SpotX Filtering Fake News for Sponsors Seeking Safe Video

Video advertising platform SpotX said it can prevent brands commercials from running in objectionable content through an extended partnership with zvelo.

Zvelo’s ability to detect and block malicious websites and content—including fake news—helps ensure brand safety for SpotX users. Other content blocked including material supporting terrorism and cryptocurrency mining.

“Our expanded partnership with zvelo really reinforces SpotX’s unwavering commitment to brand safety, as well as our duty to clean up the video ad ecosystem and educate media buyers about fraudulent inventory as new threats emerge,” said Nick Frizzell, senior director, brand safety & inventory operations at, SpotX.

“Empowered by zvelo’s technology, we’re able to help media buyers avoid brand-damaging associations with fake news,” Frizzell said. “In an environment where buyers continually struggle to identify worthwhile ad inventory within the onslaught of new content and websites emerging every day, our zvelo-backed brand safety practices help publishers sort through the noise and successfully target advantageous ad placements.”

zvelo provides a classification engine that categorizes fake news using a combination of static and heuristic analysis techniques, aggregation of vetted third-party “fake news” feeds, and human-supervised machine learning.

SpotX was the first supply-side platform that we partnered with in providing content categorization for brand safety, and we’re proud of the work we’ve done together to make the internet a safer place to advertise,” said Jeff Finn, CEO, zvelo. “At the same time, we’re excited to provide greater capabilities for the categorization of fake news sources than ever before, and to assist SpotX in offering a thoroughly vetted, brand-safe ad inventory for publishers.”

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.