World events impacted APAC brand risk in H2 2020, says media quality report

During the second half of last year, high levels of brand risk were measured in APAC, especially in Indonesia, according to the latest Media Quality Report from Integral Ad Science.

The technology company encourages brands to optimise away from unsuitable environments that don’t meet their brand values in its analysis of brand safety, ad fraud, and viewability trends across display, video, mobile web and in-app advertising.

Why it matters

Brand risk is an important metric to consider and has a direct impact on a brand’s reputation and value, says Integral Ad Science. After 2020’s introduction of additional risky content, marketers must remember to regularly update their brand suitability settings, with contextual targeting providing a viable, privacy-compliant solution for driving efficiencies, engagement and ROI.

Key insights

• Brand risk on desktop display in Indonesia reached a global high of 8.2% in H2 2020, even as the worldwide average remained at 4.4%.
• Other APAC markets like Japan rose by 2.4 percentage points to 5.6% and Singapore rose by 2.4%, while Vietnam reported 2.5% brand risk levels.
• For mobile web display, the brand risk in Indonesia was 16% – two-and-a-half times higher than the worldwide average of 5.8%.
• Mobile app display numbers in most APAC countries were lower than the global average of 72.1% – India reported mobile app display viewability of 50.8%, Indonesia reported 65.2% and Singapore reported 69.9%. 
• Adult content was the primary driver of increased brand risk across all formats worldwide, often followed by hate speech – a reflection of turbulent news cycles globally. 
• Global ad fraud rates across all devices and environments improved overall in H2 2020; in APAC, Japan and Australia were the only markets to witness significant increases.

Read the report here.