Sponsored By Channel Factory * 24 April 2025 *
Anudit Vikram Chief Product Officer, Channel Factory.
The technology of brand safety has advanced far beyond its origins. What started as simple keyword blocks lists has evolved into a new tool generation powered by AI. These systems integrate natural language processing with computer vision, machine-learning, and large language models in order to understand content on a deeper level. They can assess tone and sentiment, emotion and visual context, as well as audience response, to create a multidimensional picture of the environments in which ads may appear.
The sophistication is important. Brands need more than just a list of exclusions. They need platforms that can differentiate between risk and relevance and nuance and noise. Multimodal AI has enabled media classification to move away from surface-level filters to a more semantic understanding. This can provide an added ability to include performance signals as a second layer of analysis.
As the tools become smarter, they will have a greater impact on their value depending on where and how you can apply them. Although many of these systems were designed with the open web as a goal, digital advertising is now happening elsewhere. Media is mostly bought today in closed ecosystems. The suitability standards of tomorrow will be shaped based on what happens inside.
Brand safety is evolving to remain relevant. It must be able to operate in the context of content consumption, revealing signals which support both risk reduction as well as message amplification.
Today, most media investment is made through walled garden. These are not just content platforms, but tightly controlled advertising environments that have proprietary data, targeting guidelines and creative formats. Understanding the context within these ecosystems requires much more than just scratching the surface. It requires AI systems that can interpret platform-specific signals, and operate within the rules of each environment.
Legacy software often fails in this area. Their inputs and out put were designed for the open internet, where data was more freely available and ad delivery was more standard. Relevance is not a keyword match on YouTube, Meta, or TikTok. It’s a function based on visual tone, social signals, and recommendation algorithms. Solutions that aren’t able to adapt to these realities will not meet the needs of today.
Platforms may be closed but agency and brand expectation are not. Advertisers must still understand where their ads run, what content surrounds the ads and how this context shapes audience perception. Channel Factory’s AI-powered optimization and classification models must navigate the constraints in each ecosystem, while still providing meaningful visibility, control, and alignment with performance objectives.
AI can be an unexpected ally in the fight for transparency. In the past, machine learning models that were more sophisticated often demanded a compromise – greater performance at a cost of transparency into how decisions are made.
The newest generation of suitability system is challenging this assumption. AI can illuminate environments which would otherwise remain opaque, by analyzing content or performance criteria in highly explicable ways. These tools, when designed properly, don’t undermine advertiser control, but rather enhance it by giving teams better guidance on what works and why.
Contextual signals that support positive alignment
It’s not just about what to avoid. It’s more important than ever to identify positive alignment – the content, tone, and audience dynamics which reinforce brand values or enhance messaging.
AI is now used not only for protection but also for amplification. Systems must go beyond binary classifications of safe/unsafe and interpret contextual nuance. What is appropriate for a luxury skin care brand may not be relevant for a gaming headphone. A video may pass a safety test but still not resonate.
Advanced classifiers can now evaluate content based on tone, sentiment, metadata and imagery. These capabilities can help identify moments that actively support the brand message. They also enable better creative briefings and more responsive optimization.
AI makes global nuance scalable. A scene that is aspirational on one market could be unintended in another. Geo-aware systems allow teams to remain relevant while avoiding mistakes.
Creative analysis fuels smarter matching
Creative excellence remains a major lever for campaign performance. For too long, creative analytics and suitability have been kept apart. This is beginning to change.
With the help of machine learning models that are trained on media performance data and can be applied to content environments, brands can now evaluate their creative assets using the same contextual lenses. These systems evaluate emotional tone, narrative structure and visual pacing, and correlate them to actual outcomes. The feedback loop enforces alignment, and more importantly, it drives improvement.
When creativity and contextual understanding are combined, advertisers can create messaging that thrives within specific environments. Ads are not just protected, but optimized for resonance and return.
Here is where AI-enabled suits adds the most value – not as a gatekeeper but as an input to campaign strategy.
AI that works where it counts
AI is a game changer in brand safety. It has improved content understanding with more precision, speed, and scale.
But sophistication alone isn’t the goal. It is important to know where and how this capability can be applied, and whether it’s possible to do so in a transparent manner where media is actually run.
The suitability tools must be used within the walled garden where most media is purchased. They must enhance contextual relevance, in addition to reducing risks, and help brands make smarter creative decisions and media decisions which ultimately shape campaign performances.
Technology is here. The next step is to operationalize it, converting capability into consistent and visible results — platform-by-platform, moment-by moment.
Sponsored by Channel Factory
https://digiday.com/?p=576525
