The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) has set up Project Brand Integrity, a new programme aiming to combat ad-supported piracy in Europe.
The system is designed to alert marketers when their digital adverts appear on websites that feature unauthorised content. TAG will also advise advertisers on how to minimise damaging ad misplacement.
Project Brand Integrity will use intellectual property (IP) risk protection experts White Bullet to scan ad-supported copyright infringing sites to identify brands that appear.
In the US, TAG and CreativeFuture have reduced the amount of premium advertising featured on copyright infringing websites by 85 per cent.
White Bullet CEO Peter Szyszko said: “Piracy is now a highly dynamic ecosystem, relying heavily on advertising revenue and continuing to damage the creative industries. We are delighted to be working with TAG on this new programme. It is an essential tool to raise awareness amongst brands and ad agencies so they can take steps to reduce placement of advertising on IP infringing websites, so tackling the revenue of piracy and protecting the brands.”
Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) director general Grégoire Polad added: “ACT and its members are fully committed to the fight against online piracy and, for this reason, we welcome the launch of Project Brand Integrity in Europe. This new initiative to combat ad-supported piracy is a step in the right direction to foster a safe and legal internet in the European Union.”
