Google Blocks A Lot Of Bad Ads; Fortnite Change Creates Opening For Marketers

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.

Breaking Bad (Ads)

Google blocked 2.7 billion ads from being served last year – more than 5,000 ads per minute – and suspended almost 1 million advertiser accounts for policy violations. Plus 1.2 million publisher accounts were terminated over violations. That’s according to Google’s annual ad removal report. The coronavirus pandemic has spurred activity for Google’s ad-filtering system, since tens of millions of ads in the past month have featured “price-gouging, capitalizing on global medical supply shortages, making misleading claims about cures and promoting illegitimate unemployment benefits.” Google is also making it easier to remove bad actors from the platform moving forward, with the recent announcement that it will require verification and identification for all advertiser accounts, an expansion of a policy that currently only applies to political advertisers.

Get The Party Started

The hit multiplayer video game Fortnite quietly launched a combat-free zone this week called Party Royale. (The typical fighting gameplay is called Battle Royale) Fortnite gaming parent company Epic is notorious for making updates without explanation, so players have to explore the world to find out what’s there. But one thing that’s clear already is that Party Royale greatly expands Fortnite’s in-game marketing potential. It’s probably not a coincidence that the update comes while everyone is stuck at home, since Party Royale is a place where people can virtually hang out. And since there are mini-games but no combat, it’s a safer environment for brand integrations. The video game new site PCGamesN has more.

Give Us A Break

Eight German travel companies including Trivago, GetYourGuide and FlixBus are lobbying Google to delay or forgive ad payment collection from the past six weeks. They also asked Google to issue refunds for ad buys against products that people can’t use during the shut downs, such as vacations and flights. “Unless greater flexibility is exercised by Google, many of its advertising partners will be forced to use government loans to pay their debts,” the companies wrote in a letter to Google Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler. The companies also pressed Google not to accept payments from companies collecting government aid, since that money is intended to sustain core business operations. “Badly needed funding will flow into Google’s coffers on the backs of taxpayers.” Bloomberg has more.

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