Illustration: The Verge
Google is facing scrutiny over claims it misled advertisers about where it places video ads — and whether it violated US sanctions. As reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, research from the analytics company Adalytics suggests that Google “may have cost media buyers up to billions of digital ad dollars” by putting ads on sites in ways that violate Google’s own standards.
The report centers around one of Google’s video ad formats, called TrueView, which the company places on YouTube and other sites across the web, called Google video partners. These ads appear during videos and give viewers the option to skip the entirety of the advertisement after five seconds. Advertisers only pay for the ad if a viewer watches at least 30…