The Big Story: Grownup Ads Have Infiltrated Kids’ Spaces On YouTube

Marketers have been through one surprise after another this year with YouTube inventory.

The latest surprise? The news that it’s possible to create a campaign that serves personalized as “made for kids” inventory on YouTube.

On this week’s Big Story, we bring on Adalytics researcher Krzysztof Franaszek who’s been diving into big brands’ log files, a project that’s unveiled some unexpected truths about where their YouTube ads appear.

Back in June, Adalytics revealed that advertisers who thought they were buying TrueView instream ads on YouTube were actually seeing their ads served outstream across its partner network off YouTube.com. The report prompted calls to action from industry organizations, how hard it is to verify inventory and the importance of advertisers with clout to demand change.

The latest research, covering COPPA, is sure to attract the attention of the FTC, which fined YouTube and Google a record $170 million for violations back in 2019.

We get into the research itself and the industry reactions in this conversation with Franaszek and managing editor Allison Schiff, who covered the latest news about personalized ads on kids’ content.

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