An excellent, nonpartisan perspective about the tangible impact of brand safety in advertising online during national election cycles, courtesy of the great peeps at DoubleVerify.
If you are advertising on social media and/or the open web via hashtag#programmatic display, take some extra time this year to understand the available brand safety settings offered by each ad vendor or platform where you run campaigns.
The second stat below is quite clear. Over half of all consumers feel it's your job as the brand to control what content your ads are seen next to, even if you buy your media exclusively on a programmatic or automated method.
The third stat is equally as blunt in terms of outcome, if you don't control where your ads get served - 3 out of 5 people would be less likely to buy or use your product if it was advertised next to questionable content.
What defines "questionable content" will require you and your stakeholders to make some decisions which become updated ad targeting parameters and thus refined business rules around brand safety.