MAM
Brand safety on YouTube: GroupM partners OpenSlate
MUMBAI: GroupM, the media investment management unit of WPP, announced it is partnering with OpenSlate to enhance brand safety on YouTube media buys. OpenSlate is a social video analytics company that maintains data about all ad-supported content on YouTube. Their data platform scores YouTube content for quality and brand safety, and provides advertisers with deep contextual insights.
OpenSlate will provide clients of GroupM’s agencies additional controls and content safeguards to support their YouTube media buys. This solution will enhance brand safety in both reservation media, including Google Preferred, and in auction-based inventory bought through AdWords or DoubleClick Bid Manager. Using independent data from OpenSlate, GroupM clients will be able to better define the type of content that should be excluded from their YouTube media buys. OpenSlate will also provide clients with contextual reporting that highlights exactly where their campaigns run. GroupM clients will be the first to access these Google-supported services from OpenSlate for Google Preferred campaigns.
“Long gone are the days when advertisers could simply rely on reaching audiences in carefully curated programming environments. Most brands today have scaled their advertising on digital platforms like YouTube, where most content is user-generated, but their needs for mature and safe ad products and environments persist,” said GroupM North America chief digital investment officer Susan Schiekofer.
“Although it is not possible to eliminate all risks in user-generated media, our clients’ hard-won brand reputations must be protected with the best efforts possible. We appreciate that Google is enabling our work with OpenSlate to provide our clients with better brand safety controls, and we believe it’s essential that all digital platforms carrying ad-supported user-generated content do the same.”
“Our initial focus is to use OpenSlate data to better ensure that GroupM’s ads run only in content that flexibly matches the brand safety parameters established by their clients,” said OpenSlate CEO Mike Henry. “Every client is unique and each has different brand values and tolerance for risk, which GroupM agencies can accommodate through their use of OpenSlate’s data and tools. Over time, more transparency about where ads are running on YouTube will strengthen the ecosystem and help advertisers better understand the role that YouTube content plays in campaign performance.”
This new solution will initially roll out in the U.S. and U.K., and plans are under way to adapt it to additional international markets.
MAM
Collective Artists Network reshuffles talent leadership
Fiona D’Souza, Jinal Jhaveri and Arjun Banerjee take expanded roles in core division.
MUMBAI: Collective Artists Network just handed the talent baton to its homegrown stars because when your agents have been building careers this long, it’s time to let them run the show. Collective Artists Network has announced the next phase of leadership for its talent management business, elevating senior agents Fiona D’Souza, Jinal Jhaveri and Arjun Banerjee to expanded roles within the division. The move strengthens the company’s foundational talent arm while it continues to grow into content creation and production-led ventures.
Each of the three has played a significant part in shaping artist careers across films, digital platforms and brand partnerships. Together they now represent the next generation of leadership for Collective’s talent operations, with a continued focus on long-term career building, strong partnerships and adapting representation to a fast-changing media landscape.
Collective Artists Network founder and Group CEO Vijay Subramaniam remains actively involved in guiding artist strategy and key relationships. He said, “Talent management has been the foundation on which Collective was built, and that philosophy continues to guide how we grow the company. As we enter this next phase, it’s important that the people leading this business have both deep context and long-term convictions.”
Collective Artists Network partner and head of talent Janahavi Rawal added, “Collective’s talent business has always been built on trust, long-term thinking, and a deep understanding of where artists want to go next. Fiona, Jinal, and Arjun have each played an important role in shaping the careers of the artists we represent, and this phase is about empowering our senior agents further while building the right support systems around them.”
The leadership evolution reflects Collective’s belief in promoting from within and creating clear ownership across verticals. In a talent world where yesterday’s agent is tomorrow’s partner, Collective isn’t just reshuffling chairs, it’s handing the spotlight to the people who’ve been quietly directing the show all along.
