The MRC Reaffirms YouTube’s Brand Safety Accreditation

YouTube has been awarded the Media Rating Council (MRC)’s brand safety accreditation for in-stream ads for the fifth year in a row, providing additional assurance for advertisers around their video ad placements.

MRC accreditation means that YouTube’s ad system has been approved by the MRC for its controls and metrics, based on a third-party audit of the platform’s ad systems and processes.

As per the MRC:

“Accreditation indicates that the Service complies with: (1) the Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research and the Enhanced Content Level Context and Brand Safety Guidelines published by the MRC; the Ad Verification Guidelines published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and MRC; (2) the procedures described in Google’s answers to the MRC questionnaire; and (3) the procedures described in procedure manuals and textual materials included in reports of the Service.”

So it’s really just confirming that Google/YouTube is maintaining its systems on this front, and ensuring compliance with relevant industry standard guidelines, but it does give advertisers some level of recourse, if they find that these systems are failing to meet the relevant benchmarks.

The MRC’s accreditation also certifies that YouTube’s inventory filters deliver brand-safe ad placements, with content suitability based on advertiser selection.

As per YouTube:

“Over the years, we’ve expanded advertisers' ability to choose where their ads run, and we’ve made sustained investments in policy and enforcement to ensure ads don't run alongside brand-unsafe content. As part of the accreditation process, the MRC assessed our AI-powered enforcement systems, our teams of human reviewers, and the policies that determine which videos are eligible to run ads.”

It’s a good endorsement of Google’s ad systems, which, as noted, will give YouTube advertisers additional peace of mind. But I would note that, as specified by the MRC, this is only an audit of Google/YouTube’s documented systems, not a test of them in action, as such.

And with more and more AI elements being integrated into its ad placement process, such processes, in practice, could still veer from those parameters.