Brand Safety 2025 – Sorting through the Labyrinth of Confusion

Brand safety has reached a new level of focus in 2025 – and it is rife with questions. While much of the conversation appears negative, this heightened awareness allows companies and advertisers to ask tougher questions about where their ad dollars go and who they partner with – critical steps in an industry that has long struggled with transparency. New research from the 2025 World Economic Forum highlights a surprising divide: 86% of executives recognize news media as a strong advertising investment, yet 69% feel that brand safety protocols are overapplied to the point of harming both advertisers and media outlets. Herein lies the difference between what seem strategically right for the C-Suite, but alarming set of risks to those managing brand safety for the ad campaigns. Striking the right balance between caution and opportunity is, and will always be, an ongoing challenge, but one that can only be tackled with clear-eyed evaluation and informed decision-making.

The ad industry’s reliance on automated platforms (to manage the scale of digital advertising/programmatic pathways) has created a system so vast and opaque that even the biggest players struggle to track their own ad spend and brand safety defense efforts. The revelation that certain adtech vendors may have inadvertently directed ad revenue to sites hosting illicit material has sparked scrutiny from lawmakers, with U.S. senators now demanding accountability from industry leaders like Google, Amazon, and the Media Ratings Council. These developments reinforce a key principle of brand safety: knowing your partners is not just good practice—it is a necessity. It is time for more effective brand safety monitoring – one of the hopes that AI/LLM’s has shown promise to make better.

Change, is often uncomfortable – but it is crucial to remain functional and not become unnavigable. In this evolving landscape, adtech companies must develop more sophisticated tools to combat brand safety concerns and ensure responsible placement. While some platforms remain frustratingly vague about their ownership and operations, advertisers can mitigate risks by reducing partners and investing in verification technologies that go beyond surface-level assurances. The recent rise in scrutiny is not just a warning—it is a call to build a stronger, more accountable digital advertising industry. Ultimately, if new levels of brand safety monitoring can be achieved it will yield positive returns for marketers, and most importantly, the audiences and consumers that the industry does not exist without.