Twitter Introduces Pre-Bid Adjacency Controls for Advertisers

Twitter found time amid this past weekend’s drama to share two brand safety-related updates following the company’s meeting earlier this month with the World Federation of Advertisers, during which it reaffirmed its commitment to the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.

Starting Monday, advertisers on the platform have access to Adjacency Controls, which are pre-bid controls that help them ensure that their ads do not appear adjacent to tweets containing keywords they wish to avoid in relevance-ranked timelines, which the social network said make up the vast majority of timelines on its platform.

Adjacency Controls are English-only at rollout, with additional languages to follow shortly, and head of brand safety A.J. Brown and engineering lead Nina Chen explained in a blog post, “Empowering brands to customize their campaigns to prevent their ads from appearing adjacent to unsuitable content is an important step toward increased ad relevance on Twitter.”

Twitter will also further expand its brand safety partnerships with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science, with post-bid brand safety reporting for tweets in the home timeline to be rolled out at scale to the platform’s advertising partners early in the first quarter of 2023.

The social network said this reporting will give advertisers transparency on the context in which their ads served, conforming with the GARM Brand Safety and Suitability Framework.

Brown and Chen wrote, “Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation, and we are committed to creating a healthy environment where everyone can participate and engage safely. As we evolve, we’re giving people greater transparency and control over their experience on the platform, and this includes our advertisers. We’re also working to improve the advertising experience on Twitter by making ads more relevant. Underpinning these efforts is our work to ensure that ads appear in brand-suitable environments. Ensuring that the context in which ads appear doesn’t conflict with a brand’s message and values is foundational to delivering a safe, relevant and informative experience for everyone on Twitter.”