WASHINGTON DC: Cross-platform measurement firm comScore is partnering Google to help the embattled internet giant improve the independent brand safety reporting of ads served on YouTube.

Announcing the initiative in a statement, comScore said it will use a proprietary brand safety engine built into its validated Campaign Essentials (vCE) suite of tools.

This technology continuously monitors patterns within text content to determine the brand safety of ad content, comScore explained. It is also suitable for specific campaigns and operates across both mobile and desktop.

"Monitoring online content for brand safety is a complex challenge, particularly in an environment that has the vast scale and growth of YouTube," said Dan Hess, Executive Vice President of Products at comScore.

"We're delighted to see Google taking further action to monitor and increase brand safety, and appreciate its vote of confidence in selecting comScore to be part of this initiative," he added.

Google has faced weeks of criticism following the revelation, first reported by the Times, that ads served on YouTube often appeared next to inappropriate content, including extremist sites.

Following a mass advertising boycott by leading brands, Google's Chief Business Officer, Phillip Schindler, promised that the company would review its advertising tools and introduce improved safeguards.

With news of its agreement with comScore, it would appear that Google could be living up to its promise, especially after it also announced improvements to Programmatic Guaranteed on its DoubleClick AdExchange platform.

As reported by the Drum, Google said that advertisers, by using Programmatic Guaranteed with audience lists, can target or exclude their own audience lists and "secure guaranteed access to preferred publisher inventory while minimizing media waste".

Google also said its latest update would enable publishers to better forecast the inventory they can compare with advertisers' lists, and then guarantee that they are serving ads only to the buyer's target audience.

Data sourced from comScore, Times, Google; additional content by WARC staff