Ad technology makes it possible for advertisers to reach specific target audiences on Web pages that can hurt an advertisers' own brand. So now "brand safety" is the latest battle cry from our industry, but who is at war? On one side, you have premium publishers and premium advertisers. They have more to gain when content quality and brand safety are the prevailing factors in determining where to run an ad. On the other side sits Facebook, Google and the portals, platforms and exchanges whose success is driven by ad tech. These entities win more ad dollars when audience targeting …

Recent reports show e-sports has an estimated online audience of 225 million and growing. Brands, media and publishers are chomping at the bit to establish their own e-sports presence, especially as traditional sports viewership numbers continue to decline on TV. But these players need to understand that the audience for e-sports is significantly different from their traditional ones for TV and on digital. More importantly, reaching these e-sports fans will take a new approach that may be inherently outside of their comfort zone and core competency.