Advertising placed alongside news items on negative topics such as politics, inflation and crime performs just as effectively as ads placed next to business, entertainment and sports stories.
The news that brands can – and should – advertise alongside certain types of news stories comes in the wake of recent concerns that valuable Olympics-related advertising revenue was missed out on because of keyword blocklists.
For example, some adverts were blocked from being placed next to articles including the word ‘Paris’, as a result of outdated block lists dating back to the terror attacks, which took place in 2015. Ads have also been blocked from appearing next to football stories using the word ‘attack’ or referencing Manchester.
According to recent research from Stagwell’s research consultancy Harris X, more than three-quarters (76%) of the British population check the news very carefully, with 25% checking at least four times each day.
Notably, for Gen Z readers the average purchase intent was 61% for adverts placed next to high-quality articles on the Middle East war, compared to those placed alongside stories on inflation (58%) and crime (57%).
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Among mothers, adverts next to potentially negative articles about topics such as crime had a purchase intent of 66% – exactly the same for articles on the more neutral topic of sports.
“Our research continues to show brands should embrace advertising on news platforms rather than shy away from it,” said Stagwell chairman and CEO Mark Penn.
“Investing in news offers business leaders the ability to reach incredibly valuable audiences. According to our new study, 25% of Brits are news junkies — on average checking the news four times a day and reading nearly five news articles per day,” he continued.
Speaking to the Financial Times World Media Group chief executive Jamie Credland said there was a “real problem” with brands choosing not to advertise next to certain news media.
He also highlighted that some advertisers were actively avoiding news-based advertising, while others were being stopped by complex and outdated brand safety systems.
