• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 3, 2017

Procter & Gamble cut down the number of sites its ads ran on earlier this year about a month after brands discovered they were funding terrorist videos on YouTube. The maker of Tide, Bounty and other popular brands wanted to steer clear of questionable content and ads.

Research now suggests that overall, P&G cut the number of sites it ran ads on this year by 69% at the highest point, after Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard called out the industry for a lack of transparency and poisoning the supply chain.

MediaRadar, which tracks ad campaigns across online, TV, mobile, print and other channels, ran data to determine how calls for transparency impacted digital ad strategies for P&G, the biggest advertiser in the U.S. Using its ad-tracking software, the company compared year-over-year (YoY) 2017 numbers with January to August 2016.

During the months between January and August 2017, P&G has run its ads on 20% fewer sites overall — about 1,251 sites — compared with the year-ago timeframe.

In January the YoY change fell to 64%, followed by February at 56% and then March at 55%. Following the greatest drop in the year in April 2017 at 69%, the number of sites running P&G ads fell 38% in May and then 7% in June. In July, the number began to increase at 14%, and went up in August to 21%.

P&G reported during its second-quarter earnings call that reducing its media spend by more than $100 million in ineffective ads had no negative impact on its growth rate. The company also said it reduced overhead and agency fees.

Todd Krizelman, CEO and co-founder of MediaRadar, believes P&G has gained more transparency over its campaigns, which has resulted in a bounce-back.

After freezing YouTube campaigns, P&G eventually returned to advertising on YouTube’s preferred channels.