The Australian government joins a list of YouTube advertisers including AT&T, Pepsi and Wal-Mart that have suspended advertising with the online video giant over concerns about placement of their ads, according to a Cnet report. Google's YouTube is under fire after a U.K.-based newspaper last month found that marketers' ads were appearing next to offensive and hate-filled content on the video hub. The Australian government's ads pulled from YouTube include  "everything from public messages from the Department of Health to Defence Force recruiting ads (though not ads for Government owned corporations like Australia Post)," Cnet reported. In a statement supplied …

Amid sharp concerns from advertisers about so-called "brand safety" on the Web, JPMorgan Chase has pruned its online display advertising to approximately 5,000 Websites vs. the 400,000 sites its advertising appeared on a few weeks ago, according to a New York Times report. Marketers have gone all in on digital advertising via programmatic media buying tactics that enable them to target large numbers of consumers. Chase's reduction in the number of sites its advertising appears on is notable as concerns over brand safety, ad fraud, and fake news show no signs of slowing. The report said …

The Wall Street Journal reports on what the repeal of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) privacy rules could mean for telecom/broadband providers like At&T, Comcast, and Verizon, and their use of consumer data. Make no mistake -- these giants have plenty of data on everyone and have the ability to monitor Website visits, app usage, TV and video consumption, shopping habits, and more. The FCC''s decision on Tuesday to overturn privacy rules that required telecom firms to obtain consumers' permission prior to sharing usage data with third parties could be a boon for advertisers. The Journal notes that the telecom …

Facing backlash and boycotts by marketers over ads appearing next to extremist content, Google decided to give brands that have suspended advertising more information about where their ads will appear on YouTube, Recode reported. In addition, media buying firm GroupM, said it's hired OpenSlate which will help it analyze YouTube channels. The move aims to ensure that its clients’ ads appear on sites with appropriate content. GroupM clients include L'oreal, HSBC Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, supermarket chain Tesco, and retailer Marks and Spencer all of which suspended ads on YouTube in the U.K., according to the report. The report …

More troubles for Rubicon Project. The Guardian is preparing to file suit against the ad-tech firm, alleging it didn't disclose fees it charged advertisers looking to buy the newspaper's online ad inventory, according to a Business Insider (BI) report. BI said the paper confirmed that it's begun the process for "the recovery of non-disclosed buyer fees in relation of Guardian inventory." A Rubicon spokesperson provided BI with a statement explaining that the company's buyer fees "are disclosed, including in a contract it signed with The Guardian and also in its SEC filings." A Rubicon spokesman supplied a statement to Real-Time …

Spotify on Monday acquired content recommendation engine MightyTV in a bid to increase personalization and programmatic ad capabilities. The financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Spotify said that MightyTV’s technology will be deployed to help make its  music streaming platform serve more relevant ads to users. The deal calls for Spotify to integrate MightyTV’s recommendation engine with its proprietary data management platform (DMP). This integration will enable Spotify to tap into listener data and other third-party assets to serve personalized ads to users programmatically. Spotify which has programmatic audio inventory, is eager to grow its programmatic sales overall; the …

Marketers that have suspended advertising with Google over concerns about offensive content on YouTube are using the controversy to demand improvements in brand safety and ad tools. The controversy, which started in the U.K., has now expanded to the U.S. It was kicked off by a newspaper report in The Times of London and now includes more than 250 advertisers that have pulled ad spend from the tech giant. A global beverage brand "has pulled most of its ads from Google services in about 30 countries including the U.S., according to a person familiar with the situation," according to the …

Verizon Communications and AT&T said on Wednesday that they've stopped digital advertising on Google's YouTube and other advertising platforms not related to search over concerns that their ads may have run next to extremist videos. "Verizon and AT&T joined a list of well-known British brands such as retailer Marks and Spencer Group  deserting Alphabet's Google. Google is under fire in Europe from politicians and brands angered by ads appearing alongside videos on its YouTube platform carrying homophobic or anti-Semitic messages," Reuters reported. "AT&T is removing ads from the non-search inventory on Google because its 'ads may have appeared alongside YouTube …

Adobe acquired TubeMogul for $540 million in December. Now looking like an ad-tech firm, Adobe launched a platform called Advertising Cloud that it said will allow its customers to manage and buy its digital and TV ads. "The Adobe Advertising Cloud includes three components: Search, TubeMogul's demand-side platform, and what Adobe calls 'dynamic creative optimization,' which lets marketers change and test what their ads look like, depending on their performance. The Advertising Cloud will also integrate with other existing products that marketers use, such as Adobe Analytics," Business Insider reported.

A huge concern for programmatic media tactics, brand safety, and Google's YouTube: The Guardian newspaper said it pulled all its online advertising from Google and YouTube after it discovered that its ads were being placed next to extremist material, the paper reported. "Ads for the Guardian’s membership scheme are understood to have been placed alongside a range of extremist material after an agency acting on the media group’s behalf used Google’s AdX ad exchange. David Pemsel, the Guardian’s chief executive, wrote to Google to say that it was 'completely unacceptable' for its advertising to be misused in this way. He …