New Ads Transparency Center for Google

Google is launched a tool to make its advertising service more transparent, following rivals like Meta Platforms Inc. and Twitter Inc. that years ago released public, searchable archives of the ads that run on their digital platforms.

“Transparency breeds trust with people and with our partners, and helps keep us accountable for the work we do,” Dan Taylor, Google’s vice president of global ads, said in a press briefing ahead of the announcement. “One thing we’ve heard loud and clear from users is that they want to know more about who is showing them the ads that they are seeing online.”

The Ads Transparency Center is a searchable hub of all ads served in the last 30 days from Google’s list of verified advertisers, the company said in blog post. It includes information about ads across the company’s platforms, including on search, YouTube and display, and says which region they were shown in, the last date ran and the format.

The tool has rolled out, Google said, and should be available globally within the month of April on users’ My Ad Center tool as well as on a dedicated website.

Google’s efforts to increase visibility into its ads come at a time when the company has been facing increasing pressure to prove its advertising products and services are good for consumers. The tech giant is by far the biggest player in global digital ads, with analyst Insider Intelligence estimating Google will generate $180.6 billion in ad revenue and capture 29% of the market in 2023.

In a separate update on ads safety, Google said it removed 5.2 billion bad ads, restricted more than 4.3 billion ads and suspended over 6.7 million advertiser accounts in 2022. The ads taken off the platforms included those that violated the company’s policies, such as dismissing or condoning the war in Ukraine. Google also said it took action against 143,000 publisher sites for violating rules—up from 63,000 sites in 2021.

Source: adage.com