How AI is redefining Brand Safety today

Brand safety has always been one of the most persistent challenges for publishers. The issue has never been the concept itself. The real problem is that many tools shaping brand safety in advertising were not created with the publisher perspective in mind. When outdated blocklists, blunt keyword filters and legacy workflows decide what is safe, publishers lose access to revenue they should have earned. These systems cannot interpret nuance which is why so much valuable inventory is mislabeled and excluded from campaigns.

In this episode of The Pub Way Podcast Mike and I sat down with Heather Carver, Chief Revenue Officer at Freestar, to talk about how AI and modern curation are transforming the way publishers protect and monetize their content. I speak with publishers every day and hear the same pattern. High quality content is being misread by tools that were never designed to understand context. Our conversation with Heather helped clarify why this happens and where real progress is finally taking place.

1. Reframing Brand Safety for a New Era
2. Why This Shift Matters for Publishers
3. Curation With Intention
4. Preparing for the Shifts in Search and AI Discovery
5. How Freestar Uses AI to Support Publisher Growth
6. What Publishers Should Expect From Curation Partners
7. Looking Ahead
8. Listen to the Full Episode

Reframing Brand Safety for a New Era

Heather has worked across multiple sides of the industry for more than fifteen years. She began on the publisher side, moved into the SSP world and later joined a major tech platform. That range gives her a rare understanding of how brand safety in advertising has evolved and where the blind spots remain.

One of the biggest issues she raised is how deeply legacy tools are embedded within agency workflows. Keyword blocklists once felt like the safest and simplest option, but today they often create more harm than protection. A single word can trigger a block even when the surrounding context is positive or neutral. Articles about sports get flagged because the word shoot appears. Entire news sections are treated as unsafe even when they are accurate and balanced.

This is particularly damaging for publishers because quality journalism still drives audience trust. It also supports the wider digital ecosystem. AI models, search engines and recommendation systems all rely on credible content. When brand safety tools over block the open web, they reduce the quality of the very signals powering modern information systems.

This is where AI creates opportunity. Modern suitability models can interpret tone, sentiment and meaning rather than relying on isolated terms. AI allows brand safety in advertising for publishers to be far more precise. Nuanced content is recognized for what it actually communicates. High quality reporting is not penalized simply for covering real events. Publishers gain access to demand that should have always been available to them.

Why This Shift Matters for Publishers

The shift from blocking to suitability is not only a technological improvement. It is a reset in how we understand publisher value. When legacy tools miscategorize content they erase context that is essential for advertisers. They also create a distorted picture of what publishers actually produce.

Heather emphasized that publishers should be part of the conversation. They have a unique understanding of their editorial standards, their audience and the true nature of their content. When these nuances are lost, publishers are pushed into a defensive posture even when their environments are completely suitable.

Suitability frameworks give publishers a way to demonstrate that their content is relevant, trustworthy and aligned with advertiser goals. They also create pathways to recover monetization that legacy systems have blocked.

Curation With Intention

Curation has existed in ssp advertising for years, but Heather explained that the latest evolution of curation is far more valuable for publishers. Older curation models grouped thousands of sites into broad categories and rarely adapted. They did not showcase what made each publisher unique and they did not help buyers understand the context behind impressions.

Modern curation is dynamic and intelligent. AI evaluates context, tone and performance signals in real time. Packages reflect quality rather than volume. Buyers can see how curated segments are built and which publishers contribute to them. This transparency makes it easier for advertisers to invest with confidence.

For publishers this matters because intentional curation helps correct misclassification. It brings premium inventory back into circulation and connects it with campaigns where it naturally performs well. It also gives publishers without large direct sales teams a meaningful way to reach premium budgets.

This shift in curation also highlights how much innovation is happening on the sell side. SSPs are no longer simply pipes for demand, they are becoming intelligence layers that help publishers surface the true value of their inventory. If you want to understand how this evolution is shaping monetization and ad quality, we covered it in more detail in an earlier episode about how supply side platforms are driving smarter ad experiences.

These changes in suitability and curation run parallel to shifts on the buy side. DSPs continue to refine how they evaluate context, quality signals and performance across formats like CTV, which ultimately shapes how publisher inventory is valued. For publishers who want a deeper look at what this means in practice, we explored it in a recent episode focused on how demand side platforms are reshaping CTV strategies.

Learn more about Brand Safety in Advertising

1. How Publishers Can Future-Proof Brand Safety and Revenue with the Right Advertising Supply Side Platform
2. How Publishers Can Use AI to Monetize Content and Audience Attention - AI for Publishers
3. Digital Marketing Musts for Publishers: Locking in Monetization with Brand Safety

Preparing for the Shifts in Search and AI Discovery

Our conversation then moved to search traffic and the rise of AI generated results. Publishers are already seeing changes as users engage with zero click answers and LLM summaries. Heather’s view is that publishers cannot rely on a single traffic source. Instead they need to build editorial brands that readers return to directly.

That means investing in quality content, improving user experience and strengthening newsletters and owned channels. While these strategies take longer, they create dependable traffic patterns and reduce exposure to algorithmic shifts.

We also discussed upcoming models around AI scraping. Large publishers have begun negotiating deals with AI companies, but the mid and long tail need collective solutions. Ideas like pay per crawl or pay per query may emerge as sustainable models. What remains clear is that AI systems depend on publisher content. Publishers deserve to be compensated for the value they provide.

How Freestar Uses AI to Support Publisher Growth

Heather shared how Freestar uses AI inside their own stack. Their dynamic ad system processes billions of impressions and adjusts floors, timeouts and wrapper behavior automatically. The goal is to maximize monetization while protecting user experience.

Freestar also relies on AI agents across their teams to automate research, data ingestion and internal workflows. This allows teams to focus on strategic guidance rather than manual operations. For publishers without large technical resources these efficiencies create a real competitive advantage.

What Publishers Should Expect From Curation Partners

Before closing the episode I asked Heather what publishers should look for when evaluating partners. She highlighted transparency, performance and flexibility. Partners should explain how segments are curated, who is buying them and what results they drive. They should reflect the strengths of the publisher rather than grouping sites into generic categories. They should use real technology that enhances outcomes rather than relabeling existing inventory.

Looking Ahead: Brand safety in advertising

If there is one message to take from this conversation it is that publishers finally have a pathway forward. With better suitability models, more advanced curation and meaningful AI applications, the industry can move away from outdated systems and toward a model that truly recognizes and rewards quality content. Brand safety in advertising can become a tool that supports publishers, not a barrier that undermines them.

Listen to the Full Episode

For a deeper look at suitability models, curation frameworks, AI adoption and the future of monetization for publishers listen to the full conversation with Heather Carver on The Pub Way Podcast.