A new Adalytics investigation reveals that YouTube served ads from major brands like Disney, HBO Max, and Hulu alongside thousands of pirated films, live TV broadcasts, and exclusive streaming content—racking up over 250 million views. The report highlights systemic failures in YouTube’s content moderation and ad placement transparency, leaving advertisers with little visibility and minimal recourse for refunds. Worse, some studios may have inadvertently paid to retarget users who pirated their own content. As copyright enforcement lags and automation is gamed, brands and rights holders face financial, reputational, and legal risks in one of digital media’s biggest ecosystems.

DoubleVerify sues Adalytics for alleged defamatory statements: The case underscores rising tension between ad verification firms and watchdog groups.

DoubleVerify threatens to sue Check My Ads: The dispute highlights the need for advertisers to remain vigilant when choosing verification partners.

Lawmakers pressure Amazon into improving ad transparency: A bipartisan letter stemming from Adalytics highlighted quality issues with DSPs.

Advertisers won’t have to quit third-party cookies cold turkey, but long-standing market dynamics around access to quality data aren’t going anywhere.

In 2024, a perfect storm of technology, business, and consumer behavior trends will conspire to intensify the challenges of protecting brands on digital media.

Google brings a transparency overhaul to search advertising: Move responds to uproar after report that ads were placed on problematic sites.

Adalytics revealed deep-rooted advertiser concerns: An industry activist headed by an unlikely leader shook up the most dominant channels for digital ads.

Google's ad network oversight exposed: Inappropriate and illegal site placements challenge industry standards.

Google issues refunds for misplaced ads: A June report claiming 80% of its third-party video ad positions didn’t meet standards raised a firestorm in the industry.