Brand Safety
Empowering advertiser choice with three new innovations in brand suitability
Using TikTok's new Category Exclusion and Vertical Sensitivity controls, advertisers now have more customizable ways to define where their ads appear on the For You feed. Allowing for brand protections that extend beyond traditional suitability, the controls can be conveniently accessed in a new unified Brand Safety Hub in TikTok Ads Manager.
At TikTok, our highest priority is creating a safe, positive environment for people to authentically express themselves. Doing so, in turn, establishes a positive environment for brands. Through enforcement of our Community Guidelines and other policies, TikTok creates brand-safe environments for advertisers.
Beyond brand safety, we respect that brands know their values best. As such, they may have preferences as to where they show up, especially when it comes to the content next to their ads. That's why we're committed to continuously innovating beyond traditional suitability standards—to build solutions that empower advertisers with even more control.
Today, we're launching additional controls layered on top of TikTok Inventory Filter to give advertisers even more choice on where their content shows up: Category Exclusion and Vertical Sensitivity controls. And we're unifying account-level controls for all of our brand safety and suitability solutions within TikTok Ads Manager (TTAM) to make using them even easier.
"We're committed to creating the most trusted entertainment platform where brands can safely engage and interact with their communities. From launching our Inventory Filter in 2022 to scaling it to 60+ markets with full coverage by our measurement partners, we've been consistently investing in innovation that empowers advertisers with choice."
Building on TikTok Inventory Filter
We launched TikTok Inventory Filter in July 2022 to offer more control to advertisers on where their content shows up in the For You feed. It's our premier brand suitability solution allowing advertisers choice as to where they are seen when it comes to the content next to their ads. Before their campaign begins, they can choose from 3 distinct inventory tiers—Expanded, Standard or Limited. Advanced machine-learning technology analyzes and aligns content with our inventory tiers based on sensitivity or risk levels. Advertisers also benefit from real-time content adjacency placement for their ads based on their chosen tier. For more about TikTok Inventory Filter, visit the TikTok Business Help Center.
About the new innovations
The new controls go above and beyond common industry standards and guidance for protections, including the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) Brand Suitability Framework.
Category Exclusion
Category Exclusion allows advertisers the ability to control whether their ads run next to four non-standard categories: Gambling & Lotteries, Violent Video Games, Combat Sports, and Youth Content. By controlling association with these categories of content, brands can maintain consistency in messaging. Take, for example, a major technology company promoting its gaming brand to adults. Likely, the company would feel comfortable having these ads appear adjacent to Violent Video Games content. On the other hand, when promoting their suite of productivity tools, they may want protection against this category.
Category Exclusion deals with content that does not violate our Community Guidelines. For example, while we do not allow the promotion of gambling services, content depicting gambling in entertainment like a movie is allowed. Learn more about Category Exclusion in the TikTok Business Help Center.
"We are thrilled to have been early testers of Category Exclusion and to have helped shape the product offering as it stands today. It has already helped us tremendously - allowing us to opt in to blocking specific categories, like Violent Video Games and Gambling & Lotteries, that do not resonate with our brand positioning and messaging. We look forward to continuing to leverage this solution and ensuring that we protect and foster our brand on TikTok."
Vertical Sensitivity
With Vertical Sensitivity, advertisers can select their vertical to exclude vertical-related content that they may consider misaligned with their brand positioning, offering them another layer of brand protection. For example, a travel brand that generally prefers content about nature, may not want to appear close to content about volcanos or floods. Or a financial brand could avoid content depicting potentially novice financial advice or strategies from a beginner sharing their opinion. We now offer 11 verticals to choose from, including Pets, Beauty, Food, Fashion/Retail, Travel, Financial Services, Technology, Automotive, Gaming, Professional Services and Entertainment. Learn more about Vertical Sensitivity in the TikTok Business Help Center.
"Hill’s is always looking for opportunities to ensure our content and brand likeness is not associated with messages that go against our brand mission, i.e. unfair treatment to pets or animals, and animal testing or abuse. We felt more confident utilizing the platform with TikTok's Vertical Sensitivity control in place. Brand Safety measures like this allow us to serve content to our audience on TikTok with peace of mind."
Verified Third-Party Results
We enable advertisers to work with trusted third-party measurement partners for independent assurance that the content next to their ads is brand safe and suitable. Our partners provide brand safety and suitability rates that align to the GARM Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework. Over the last year, DoubleVerify (DV), Integral Ad Science (IAS), and Zefr have collectively supported thousands of TikTok advertisers and measured more than 130 billion impressions in over 32 languages.* We are pleased to share that we have expanded our partnerships with DV, IAS and Zefr to include post-campaign measurement of these new controls. Learn more about our measurement partners.
We're proud to say that campaigns to date have demonstrated third-party success rates of 98.6% on average for these controls.
A unified hub in TikTok Ads Manager
As part of our ongoing efforts to streamline brand safety and create cohesion for advertisers, we have launched the Brand Safety Hub in TTAM. This one-stop shop focuses on our first-party solutions, including TikTok Inventory Filter, and our new Category Exclusion and Vertical Sensitivity controls. The hub offers advertisers a streamlined workflow, allowing them to define brand safety and suitability settings at the account-level, informing their default settings for future campaigns. This solution is for advertisers that know their preferences and want them automatically applied with fewer steps. Learn more about the Brand Safety Hub in TTAM in the TikTok Business Help Center.
Category Exclusion and the Brand Safety Hub in TTAM are available in every market where there is advertising on TikTok. For markets where Vertical Sensitivity is available, visit the TikTok Business Help Center.
What's next for safety and suitability?
At TikTok, we're always committed to creating the best possible experience for our users and brands, and we'll continue to innovate in brand safety and suitability to bring new tools to market that give advertisers more control over the environment in which their ads are served. There is no finish line when it comes to brand safety and suitability, and we're continuously evolving our policies, practices and products to create the most trusted entertainment platform for brands.
To learn more about brand suitability, visit TikTok for Business Brand Suitability. For more on all our brand safety solutions, visit the TikTok Brand Safety Center.
*Source: TikTok Internal Data 2023