The real motivations behind the growing YouTube advertiser boycott

One UK advertising executive speculated that a media agency network could now theoretically say: "If we put [YouTube] inventory through our filter, we will clean it up, make it safe, and make a fortune on the side."

Meanwhile, other media owners — like broadcasters and online publishers — can use the current wave of negativity about Google as a marketing tool to reinforce the value of their premium, apparently safer, environments to advertisers.

A lack of understanding about what's really going on

The executives we spoke to said one of the reasons the brand safety row really flared up this time around is because the issue of ads appearing next to ISIS videos is easier for senior management teams to understand than some of the other challenges affecting the online ad market, like ad fraud, bots, and media agencies' business models.

Almost everyone in the business uses YouTube. Their kids use it. Something like Google's ad exchange, AdX, is a more difficult concept to fathom. A CEO can see a screenshot of their brand ad next to a terrorist YouTube video on the front page of The Times and immediately understand that isn't a good look from a PR perspective. There's an obvious culprit to blame: Google. There's a clear reaction to take: Threaten to pull spend.

But even that kind of action has revealed a lack of education in clients. Business Insider learned that one client joining the advertiser boycott told Google it wanted to cut all of its spend — including search (most of the advertisers as part of the protest restricted their suspensions to just YouTube and Google's display ad network). Just a couple of hours later, the marketer got back in touch to switch search back on, having realized their mistake (and presumably having seen an immediate negative impact on their website visits).

Digital advertising is complex and not easy for people without experience in the industry or without a technical background to get their heads around.

As an example: A letter from Yvette Cooper, the chair of the UK government's home affairs committee, sent to Google on Friday said: "It is inexplicable to us that Google can move very fast to remove material from YouTube when it is found to be copyrighted, but that the same prompt action is not taken when the material involves proscribed organizations and hateful and illegal content."

But as VC firm Andreessen Horowitz partner Benedict Evans pointed out in a tweet, YouTube's copyright detection service Content ID can't be directly applied to filtering out hate speech:

It's also incumbent on advertisers to have at least some idea of where their ad spend is going, the executives we spoke to said. For every pop music video, or Zoella makeup tutorial on YouTube, it should be no surprise their ads will likely be served against some truly unprofessional content shot on a shaky mobile phone — and that a small percentage of that content could potentially be offensive. Any platform that is built on user-generated content carries that risk — something agencies should take responsibility to remind their clients about. Advertisers can also choose not to go there and pay only for premium placements, but most don't as they want to keep their ad spending to a minimum.

Google shouldn't be let completely off the hook, either, the people we spoke to said. The fact that the level of disquiet from advertisers against the company grew so quickly shows it has some fundamental relationship problems with the industry. And, as media-buying firm GroupM's chief digital officer Rob Norman pointed out in an article for Campaign, YouTube funding accounts associated with terror and violence poses a clear "societal risk".

But the storm is also likely not yet over. The UK government could decide to get tougher and haul Google in front of another squirm-inducing select committee, as it did over the company's tax affairs. The brand safety issue, which has been isolated mostly to the UK so far, could spread to other regions — a possibility Pivotal research analyst Brian Wieser floated as he downgraded Google's stock earlier this week. And there's also the chance that ads could still be found appearing next to inappropriate content even after the changes to its policies and advertiser tools are introduced.

The advertiser boycott is unlikely to be permanent. Google's audience is far too big for them to stay away forever. But it remains to be seen whether Google can overcome a clear level of distrust from the advertising industry — the stakeholders it relies on the most.

Julien Rath also contributed reporting.