Agency Whitelist Launched:
A Solution for Digital Ad Distribution that Ensures Brand Safety

The five Tokyo-based companies Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Inc. (President & CEO: Hirotake Yajima), Hakuhodo DY Digital Inc. (President & CEO: Akira Tsuji), D.A.Consortium Inc. (President & CEO: Masaya Shimada; “DAC”), Platform One Inc. (President & CEO: Norihide Akiba; “P1”), and E-Guardian Inc. (President & CEO: Yasuhisa Takatani), have launched Agency Whitelist, a solution that delivers ads only to safe sites based on Hakuhodo DY Group proprietary criteria. As part of Hakuhodo DY MQM_TM [*1], which addresses important issues surrounding digital ad transparency and quality, Agency Whitelist assures advertiser brand safety by delivering ads to appropriate placement locations.

As digital ad placements have expanded in recent years, programmatic ad transactions have also grown enormously. The leveraging of data and technology to deliver ads to targeted individuals is one main reason for the success of programmatic ads. The drawback is that some ads are delivered to inappropriate locations. These misplacements occur because ad placement locations of networked media firms are negotiated mechanically via a DSP/SSP system.

A common strategy to deal with inappropriately placed ads is black lists that block pre-specified domains. Black lists can block deliveries to inappropriate locations while maintaining ad placement volumes. Their downside is the difficulty in blocking all inappropriate sites, since the number of websites and apps continues to grow every day. Another strategy is to use a white list, so that ads are delivered only to pre-specified domains. While this strategy allows clients to define all placement domains, the problem is sufficient ad placement volumes cannot be achieved, in addition to the trouble of creating a white list based on objective criteria. A third strategy that has emerged recently is private marketplaces (PMPs). These give clients priority in buying ad spaces on premium placement media in combination with various rich ad formats.

In view of this situation, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners and Hakuhodo DY Digital teamed up with　DAC, P1, a consolidated subsidiary of DAC, and E-Guardian, to start offering Agency Whitelist, a solution that delivers ads only to pre-specified domains while maintaining fixed placement volumes. Agency Whitelist is part of initiatives by Hakuhodo DY Media Partners and Hakuhodo DY Digital for safer ad placements. The whitelisted locations on Agency Whitelist are rigorously screened. Japan-specific categories are first added to the IAB Content Categories [*2], and decisions based on these categories are then visually checked by E-Guardian. Safe placement locations on Agency Whitelist are derived from a massive list with over 15,000 domains, and we have verified ads will be delivered with a fixed minimum placement volume.

With the launch of this solution, the Hakuhodo DY Group is now able to deliver programmatic ads with three different methods, each with their own advantages: proprietary black lists, Agency Whitelist, and Hakuhodo DY PMP_. By optimally combining these methods for the advertising objective, the Hakuhodo DY Group will further media planning that achieves the best possible performance while ensuring safety. And DAC will move ahead with consulting services to media firms based on Agency Whitelist, in addition to ad operations in conjunction with Hakuhodo DY Media Partners and Hakuhodo DY Digital.