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Brand safety

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Brand safety refers to measures taken to protect a brand’s reputation by avoiding placements in environments that are illegal, harmful or damaging. This includes avoiding legal content that is violent, hateful, or otherwise inappropriate. The goal is to prevent any association with content that could negatively impact all brands’ reputations and images.

ISBA has a long history of working with industry bodies, the government and the wider ecosystem to promote best practice and raise awareness of media placement issues to brands. For instance, ISBA drove the development of cross-industry brand safety guidance when ad placement adjacent to illegal and unsafe content became the focus of UK media coverage in 2017. 

 ISBA regularly develops and publishes industry guidance with its members and cross-industry. This is often then fed into the Media Services Framework which members and their suppliers such as agencies, use to set the parameters of their agreements.

The Brand Safety chapter of our Responsible Media Guide contains more information of guidelines and best practice, and is available here. 

If you are an ISBA member with any questions about ensuring the safety of your brand online contact Stephen Chester or Dan Larden.

As an independent trade body, ISBA does not endorse any position taken, or not taken, by any other bodies we reference or include guidance from in this section. It remains the sole discretion of ISBA members whether to follow their recommendations.

Contact us

Stephen Chester

Stephen Chester

Director of Social & Online Media Relations
Stephen Chester
07818 060 647

Stephen Chester

Director of Social & Online Media Relations

Steve has spent the last 18 years of his career in the digital advertising industry. 

He’s the Director of Media for ISBA, leading a team delivering industry education, standards, research and shaping and campaigning for effective, responsible industry self-regulation across all media platforms on behalf of marketers. He is also a permanent member of the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS) overseeing digital trading standards for the UK including brand safety, viewability and ad fraud. 

Prior to ISBA, Steve spent 5 years as Director of Data & Industry Programmes at the Internet Advertising Bureau in the UK leading a team covering Display, Search & Data, 8 years at Microsoft Advertising leading a variety of account management/client service teams and 4 years as Head of Operations at Agency.com, a leading full service digital marketing agency.

Rob Newman

Rob Newman

Director of External Affairs
Rob Newman

Rob Newman

Director of External Affairs

Rob heads up External Affairs for ISBA. His remit covers press and communications, as well as engagement with government, Parliament, policymakers, and regulators.

Rob is a former political adviser who spent 12 years with the Labour Party in various roles, including in Andy Burnham’s Shadow Health Team and as part of the secretariat to the Shadow Cabinet. He also stood as a candidate in the 2024 General Election. He spent over three years at Edelman, supporting clients including FTSE 100 companies and multinationals in the FMCG and tech sectors on their public affairs engagement.

Rob joined ISBA in 2019 as Head of Public Policy, before becoming Director of Public Affairs in 2021. He sits on CAP/BCAP Committee, was the lead author of ISBA’s Influencer Marketing Code of Conduct, has become an industry leader on the ‘less healthy’ food ad restrictions, and chairs our Public Affairs Forum. He lives in Woodford with his partner Tony and their border terrier, Marvin.

The difference between brand safety and brand suitability

Brand safety ensures ads avoid harmful or inappropriate content that could damage any brand’s reputation, while brand suitability tailors ad placements to align with a specific brand’s values, audience, and tone. Together, they help advertisers avoid risky environments and choose contexts that best reflect their identity.

Managing online brand safety

To manage online brand safety, marketers are increasingly using tools like inclusion lists, private marketplaces, and trusted platforms to control where their ads appear and reduce risks from programmatic buying. Despite platform safeguards like AI moderation and transparency reports, challenges persist—especially in open marketplaces—making strong partnerships and up-to-date intelligence essential.

Platform Brand Safety

Major platforms enforce their Community Guidelines using AI and human moderation to detect and remove harmful content, with users also able to report violations. Some platforms use fact-checkers or community commentary to verify content, and publish transparency reports detailing actions like warnings, removals, or account suspensions.

Content Verification

Advertisers face challenges in ensuring brand-safe ad placements due to the massive scale and speed of programmatic advertising, which requires sophisticated technology and close collaboration with partners. Using content verification tools help assess and manage content risks, but these tools must be applied thoughtfully to avoid overblocking and ensure effective, context-aware targeting.

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