Google’s video ads on external websites violate promised standards, research finds

Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:) video ads on external websites have been found to violate promised standards, casting doubt on the transparency of its online advertising business, according to The Wall Street Journal report today.

Google’s YouTube platform not only displays ads on its own site and app but also facilitates the distribution of video ads on external websites through Google Video Partners. With the promise of premium placement, Google assures that these ads will be featured on high-quality sites, preceding the main video content with audible sound, and brands will only be charged for non-skippable ads.

However, Adalytics, a brand analysis company, found that Google violates these standards approximately 80% of the time. Adalytics accused Google of placing ads in small, muted, automatically played videos located aside from the main content on websites that fail to meet Google’s monetization criteria, among other violations.

Adalytics collected data from over 1,100 brands and billions of ad impressions between 2020 and 2023.

Google responded by disputing the report’s accuracy and stating that it enforces strict policies for its video ad program on third-party sites, pledging to take appropriate action based on the full report.