Google Accused of Breaching Promised Ad Standards, Big Brands and Government Agencies Affected

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google violated its promised standards when placing video ads on other websites, claims a new study.

Google's YouTube hosts ads on its platform and places video ads on other sites through the Google Video Partners program.

Google commands a higher fee, assuring advertisers that it will position their ads on premium websites, play them before the primary video content with the audio turned on, and charge them only for ads that viewers do not skip.

Adalytics research indicates that Google breaches these standards approximately 80% of the time, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Accusations against Google include ad placement in small, automatically-played, muted videos that are not the page's primary content and on sites not meeting Google's monetization standards.

Adalytics assembled its data by monitoring campaigns from over 1,100 brands with billions of ad impressions from 2020 to 2023. Google contested the research findings.

Adalytics reports that influential brands, including Johnson & Johnson JNJ, American Express Co AXP, Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd SSNLF, Sephora, Macy's Inc  M, Walt Disney Co DIS Disney+ encountered Google's video-ad placements that did not adhere to the assured standards.

The issue also affected government agencies like Medicare, the U.S. Army, the Social Security Administration, and the New York City municipal government.

Price Action: GOOG shares traded higher by 1.42% at $120.70 on the last check Wednesday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.