AT&T’s WarnerMedia has set up a system for selling digital advertising inventory programmatic via private marketplaces set up by the company’s Xandr advanced advertising unit.
This year’s election is expected to generate record advertising spending, with big increases coming in digital advertising. That’s happening at the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic is cutting demand for most other forms of advertising.
Xandr said its programmatic pipeline is set up to give election-year campaign access to premium inventory while ensuring trust, transparency and compliance to a dedicated creative approval process.
“WarnerMedia – like all publishers – has a responsibility to meet the needs of our advertising partners while protecting audiences who come to our platforms for information and entertainment,” said Joe Hogan, executive VP of sales and marketing at WarnerMedia. “The highest of standards is key in protecting each of our partner’s messages, and digital environments are no exception. In collaborating with Xandr, we are confident that this system and solution enables political and advocacy advertisers to reach the intended audiences in the proper context, across our entire ecosystem.”
WarnerMedia said it has set up a process that includes a manual creative review to check that ads meet its standards for accuracy and compliance.
In a recent study, Xandr found that three out of four respondents said they believed political ads include “fraudulent” or “fake” information. Despite that, 60% or more said they have researched or read more about a cause or candidate after exposure to a political ad, demonstrating the need for safeguarding ads.
“Xandr has seen increased demand for flexible access to political inventory this election year across all screens – in premium, brand-safe environments,” said Mike Welch, head of Xandr. “We’ve made a commitment to political buyers to expedite creative approvals to streamline campaigns, while meeting our rigorous compliance standards during this busy election season. By enabling a secondary creative review within our platform, we are able to turn on political advertising programmatically in a safe and compliant manner across the WarnerMedia portfolio.”
