One in every thousand tweets is pornographic. As a consequence, Nielsen pulled its Twitter ad campaign.
Adam Rifkin stashed this in Twitter!
Stashed in: Advertising, G4!, Active Users, Twitter, Pr0n, Pr0n
A Channel 4 News investigation in February found that one in every thousand tweets is pornographic.
Robert Peck, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, estimated in a report published last week that at least 10 million Twitter accounts were dedicated to tweeting pornography, Adweek reported. Peck added that if Twitter did not start doing a better job blocking them, clients would pull back on spending.
Twitter doesn't need another ad revenue setback: Its first-quarter revenue fell below its own forecast and analysts' expectations — $436 million versus analysts' estimates of $456.8 million — and its second-quarter guidance of $470 million to $485 million fell well below the $538.2 million expected by analysts.
Stuart McLennan, head of paid social media at the digital marketing agency iProspect, told Business Insider clients had been asking about the possibility of ads accidentally appearing next to porn.
Ads on Twitter are targeted based on a user's interests, location, accounts followed, and so on — not the specific content they are viewing at any one time. That means there is always the chance a paid-for ad can appear next to porn, which can be turned into the kind of headlines that worry advertisers. Twitter does block some keywords that brands would not want to appear against, McLennan said, but it appears some slipped through the net in the case of Nielsen.
He added: "Twitter does have a lot of these types of [pornographic] accounts, and people are interested in that type of content. Whether that would stop me recommending Twitter to a client? I'm not sure. Twitter is a very distinctive place: the conversations you can have, and the real-time nature of the platform, if clients require it."
The issue of brand safety isn't limited to Twitter. It has long plagued the digital advertising industry.
Twitter has a porn problem, and advertisers are starting to worry about it:
Nielsen, the television and digital measurement company, was forced to halt one of its paid-for Promoted Tweets campaigns this week after its ads were served against profile pages dedicated to pornography, according to Adweek.
The Nielsen paid-for tweet, reading "Am I getting the most value from my media buy? Learn what other questions you should ask in our webinar recording," appeared on the "Homemade Porn" and "Daily Dick Pictures" profile pages, Adweek reports. The trade magazine says ads from other brands including Duane Reade, NBCUniversal, and Gatorade also showed up in feeds next to pornographic images and videos. The problem appears to be tied to a new ad format "Suggested by Twitter," which only first rolled out in March.
A source told Adweek that a bug was to blame. Twitter's technology usually ensures ads do not appear against obscene content, but it failed in this instance, and Nielsen suspended its campaign.
A Twitter spokeswoman sent Business Insider this statement: "We're aware that Promoted Tweets are being displayed on some profiles that contain inappropriate content. We are committed to providing a safe environment for brands to build their business and our product team is working to fix the issue."
wouldn't more accurate tagging of accounts and better ad matching resolve this issue without saying twitter has a porn problem?
I think so, which makes it all the more surprising that Twitter hasn't done this.
6:42 PM May 08 2015