Every vendor in the supply chain takes its cut before a CPM goes to work, and that includes a fee for brand safety protection.
It’s a small price to pay, said John Montgomery, global EVP of brand safety at GroupM, running somewhere between two and 10 cents per thousand impressions for brand safety protection when it’s bundled in with viewability and anti-fraud measures from the same provider.
“Brands are often prepared to pay almost anything to avoid a reputational risk,” said Montgomery. “There’s no 100% guarantee, but brands, especially the venerable ones, are more than willing to spend money to ensure that they’re safe.”
But the brand safety line item on the budget is more than just the check a brand or agency writes to its third-party verification vendor. And that’s often glossed over, said Scott Hagedorn, CEO of Omnicom’s Hearts & Science.
“Verification fees are probably the smallest ones in the waterfall, not more than a few pennies per CPM,” Hagedorn said. “The significant cost is associated with the inventory.”
Compare the cost of an environment full of user-generated video with a more premium publisher placement, he said. The premium environment will probably cost twice as much.
“Digital inventory that’s brand safe is generally of higher quality,” Hagedorn said. “A lot of advertisers are starting to wake up to the fact that in digital, context really matters.”
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