Key Milestones in Brand Suitability: A 2021 Timeline of GARM and the Responsible Marketing Industry

2021 marked a seminal year in the progress of brand safety and suitability within the digital media space, with the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) at the center. Audiences and investment continued to shift to scaled platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook with video advertising budgets increasing by over 12% in just Q3 alone. As a result of this increased focus on video, there’s been significant growth in the industry-wide effort to clearly define what the future of brand suitability and safety should look like in order to address this video-first world.

In 2020, GARM developed and released the GARM Brand Safety Floor & Sustainability Framework which standardized definitions for brand safety and suitability. With 11 clearly defined categories and a selection of three risk levels for each, it has become much easier for brands to take control and define their tailored suitability needs. Given the rapid growth and scale of user-generated content opportunities brands are taking advantage of, it is important that the industry unites in the use of such definitions to provide advertisers with simple and efficient categorization, clarity and consistency on what suitability means, and transparency into how technologies are defining content.

This framework offers a common understanding between brands and providers alike. Zefr’s Suitability Suite technology aligns with these standards and maps back to the GARM framework to build a transparent platform, ultimately enabling brands to have full control over their content adjacency.

As the industry continues to prioritize responsibility moving into 2022, here is a look back on some key milestones achieved during this last year.

February 2021 — YouTube receives MRC Brand Safety Accreditation for GARM Floor

YouTube became the first major platform to be independently audited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for adherence to and alignment with the GARM brand safety floor. This move signaled the importance of GARM and the leadership status of YouTube towards providing a safe platform for advertisers.

April 2021 — GARM releases aggregated measurement report for digital brand safety

In a step towards improving the trustworthiness and safety of media, GARM launched its first performance report tracking brand safety performance across seven major platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The Aggregated Measurement Report is a key resource that allows brands and marketers to assess their safety and suitability across platforms against existing standards and approaches, providing a single reference in a common language and framework. This report came at a critical time, as COVID-19 disruptions meant that many marketing teams had limited resources and capacity necessitating an increased reliance on technology as a gauge of suitability.

May 2021 — Zefr launches GARM Suitability Suite

Zefr developed the first technology solution that allows brands and agencies to select and activate pre-bid preferences for their GARM risk tolerances in media targeting and measurement. By leveraging proprietary Cognition AI technology and incorporating the universal GARM standards, Zefr’s Suitability Suite allows brands to better understand and select exact risk thresholds for their ad placements.

July 2021 — Platform alignment with GARM

Digital media platforms often rely on third party partners to develop technologies and frameworks aligned with industry standards that can be used to improve the brand safety and suitability offerings for marketers. In July, however, Facebook launched an independent audit of their content monetization policies and brand safety controls with the MRC as part of the company’s ongoing engagement with GARM. This move helped Facebook build trust with both consumers and brands, signaling that a shift towards the monetization of good quality, credible content is a priority for the platform.

September 2021 — The launch of GARM Nordic, and combating misinformation in the media with key partnerships

As with most initiatives, GARM rolled out its framework in different regions at different times, but always with the same mission of seeking to improve digital safety in the marketplace. In September of 2021 GARM Nordic was launched adding national advertisers, media companies and other industry associations in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, as well as representatives from the major tech platforms to the alliance. This was a huge step towards ensuring standard definitions and frameworks are implemented and understood in the Nordic region, and has facilitated the use of one common source of information across channels and markets.

Throughout 2021, the use of traditional brand safety tools like semantic blocklists has led to unintentional blocking of trusted news content, consequently limiting advertiser reach. At the same time, however, consumers are increasingly looking to trusted, verified news sources, and rely on the quality content these platforms share. Advertisers recognize this and are turning to more responsible marketing strategies designed to support this trend and include or surround quality news content, wherever it aligns to their brand values. In line with this, Zefr and NewsGuard announced a partnership in September 2021 to help brands target trustworthy news content in video environments without overblocking–while avoiding content that falls outside of their suitability standards. This partnership is a continuation of Zefr’s commitment to GARM’s leadership in the industry, and in providing safe, suitable advertising options for brands.

October 2021 — TikTok Beta announcements

In October TikTok announced an inventory filter aligned with GARM’s Brand Safety Floor & Sustainability Framework at TikTok World–their showcase event to highlight various projects and insights the platform is bringing to market. In addition to this, they communicated the development of their new TikTok Brand Safety Measurement tool, powered by Zefr, to provide advertisers with campaign insights into brand safety and suitability on TikTok’s platform. Following this, at the annual Advertising Week 2021 event, Zefr and TikTok joined forces to discuss in detail the role that consistent industry-wide standards have on media and advertising, focusing primarily on the GARM framework.

November 2021 — GARM Measurement Report Benchmarks, and the current state of brand suitability in video

November saw the release of the second GARM Aggregated Measurement Report, providing continued benchmarking for brands and marketers. Facebook also announced that they are exploring and testing a new series of content-based suitability controls. This initiative aims to address concerns advertisers have around their ads appearing on Facebook and Instagram feeds next to certain topics or content not aligned with their brand suitability preferences, as outlined in the GARM Suitability Framework. These controls are set to be rolled out in Q1 2022.

Finally, to round off the year with a clearer understanding of the current state of video advertising and brand suitability according to GARM standards, and in an effort to see more research in the space, Zefr commissioned Forrester Consulting for a study on the current state of video advertising and brand suitability. Over 300 marketing decision-makers overseeing video advertising strategies across industries in the US and the UK were tapped for the survey. The resulting report, The Maturation of Brand Suitability, dives into the opportunities created by prioritizing video-specific suitability strategies, the importance of consumer trust, and emerging media channels to look out for. The study also details some key recommendations for advertisers and marketers when it comes to enacting a more proactive video suitability strategy.

And if that isn’t enough…

After a busy year in the world of GARM there’s just one more video to wrap up with. As concluded above, the evolution from brand safety to brand suitability in the industry has been supported and accelerated by GARM’s framework of universal definitions. The GARM framework is designed to remove subjectivity and make it easier for brands to set their own preferred risk tolerance levels for ad placements. Overall, a more nuanced approach to these content alignments can ultimately result in more flexible scale, reduced waste in spend, and greater audience reach opportunities. Understanding how these standards have had a positive impact on the advertising industry is an important first step towards mass-adoption.

Reach out to the team at Zefr if you have any questions about GARM. We look forward to another year of continued growth and industry alignment.