet to discuss Snap's approach and policies around the topic, as well as develop industry best practices.

Brand safety has indeed become a hot digital advertising item after a number of marketers and agencies found their ads running next to things like hate speech and terrorism in March and subsequently froze their spend on YouTube and other Google properties. The issue cost YouTube 5% of its top North American advertisers in April, according to MediaRadar.