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Major Advertisers and Agencies Pledge to Combat Digital Advertising Piracy

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Major brand advertisers and agencies have committed to taking aggressive steps to prevent digital advertising from being placed on pirate sites, which profit from pirated content and counterfeit goods. The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) has announced a list of 21 brand advertisers and 11 agencies that have signed the TAG anti-piracy pledge. These companies have agreed to take commercially reasonable steps to minimize the inadvertent placement of digital advertising on websites that support piracy or counterfeit content by January 1, 2016. The TAG anti-piracy program aims to help prevent ad placement on websites that facilitate the distribution of pirated content and/or the illegal dissemination of counterfeit goods.

Key Takeaways:

  • 21 major brand advertisers, including Allstate, American Express, and Unilever, have signed the TAG anti-piracy pledge.
  • 11 agencies, including GroupM, Horizon Media, and MEC, have also signed the pledge.
  • The TAG anti-piracy program aims to prevent digital advertising from being placed on pirate sites that profit from pirated content and counterfeit goods.
  • The program requires providers of anti-piracy tools and services to be validated as Digital Advertising Assurance Providers (DAAPs).
  • To be validated, DAAP candidates must show how they identify risky sites, prevent ad placement, disrupt site transactions, monitor and assess the safety of ad placements, and/or prevent payment to sites that are deemed likely to offer pirated content or counterfeit goods.
  • Companies using a DAAP's anti-piracy services can receive a TAG "Certified Against Piracy" seal to demonstrate their compliance with TAG's anti-piracy standards.
  • According to a study released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and EY, pirated content is costing the digital ad industry roughly $2.4 billion each year, with roughly two billion dollars lost to consumers who do not pay for infringed content and an additional $456 million lost in potential advertising revenue.

Statistics:

  • 21 brand advertisers have signed the TAG anti-piracy pledge.
  • 11 agencies have signed the TAG anti-piracy pledge.
  • $2.4 billion: the annual cost of pirated content to the digital ad industry, according to a study released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and EY.
  • $2 billion: the amount lost to consumers who do not pay for infringed content each year.
  • $456 million: the additional amount lost in potential advertising revenue each year.
  • January 1, 2016: the deadline for companies to take commercially reasonable steps to minimize the inadvertent placement of digital advertising on websites that support piracy or counterfeit content.

Sources:

  • "Trustworthy Accountability Group Announces Major Advertisers and Agencies Pledge to Combat Digital Advertising Piracy" (VerticalNews, 2015 DEC 26)
  • "Ad Industry Loses $2.4B to Piracy, Study Finds" (NewsRx, 2015)

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