GumGum announces brand safe ad exchange

GumGum, a contextual first, global advertising platform, announced that starting yesterday, all impressions running on GumGum’s ad exchange will now have enhanced brand safety protection through Verity, GumGum’s proprietary and accredited contextual intelligence platform. Verity is already integrated and applied across GumGum’s PMPs and media business.

The company added, advertisers typically add brand safety layers on their own through a pre-bid solution or their own safety filters. However, GumGum believes it is their responsibility to ensure supply side safety by integrating an additional layer of protection in their exchange with Verity. The company says Verity is has been granted content-level accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for contextual analysis, brand safety and suitability across the web and CTV. This accreditation was granted due to Verity’s ability to analyse all content signals within a digital environment, including text, images, videos, and audio, to ensure ads are not served against extreme and unsafe content.

“We want brands and agencies to know that when they buy from GumGum’s ad exchange, they can always rely on brand safety and suitability protection, whether that’s through our exchange or PMP activity. Buyers can be assured that every ad we serve has been verified by Verity, creating a safe ad environment against extreme content,” said Adam Schenkel, EVP of global platform strategy and operations at GumGum. “Further, we want publishers to feel confident that we are an additional layer of support in ensuring their content is driving the greatest monetisation from our platform while protecting against brand safety violations.”

In addition to standard display and video placements from publishers, GumGum says its ad exchange unlocks exclusive inventory using standard formats that are cost-efficient and can be scaled through GumGum’s DSP partners, such as The Trade Desk, Xandr and Google Display & Video 360. Any media buyer has the ability to access inventory that is exclusive to GumGum through a DSP without a managed deal or campaign by GumGum account teams. The exchange is one of the industry's highest concentrations of direct to publisher integrations, enabling the company to provide the most direct route to inventory for media buyers.

“Every brand has its own suitability thresholds but safety is more black and white. If we have the capability to remove unsafe inventory that advertisers don’t want to advertise against from the onset, why wouldn’t we do that?” said Phil Schraeder, CEO of GumGum. “We see a tremendous growth opportunity with our ad exchange and adding Verity to every ad impression is just one of many exciting things we will be doing with the exchange this year.”

This solution offers higher quality ads and increased scale across thousands of premium publisher sites that are third-party verified, added the company. To ensure quality inventory at scale and an efficient supply chain, GumGum says it has integrated MediaGuard by HUMAN into the exchange to remove nonhuman and fraud traffic. In addition, GumGum is integrated with NewsGuard who deploy real journalists to fact-check news publications to ensure content accuracy, reliability and access to high-performing inventory. With a focus on inclusivity, the exchange will also allow advertisers to maximise their KPIs by targeting audiences through customised segments such as multicultural and sustainability with standard and nonstandard ad formats.

GumGum says it will continue to develop partnerships to grow the scale of the exchange in 2023 and beyond. With a new team dedicated to the innovation and growth of the exchange, GumGum continues to commit to evolving the marketplace to suit the needs of the digital advertising industry.

GumGum’s exchange is available now and accessible to agencies, advertisers and publishers across the globe interested in brand safe and premium ad inventory.