This month’s theme is precision over blunt instruments. As the ecosystem shifts faster than policies and legacy controls can keep up, brand safety and suitability are becoming less about “avoidance” and more about governance, context, and confidence across every environment where brands show up.
From open-web programmatic supply chains to AI training foundations to the surge in brand misappropriation scams, the throughline is clear: trust is earned through better context and real accountability made available by advances in technology.
We’re excited to share a new resource for marketers navigating brand safety & suitability in the open web, as well as insights from BSI Advisory Board member Dave Byrne on combatting brand impersonation scams in the age of AI and what the industry needs to watch out for in 2026.
Feature Story
A Marketer’s Guide to Brand Safety & Suitability on the Open Web
The open web remains one of the most valuable channels for reach and performance, but it is also one of the most under-explained when it comes to brand safety and suitability. Unlike closed platforms, open-web buying is fragmented and intermediated, which makes transparency, accountability, and control harder to achieve consistently.
In this new guide, BSI COO AJ Brown brings together insights from experts across the supply chain to help marketers move from uncertainty to practical action, covering everything from shared terminology and market structure to inventory quality, supply path optimization, inclusion-first buying, and incident response.
BSI Advisory Board member Dave Byrne examines the industrialization of fraud through AI, and highlights specific patterns that brands need to look out for before it hurts their customers. 👉 Read
AI Is Only As Safe As the Data It Learns From
A conversation on the overlooked link between brand safety and how AI systems are trained, plus what marketers should ask before trusting “AI-driven” outcomes. 👉 Watch
Why Trust Now Depends on Better Context and Platform Accountability
How keyword blocking became the default, where it overreached, and why governance and precision matter more than ever as brands evaluate long-term platform value. 👉 Read
Brand Safety in 2026: The Old Playbook Is Obsolete
Dave Byrne forecasts the major issues on the horizon for the industry this year, including what changes when attention replaces viewability, bots blur “fraud,” and opt-in quality strategies start beating block-everything models. 👉 Read
Thank you for being a part of the BSI community. We look forward to bringing you more insightful stories and industry updates in the coming issues. Stay tuned, and we'll see you next month!
