The influx of political content and ad dollars for the upcoming US presidential election will inevitably impact commercial advertisers on social media. Understanding the political ad cycle and consumer attitudes toward political content can help brands better reach their audiences.

In this year’s Key Digital Trends report, we identify what changes are coming to the digital media and technology landscape in 2020 and why they matter to marketers.

Programmatic ad spending will account for 90.0% of total UK digital display ad spend this year, or £5.81 billion ($7.75 billion). Of that proportion, programmatic direct will make up 65.5%, with social media spend underpinning that figure.

eMarketer principal analyst Nicole Perrin walks us through what could happen to the advertising world as blacklists become more sophisticated and extensive. She discusses the types of content consumers think advertisers should avoid the most and the likelihood of those consumers reducing their spending on a brand that appears next to controversial content. She also talks about which information consumers are sharing less of, the state of radio advertising and why cord-cutting might slow down next quarter.

eMarketer was pleased to moderate a Tech-Talk Webinar presentation featuring Daniel Macdonald, vice president of investments and partnerships at Xaxis. He gives a comprehensive overview of both human and technical solutions, including the proactive approach Xaxis takes to protect their 3,000+ brand clients.

Our weekly review of the most intriguing stories covers Facebook’s cryptocurrency project, Spotify’s plan to target ads based on podcast listening and viewership metrics of the NBA Finals. We also delve into the digital ad industry’s latest steps to promote brand safety, and we bring you the game of the week, useless dinner party data and more! Host Marcus Johnson leads the conversation with eMarketer principal analyst Nicole Perrin and vice president of multimedia Paul Verna.

According to an April 2019 survey of global consumers from mobile video ad network AdColony, three in five respondents said they encounter offensive content on Facebook, and about half that figure noted the same was true of YouTube. Inappropriate content appearing on Google, in mobile games, or on platforms like Instagram and Snapchat was less likely, but still apparent.

Brand safety is a serious concern for 60% of the ad industry professionals GumGum and Digiday surveyed in November 2018. But that’s down from 90% in 2017.

In the latest episode of "Behind the Numbers," the topic (once again) is brand safety, as big advertisers pull back from YouTube amid concerns about user comments.

Programmatic buying for TV is still developing, and two issues the industry is still grappling with are brand safety and viewer experience. eMarketer’s principal analyst Lauren Fisher spoke with David Dworin, vice president of advisory services at TV supply-side platform (SSP) FreeWheel, about the areas of opportunities for programmatic enablement of linear TV advertising.

In the annual Digital Trends report, eMarketer predicts what will matter to marketers in 2019, in areas ranging from voice technology to digital video to the “ad tech tax.” It also notes some buzzed-about topics that won’t achieve trend status next year.

Every few months it seems another story emerges about ad dollars disappearing down a black hole of fraudulent activity. And the spotlight on fraud will shine ever brighter, with good reason. For the UK, we forecast that digital ad spending will reach £13.24 billion ($17.05 billion) in 2018, accounting for 63.8% of total media ad spend.

eMarketer's chief innovation officer Geoff Ramsey recently spoke with Bill Duggan, group executive vice president of the ANA to discuss Amazon, trust and digital creative.

Digital ad fraud is being held in check, viewability rates are improving, and brand safety measures are largely effective in the UK. Measuring the success of a campaign, though, must move beyond what is easily measurable.

Undertone's Mike Pallad and Laura Salant discuss the importance of measuring attention in digital ad campaigns.

Advertisers agree that ensuring brand safety is a perennial problem, but there isn’t a consensus on who is most responsible for it.

Susan Schiekofer, chief digital investment officer at GroupM, discusses the state of brand safety in the video space.

Yesterday, at eMarketer’s "State of Digital: Trust at the Crossroads" event, executives from Bayer US, Pernod Ricard USA and Boxed spoke about how they're moving past the brand safety hysteria, and—most importantly—ignoring the trolls and embracing their audiences in 2018 and beyond.