• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 25, 2019

CHEQ and RiskIQ plan to announce a partnership that provides advertisers and publishers with access to a bundled service to protect brands, publishers and site visitors.

The idea is to keep brands and publishers safe, as well as protect consumers from malware and malicious code.

In this exclusive partnership, the bundled service will combine CHEQ’s autonomous brand safety, viewability, and ad-fraud services with RiskIQ’s ad-scanning for malware, hijacking, and ad injection to protect companies and consumers across the advertising supply chain.

Today, no integration is required for brands and agencies that want to use the services, but the two companies are considering building an API that will provide greater control and capabilities.

The two companies will each get a percentage of the incoming business. The management of the platform will be in one of the two user interfaces.

Brands are increasingly concerned about where their ads serve up. Many advertisers have pulled ads because of brand-safety violations and are actively seeking ways to keep placement safe.

In a recent CHEQ study, the majority of the 2,300 people participating in the survey believe that the ads, which are placed alongside negative content, were done so deliberately. "They don't know how ad placement works," says Daniel Avital, chief strategy officer at CHEQ. "When that happens consumers often punish the brand."

Consumers view ad placement as an intentional endorsement of content. Consumers also are less likely to feel that the brand cares about them and more likely to feel that brand quality perception has declined, and are less likely to recommend the brand to a friend or family member.