Mediabrands advises clients to temporarily stop Google Performance Max campaigns

IPG Mediabrands recommended to its clients that they temporarily pause their campaigns when using Google Performance Max.

In response to allegations made in a recent report, the company sent out a “privacy warning” email. The report claimed that YouTube ads could have been used to track children in an inappropriate way.

According to a study by Adalytics, brands using PMax could inadvertently be violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Why we care. If brands are found in violation of COPPA they could be forced to pay a large financial penalty, just like YouTube in 2019, when it paid a record-breaking $170 million in order to settle similar allegations.

Has any law been broken? According to COPPA, online service providers must obtain parental consent before collecting information for targeted advertising from children under 13 years of age.

Researchers from Adalytics found that the platform was serving customized ads for more than 300 brands in “made for children” videos. The platform served personalized ads from more than 300 brands on “made for kids” videos.

IPG Mediabrands investigates . IPG Mediabrands responded to the findings by conducting its own investigation. According to reports, they found that one of their clients who was running a campaign aimed at adults had an ad featured on a channel “made for children”.

If a child clicked on the advertisement, tracking pixels would have collected data about the child and their ID. These data were then shared with Google PMax.

IPG Mediabrands which manages marketing investments worth $40 billion worldwide has reportedly concluded that an in-depth investigation is needed to determine the full impact on their clients.

What has IPG Mediabrands stated? IPG Mediabrands’ spokesperson claimed that it was wrong to claim it recommended a pause for any Google product. However, an email obtained by Business Insider stated:

• We recommend clients temporarily stop PMAX because placement reporting for PMAX is not available. This will allow us to test the effectiveness of these controls on non-PMAX campaign where reporting is available.
• Clients should consult their legal, privacy/infosec and website teams to determine potential exposure and the appropriate process for identifying, and removing, data that may have been collected from children. For example, advertisers can assess data from their CDPs originating from YouTube as a source of traffic.
• The FTC is likely to scrutinize these recommendations, and the waste of advertising against unintended audience has been documented.

What has Google said about the study? Dan Taylor, Google Vice President for Global Ads, called the Adalytics Study “flawed”. In a blog post on X, formerly Twitter, he said:

• This is the second time this summer that [Adalytics] has produced incorrect research on Google advertising. Adalytics ignores or gets it wrong on 6 important facts about protecting kids on YouTube.
• “#1 Never personalize any ads for kids. We treat all children who watch Made for Kids as if they are still young.
• “#2 YouTube Kids is a dedicated app that was built from the ground-up to provide a safe experience for children to explore. It also includes tools to help parents and caregivers guide their journey. YouTube Kids has never featured personalized ads.
• No ads are allowed for the #3 Made for Kids content, but we have restrictions on what products can be advertised. No ads for media or video games that are not suitable for children. No ads about dating, relationship and food.
• Google does not tell advertisers what video or content a user watched when they clicked on an advertisement. This means that advertisers will never know whether a click was from someone who watched Made for Kids content.
• “#5 Advertisers can opt out of Made for Kids Content with just one click. This opt-out prevents advertisers’ ads from running alongside Made for Kids material. Adalytics does not appear to be aware of this.”
• “#6 Cookies ad personalization. Under COPPA, cookies are allowed for statistical reporting and spam and fraud detection. They can also be used for frequency capping. “Cookies are essential to YouTube creators monetization, which promotes a diverse range of content on YouTube.”
• “#7 Although we just received the report, we have already reviewed it and found no violation of our privacy policies or commitments. We do not trust the accuracy of Adalytics research, given that their last report was debunked twice by independent organizations.
• The NYTimes was given an early copy of the report and could not verify most of Adalytics claims. The report does not confirm Adalytics’ allegations and found exactly the opposite. There was no violation of COPPA or improper use of cookies.
• “#9 Adalytics report is a sham and attempts to create a snare when there’s none. We invited them to a meeting weeks ago, but heard nothing. “Do they have the expertise and credentials to publish these reports?”

Deep dive. Adalytics YouTube study is a great source of information. For more information, read Google’s official documentation How ads work on YouTube supervised accounts.

The article IPG Mediabrands advises clients to temporarily stop Google Performance Max campaigns first appeared on Search Engine Land.