Brand Safety and Suitability Solution TikTok Inventory Filter Debuts in 25 Countries

TikTok introduced a new brand safety and suitability solution Tuesday, the TikTok Inventory Filter, available in 25 countries and more than 15 languages and aimed at giving advertisers more control over the content that appears next to their in-feed ads on the application’s For You page. Jon Schmucler, the video creation platform’s global head of product marketing, measurement, wrote in a blog post Tuesday, "At TikTok, we strive to create meaningful tools that empower brands to connect with our community and drive business impact. When we innovate for advertisers—from ideation through to implementation—brand safety, suitability and media effectiveness are never afterthoughts, but instead baked into our processes every step of the way. With the launch of the TikTok Inventory Filter, we are taking a major step forward with our ability to offer brands even more robust control over their advertising environment, all while laying a strong technical foundation for future innovation in suitability, customization and measurement for our brand partners." The TikTok Inventory Filter rolled out Tuesday in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the U.K., the U.S. and Vietnam. TikTok plans to extend the TikTok Inventory Filter to more countries in the coming months, as well as to add more campaign objectives and test new technical iterations and customization options. The company added in its blog post, “We will begin standardizing our brand safety and suitability offering across all ad products, with TikTok Inventory Filter being a default feature for products like TikTok Pulse and Branded Mission.” TikTok also explained the thinking behind the TikTok Inventory Filter, writing, “Just like our users, brands are incredibly diverse—each with their own identity, mission and values. What follows is that each brand may think differently about the nature of the environment in which they choose to advertise. TikTok's community guidelines are built with the safety of all of our users in mind, although sometimes content that is not violative still might not resonate with a particular brand's identity. For example, a family-oriented brand might not want to appear next to videos containing even mild or comedic violence, whereas an advertiser promoting an action movie could benefit from showing up in that environment.” The TikTok Inventory Filter is powered by machine learning technology and gives advertisers access to three distinct tiers of video inventory—Full, Standard and Limited—informed by the platform’s policies and industry standard the GARM Brand Safety Floor and Brand Suitability Framework from the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. GARM global initiative lead Rob Rakowitz said in the blog post, “With the rapid evolution of brand safety and suitability in digital advertising, it is more important than ever that platforms not only create a safe environment for advertisers, but also provide them the solutions to effectively mitigate potential reputational risk at scale. We're thrilled to see all that TikTok has achieved in such a short time and are encouraged that the new TikTok Inventory Filter technology was built in line with GARM standards. As an integral partner to GARM in our efforts to promote a healthier digital ecosystem, TikTok has continually demonstrated a strong commitment to leadership—and this latest solution is another testament to its ongoing investment in creating a positive environment for brands." Content is classified for the three inventory tiers in the TikTok Inventory Filter based on the following risk levels: Floor Content: Content that violates TikTok’s community guidelines, terms of service and/or intellectual property policy.High-Risk Content: Glamorization or gratuitous depiction of mature themes.Medium-Risk Content: Fictional or entertainment depiction of mature themes.Low-Risk Content: Educational depiction of mature themes. TikTok explained how the tiers are then populated: Full Inventory: Excludes any Floor Content that has been removed by robust moderation against TikTok's community guidelines and some High-Risk Content, but ads may appear next to some content featuring mature themes.Standard Inventory: Excludes Floor Content and High-Risk Content. Ads will appear next to content that is appropriate for most brands, but may contain some mature themes.Limited Inventory: Excludes all risk levels. Ads will appear next to content that does not contain mature themes. TikTok said “hundreds of major brands” were involved in testing the TikTok Inventory Filter, and their campaigns saw safe delivery rates of 95% to 99%, as measured by brand safety measurement company Zefr, mapped to GARM's standards. Unilever personal care media manager for Brazil Vivian Genachi wrote in the blog post, "TikTok is a platform that drives cultural moments and virality, and Rexona is always seeking new and innovative ways to reach audiences that have their pulse on the latest trends. Combining our own innovation with TikTok's proved to be the perfect match, leading to great results in both awareness and brand recall. Brand safety and suitability are top priorities for Unilever, and we thoroughly evaluate any new advertising channel to ensure that our ads show up in the right environment. The TikTok Inventory Filter's adjacency controls provided us with an added level of confidence, and we were pleased to see the efficacy of the solution, with Zefr reporting brand safety and suitability rates of 99.9%." Zefr co-founder and co-CEO Rich Raddon added, “Global advertisers continue to prioritize brand safety and suitability controls without constraining campaign performance and reach from legacy approaches like keyword blocklists. As a TikTok brand safety and suitability measurement partner, Zefr is encouraged by TikTok’s continued innovation and commitment to safety with the release of Inventory Filters, which allow advertisers to exert even more control on their content adjacency on the platform.”