Advertisers have been increasingly concerned about brand safety since The Times’ investigation revealed that big brands are inadvertently funding terror back in February 2017. At the time, major advertisers pulled out of YouTube resulting in an estimated $750 million loss. In fact, one of the biggest advertisers, P&G only recently started advertising on the platform again after almost a year.

The tech giants, Google and Facebook, have been working on stricter controls in addition to third-party companies, such as IAS and MOAT working directly with clients and agencies to ensure brand safety.

Most recently, digital ad vendor, AdZouk has launched its latest marketing technology, 1tag Secure for the same purpose. The solution aims to safeguard brands from appearing alongside negative content and prevent wasted advertising spend using real-time technology.

READ: How far along are we on the road to brand safety?

Besides preventing brands from appearing alongside non brand-safe content, 1tag Secure also eliminates fraudulent, bot and non-human traffic, and eases viewability concerns by targeting relevant ad positions.

AdZouk’s managing director Jamie Atherton explains, “We are always looking for new ways to improve value and safety for the publishers and advertisers we work with. Along with ad viewability, brand safety online is becoming a significant challenge for advertisers in the MENA region, with many ads appearing alongside undesirable content. This can result in negative consequences for a brand and 1tag Secure has been built specifically to address this issue by providing a safer environment in which digital advertisers can operate.”

READ: When it comes to brand safety, you get what you pay for

The company claims that 1tag Secure’s USP is that it proactively blocks any negative activity before it occurs unlike other existing ad verification platforms, which monitor ad fraud retrospectively. The technology supports both display and video advertising across direct and programmatic buying.

At a time when every dollar is precious, Atherton states that this technology can avoid waste in ad spend by at least 20 percent.