Media investment management group, GroupM, has attained the JICWEBS DTSG Brand Safety Accreditation for its UK programmatic business.

Under the JICWEBS (Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards in the UK and Ireland) remit to develop independent standards for benchmarking best practice for online ad trading, the DTSG (Digital Trading Standards Group) has set out the Brand Safety Good Practice Principles for all businesses involved in the buying, selling or facilitating of display advertising.

The principles focus on policy and process, with the parameters ranging from clearly agreed contracts, controls on where adverts will appear and proactive management of inventory sources, to clarity on issue resolution and contractual consequences in the event of ad misplacement.

Accredited companies must demonstrate fulfilment and agree to independent verification of adherence to all principles to achieve certification. The DTSG UK Brand Safety Good Practice Principles certificate attributed to GroupM for 12 months has been validated by ABC, the industry body for media measurement.

“We take brand safety very seriously at GroupM as it’s an ever-present challenge in the industry. It is essential to keep our clients brands protected and to uphold digital supply integrity. We have a robust multi-tier process for brand safety and work closely with key industry bodies to guarantee brand safety for clients,” said Bethan Crockett, digital risk director at GroupM UK. “There will always be more work to be done in this space, which is why we are supportive of the JICWEBS initiative and pleased to have attained the DTSG brand safety accreditation.”