VietNamNet Bridge – Programmatic advertisement, a smart technology believed to be a new solution for the digital ad market, may bring high risks to online newspapers, as he content of the ads is not controlled before they appear on websites.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, head of the e-information management division of the Broadcasting and Electronic Information Agency, warned that online newspapers may face very high risks as they cannot control the content of the ads.

Meanwhile, under current laws, newspapers must take responsibility for their content, including advertising content.

If the content in ad pieces is “problematic”, the online newspapers’ editorial board will have to claim responsibility for infringing the law and will have to bear sanctions.

Observers noted that automated and micro-targeted advertisement has been developing very rapidly since 2012 with an increasingly high number of developers.

Of the biggest developers, Google Ads, Ambient, Admicro, Netlink, Ad360 and eClick are the most popular names.

A recent report by Massey University in New Zealand found that the Vietnamese online ad market has been growing very strongly in recent years, and becoming a rival for traditional ads.

The report showed that $38 million was spent on online ads in Vietnam, and the market witnessed an 18 percent year-after-year growth rate.

Programmatic ad serves as a third party, or intermediary, which connects advertisers and information websites.

When advertisers (businesses or individuals) need to introduce their products to consumers, they can do this through the only intermediary – the automated ad network.

Through the network, their ads can appear on numerous websites at the same time and reach potential consumers. The ad technology, thanks to its “cleverness” can be applied by all advertisers, from well-known companies to petty merchants.

A consumer, when clicking on stories about infant care, for example, will see ads about products and services related to childcare, such as milk and clothes.

In these cases, the advertisers will pay money to the third parties based on the number of clicks on the ads.

The problem is that the micro-targeted ads not only appear on newspapers and official information websites, but also on “black websites”, including websites providing unlicensed films and videos.

It is estimated that there are over 600 websites in Vietnam providing unlicensed films, which are also sources of automated ad pieces, many of which are prohibited if referring to current laws, such as ads on unlicensed games, gambling, hard liquor and erotica.

A media expert explained that tools exist to filter the prohibited ads and prevent the posting of ads which may violate the laws of host countries. However, the tool cannot prevent all ads.

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