Brand Safety Policy

Latest Updated: May 15, 2024

1. Adding Publishers into the Network

1.1 Adding Publishers into the network

Strict policies are in place to ensure that only high-quality sites are selected for VDX.tv’s network. Adding publishers evolves from a two-step process:

Site Acceptance:

Publishers must meet the VDX.tv Publisher Code of Conduct before being accepted
Manual quality checks are performed by VDX.tv employees to ensure compliance
Sites are also constantly scanned by our proprietary PageGuard^TM technology and are removed if questionable content is found
Transparent site lists are always made available for advertisers to approve or remove sites that are not an appropriate match for their brand

Domain Verification:

Before a new site goes live, they must identify all domains that they will/might run an VDX.tv ad on
After the publisher submits the domain(s), VDX.tv employees manually vet the domain for brand-safety purposes
If the domain is approved, it is added into the ‘approved domain’ list. VDX.tv’s ad server references this approved list to learn where it is and is not allowed, to serve an impression
If a non-approved domain calls our ad server for an ad, the ad server rejects the request and will NOT serve that domain an ad
This process and proprietary technology prevents publishers from accidentally or intentionally retrafficking our ads to questionable sites

1.2 Publisher Code of Conduct Overview

The VDX.tv Publisher Code of Conduct defines types of prohibited content (i.e. pornography, copyright infringement, spam, fraud, pyramid schemes, etc…) and types of prohibited actions (i.e. tag re-trafficking, altering ad creative, pay for clicks/impressions, timed rotations/auto-refresh, etc…)
Publisher domains are approved at VDX.tv’s discretion (i.e. no publishers with downloadable software, no publishers that may be harmful to the business reputation of VDX.tv)

1.3 Inventory acquired through RTB

We supplement our on-network activity with inventory acquired off-network.
We typically use TAG-certified (https://www.tagtoday.net/registry) exchange partners, where feasible.
We always run activity via a pre-vetted domain Accept list, unless otherwise agreed with the client.
Our list of partners is available for review, although please note, this is subject to change.

1.4 Ads.txt

We support ads.txt and have done so since its launch in 2017.
We continue to work with publishers who have an ads.txt file enabled and enter us as an approved seller of their inventory.
Any inventory acquired through RTB is also ads.txt compliant.
We are committed to our role in creating a cleaner, more transparent advertising ecosystem for everyone.

2. Brand Safety

The following section outlines the various roles that both proprietary and 3rd party technology plays in ensuring delivery to the audience intended by the agency/brand.

2.1 PageGuard™

PageGuard™ is VDX.tv’s proprietary answer to ensuring that all campaigns are delivered to safe environments. It uses a 3 step processes to provide a comprehensive and proactive solution to prevent the possibility of ads appearing on inappropriate content:

Site acceptance (covered in section 1.1)
Domain Verification (covered in section 1.1)
Page Level Contextualization: Pages are scanned daily according to traffic priority. Our proprietary page-level contextualization technology then categorizes these pages, assessing the safety of the content. In the event a page is deemed to be an unsafe brand environment, VDX.tv will not serve an ad.

2.2 3rd Party Content Verification

In addition to PageGuard, we can also layer on 3^rd party verification via one of our integrated partners, or via a vendor of the client’s choice. This works as follows:

An agency/brand decides they want to run a 3rd party verification tool
Agency either works directly with the verification provider to create verification specifications OR allows VDX.tv to pick a preferred vendor
Agency sends the specifications to VDX.tv – specs might include an Accept/Block list, intended or violating website categorizations, violating keywords, intended geo targeting, etc…
VDX.tv targets the campaign in our ad server per the agency’s specifications
Campaign is set live after applying the verification code in either the agency’s ad server or VDX.tv’s ad server
VDX.tv starts to receive reporting from the agency ad server AND the verification tool

If no violations are seen, continue to run campaign
If violations are seen, adjust campaign targeting until the violations go below the predetermined threshold or disappear altogether

**Due to occasionally inaccurate categorizations by the 3rd party vendors, VDX.tv account managers are trained to vet the site categorization from the vendors against their own personal categorization. If the AM categorization vastly disagrees with the vendor’s categorization engine, the AM may pursue the agency to add the site to a whitelist OR the verification vendor to re-categorize the site.

2.3 Take Down Policy

If violations are seen, we adjust the campaign targeting until the violations go below the predetermined threshold or disappear altogether. Correction of flagged violations will occur within 48 hours, but best endeavors will be made to rectify immediately. The contractual consequences of not responding appropriately to a takedown request in the specified time frame will be subject to the terms of individual IOs.

3. Geo Targeting

We utilize the leading databases for effective geo-targeting. Please note that there may be minor discrepancies as a result of different vendors using different databases.

4. Malware

VDX.tv uses The Media Trust as its 3rd party malware detection service.

4.1 Media Trust Integration

We have an API integration with the Media Trust that allows them to programmatically scan our ad tags looking for malware. If malware is detected on a tag, this is immediately flagged for internal review and where necessary, the campaign paused and client notified.

5. Fraud

VDX.tv has a number of safeguards in place to help keep our network clean and free of invalid traffic: PageGuard, click fraud algorithms, impression fraud algorithms, and a proprietary ad server that allows us to monitor and adjust accordingly.

5.1 Impression Fraud

We do not serve any campaigns to robotic impressions

For every impression, we compare the user agent with a list of known user agents and if found, we mark the request origination from a robot
Apart from the above static list, we maintain a count of ads served to a user over a certain amount of time. If that gets too high, we flag the activity as potentially invalid and any subsequent impressions for the remaining browsing session will not be counted. That flag can be removed if the activity returns to normal behavior for a sufficient period of time.
Bots are detected and blocked in the future both by means of built-in logic inside our ad server and offline processes.

5.2 Click Fraud

The ad server first checks the combination of creative id (via the mediadata_id), user_id (the unique id associated with a cookie) and timestamp. If we’ve seen the combination before, disregard the click request (it’s a duplicate). The ad server has a strong algorithm to detect all duplicate clicks and disregard those duplicate requests.
Next, check the IP address and user agent requesting the click against our list of known robots. If either is found, the click request will not be honored.
If a user has clicked more than a certain number in a preset amount of time, it will be treated as ROBOT for all subsequent views/clicks
Bots are detected and blocked in the future both by means of built-in logic inside our ad server and having offline processes.

5.3 Manual Monitoring

We look for suspicious patterns in the data that may indicate bots or purchased traffic

Pre-launch monitoring: Prior to approval, a domain is manually vetted using a combination of licensed tools and proprietary methodology to help determine the likelihood that the domain engages in nefarious behavior
Post-launch monitoring: After domain approval and traffic starts flowing, pubs are monitored on certain distributions of inventory types, as well as fluctuations of various metrics
Consultative technology monitoring: various services are leveraged as an additional safeguard

VDX.tv’s dedicated publisher team manually monitors this publisher activity on an ongoing basis. If irregularities are noticed, we will either:

Remove the publisher immediately, OR
Start a conversation regarding the infraction(s). If the publisher is forthcoming with information, we will entertain a second chance. If not, they will be removed

6. Verified Services Used

Please refer to our list of services that are leveraged by VDX.tv’s display network to guarantee accurate delivery of advertiser campaigns. Some of these services are used on request, while others are used at regular or consistent intervals.

VDX.tv reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, discontinue or terminate these Safety Guidelines at any time and without advance notice. Continued access to or use of VDX.tv’s services after any such revision constitutes agreement to the revised Safety Guidelines.

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Last modified July 2022

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