Today in Digital Marketing - When AI Brand Safety Goes Too Far

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Wednesday, August 2nd. Today, are brand safety tools too white? That video editor you're using might be leaking your brand's data? A mixed bag of growth for Pinterest? And on the ad-free premium podcast, which you can learn more about by tapping Go Premium in the show notes, Google has removed similar segments from all ad groups. What does this mean for your campaigns?

Starting point is 00:00:28 I'm Todd Maffin. That's Ahead, today in digital marketing. Some AI-powered podcast ad tools are labeling black culture-focused podcasts as unsafe for advertising. New research released today by Sounder, a podcast management platform, and Urban One, a black-owned media organization in the U.S., found that traditional keyword-based approaches to brand safety are often inaccurate, resulting in under-monetization of diverse content. For instance, a podcast episode that discussed race or social justice might be flagged as unsafe solely based on certain keywords. The study found that applying a standard block list tool to Urban One's podcast content

Starting point is 00:01:11 removed 90% of their episodes from the available ad inventory. These tools didn't understand that the term bomb means cool and not a literal explosive device. But when using a semantically and contextually focused machine learning model to classify brand safety, only 10% of episodes were potentially available for monetization. Transcription accuracy was also identified as a critical factor in correctly classifying content. The study said errors in transcribing common black vernacular can lead to misclassifications and further marginalized BIPOC creators. Heads up if you or your social media manager uses the CapCut video editor. CapCut is a great editing tool. It's on desktop and mobile, and it's pretty comprehensive, on par with professional tools like Final Cut Pro. It also has a direct export to TikTok because CapCut is made by the same Chinese company, ByteDance.

Starting point is 00:02:15 And like its social sister, now CapCut is facing a class action lawsuit alleging it is secretly collecting data from its more than 200 million active users without consent and letting the Chinese government access that data. The lawsuit claims CapCut users are not informed of its data practices and accuses the company of intentionally designing its privacy policy in a confusing manner, making it difficult for users to understand the terms and conditions and provide consent. One of the plaintiffs is a seventh grader. They were able to use the app without creating an account, reviewing a privacy policy, or obtaining parental consent. The plaintiffs also say their biometric data like face scans and voice prints were also collected. The lawsuit wants to ban ByteDance from sending user data to China and to halt the harvesting of users' data without proper notice and consent. It also asks the court to remove whatever data has already been collected. YouTube is playing catch up with TikTok and Reels, the company today introducing several new shorts features for brands and creators yesterday.

Starting point is 00:03:22 First, the platform has rolled out what it calls Collabs, which lets users film split-screen content with other videos. It offers side-by-side layout options accessible through the Remix option on videos. Collabs will be available on iOS to start, with Android to follow. YouTube is also adding a new Q&A sticker that lets brands ask their audience questions

Starting point is 00:03:43 and get answers in the comments. And creators are able to respond to comments with a short, very similar to TikTok. Also similar to TikTok Live, Shorts will start testing vertical live streamed videos that will appear in the Shorts feed. It's also rolling out new tools for content creation, including a feature that automatically bundles audio and effects from videos. By tapping the remix button and selecting use sound, creators will access both the effect and the same audio timestamp from a previously viewed short.

Starting point is 00:04:13 Finally, YouTube says it will also start testing new recomposition editing tools for converting old horizontal YouTube videos into vertical shorts. Pinterest released its second quarter results yesterday reporting a slowdown in platform growth. The social media giant added just 2 million users in its last quarter, reaching 465 million monthly active users. That's Pinterest's slowest growth rate in a year. What may be more concerning is Pinterest's loss of ground in its most profitable user markets. Growth in the U.S. has stalled and European usage has actually declined, with all new users coming from the rest of the world category, which generates less revenue for the app.

Starting point is 00:05:07 Despite these challenges, Pinterest maintained revenue growth with a 6% year-over-year increase to $705 million for the period. They also noted positive trends in usage with sessions, impressions, and pin saves growing faster than monthly active users. Pinterest also reported strong growth in usage among younger audiences, with Gen Z users being the largest contributors to overall engagement growth and the fastest-growing cohort for the quarter. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches,

Starting point is 00:05:47 and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today, starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Total Walmart ad domination could be your next media buy. The retail giant is pushing out new in-store ad placements, including ads on, we knew this was coming, self-checkout displays, screens in the shopping aisles, and the TV wall in the electronics department. The company plans to place ads on 170,000 screens throughout its store and introduce 30-second radio ads that play throughout the store's loudspeakers.

Starting point is 00:06:26 The ad buys will be available later this year. Marketers will have the option to choose regions or target specific stores. Walmart plans to expand food demo kiosks, similar to Costco's sampler stations, to 1,000 stores nationwide. Advertisers can bundle these stations with other ad options, and customers can use QR codes to purchase the products they try. But if rollbacks aren't your target audience's niche, what about ride shares? Uber's ad network added about 55,000 advertisers this quarter, reaching about 400,000, with most being small to medium-sized businesses. The ad platform's revenue run rate, or expected annual revenue, now exceeds $650 million,

Starting point is 00:07:09 marking growth from the projected $500 million in Q4 of last year. Uber's revenue grew 15% year-over-year to $9 billion, with gross bookings up 15%. It was also the first time the company achieved an operating profit. After a sluggish year for the ad market, Axios reported yesterday that analysts believe the ad market is finally starting to show signs of improvement. The slowdown had a significant impact on the media, entertainment, and technology sectors, leading to layoffs and cost cutting measures at media and tech companies in 2022 and early this year. But analysts are now optimistic that ad growth will pick up in the second half of this year, with data indicating the economy

Starting point is 00:07:56 is moving in the right direction. While a second quarter GDP report revealed a slowdown in consumer spending at one and a half5%, it also showed a notable 8% increase in business investment spending, which industry experts consider a reliable indicator of ad spending historically. The global ad market is expected to grow 6% this year, according to GroupM's latest forecast, aligning with the firm's estimates from December. While the digital ad market is expected to grow at a slower rate this year due to industry maturation, retail media is expected to grow faster than digital media as more retailers are investing in building their own digital marketplaces.

Starting point is 00:08:40 And finally, raise your hand if you have been personally victimized by Taco Bell's beef. The fast food chain has been sued now for alleged false advertising. Consumers allege the company misrepresents the amount of beef put in its crunch wrap supreme and Mexican pizza items. And if you are not subscribed to our newsletter for no other reason than to see the photos from the actual lawsuit. It is absolutely hysterical. There's like a side by side. This is what the ad shows. This is what you get in the store. It is as bad as you think it is, friends. Why is the beef? Well, if you're not following us on any of our social media, today is the day to start. We have changed up how we are using our accounts.

Starting point is 00:09:26 Starting today, we are posting a carousel of the day's marketing headlines. Even if you don't have time to listen to the podcast or read the newsletter, you'll still stay on top of things. Also, on most of our social channels, we are doing two to three short videos a week on important stories in the marketing world. We have accounts on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, and Mastodon. Tap the link at the top of today's show notes or go to todayindigital.com slash social media. All right. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. day ever. Na, na, na, na, na, na. The best day ever. Where's the beat?

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Today in Digital Marketing - When AI Brand Safety Goes Too Far

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