YouTube’s revenue could take a $750m hit as a result of dozens of multinationals suspending advertising contracts with the Google-owned video platform, according to analysts at one bank.

More than 250 companies, including Marks & Spencer, Toyota and HSBC have already suspended contracts with Google, accusing the technology giant of allowing their adverts to appear next to controversial content on YouTube.

Together those companies represent 7.5 per cent of the total US ad market and the analysts said that YouTube could take a 7.5 per cent (or about $750m) hit to its previous gross revenue forecast of $10.2bn for 2017 as a result of the contracts being suspended.

They said that YouTube is capable of introducing measures that would remedy brand safety concerns but that this would not prevent the company from being hit financially.

Crisis, brand and reputation management expert Eric Schiffer, told the Independent that the controversy could hit Google's earnings in the short term.

However he added: "Google is also best positioned to put the kiss of death to online hate because of their mastery at determining the relevancy of content […]. They will do their best to asphyxiate hate merchants, and in the process, 90 per cent of brands which left will return to the fold within one to three months."

The controversy around ads erupted after an investigation by the Times in February found that content from major brands was appearing near YouTube videos promoting extremist views, which were generating revenue for the creators.

The world’s most valuable brands Show all 10 1 /10 The world’s most valuable brands The world’s most valuable brands 1st - Google Google replaced Apple as the world’s most valuable brand, with a brand value of $109.5bn, according to Brand Finance The world’s most valuable brands 2nd - Apple Apple’s brand value declined from $145.9bn to $107.1bn in 2016 The world’s most valuable brands 3rd - Amazon Amazon's brand value rose from $69.6bn to $106.4bn in 2016 Amazon The world’s most valuable brands 4th - At&t Of the 40 telecoms brands in the ranking, AT&T in 2016 overtook Verizon as the most valuable brand rising to $87bn from $59.9bn the year before The world’s most valuable brands 5th - Microsoft Microsoft's brand value rose marginally from $67.3bn to $76.3bn in 2016 The world’s most valuable brands 6th - Samsung Amazon's brand value rose from $58.6bn to $66.2bn The world’s most valuable brands 7th - Verizon Verizon's brand value inched up from $63.1bn to $65.9bn The world’s most valuable brands 8th - Walmart Walmart's brand value rose from $53.6bn to $62.5bn The world’s most valuable brands 9th - Facebook Facebook's brand value increased sharply from $34bn to just shy of $62bn The world’s most valuable brands 10th - ICBC ICBC saw its brand value rise to $47.8bn from $36.3bn. It was the most valuabe financial brand in the world in 2016 replacing Wells Fargo

Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer, last week wrote in a blog post on the company’s website that Google the company had started to ramp up changes around “ad policies, our enforcement of these policies and new controls for advertisers”.

“We know advertisers don’t want their ads next to content that doesn’t align with their values. So starting today, we’re taking a tougher stance on hateful, offensive and derogatory content,” he wrote.