Remember how Google was caught scamming advertisers out of billions of dollars with its Google Video Partners, aka TrueView, ad product? Well we have great news — kind-of! Nearly two months after they were called out for it, Google has decided to give some agencies … credits they can use on more Google ads. Uh, thanks? Here’s how we got here: A giant Adalytics report showed how Google was dumping ad inventory that advertisers thought was going to be on YouTube onto sites that didn’t even meet Google’s advertising standards. Ads ran on sites that promoted disinformation, that pushed conspiracy theories, and that were even blocked by other advertisers and banned by ad exchanges. On top of that, some ads ran unskippable and obscured. Not the premium YouTube experience advertisers thought they were getting. The ad industry wasn’t happy. The European Union *really* wasn’t happy, and is now auditing years of its Google spending after learning its ads were funding Russian propaganda sites. Now Google is sending ad credits to advertisers to “fix billing discrepancies,” ad executives told AdAge. Google says the ad credits aren’t refunds but part of “ongoing relationship building.” For once, we agree with Google: Paltry ad credits are no refund. If a store scammed you, you asked for your money back, and instead they gave you more store credit, would you be satisfied? No! |
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