Advertising in the news media is just as effective as advertising on social media or other online placements with no detriment to return or risk of brand suitability, according to research from ThinkNewsBrands.
In fact, advertisers are sacrificing “significant” ROI and profit growth by avoiding spending in hard news, per the findings of ThinkNewsBrands multi-study report.
Placing ads next to stories about conflict, inflation, politics or crime had no discernible difference on purchase intent, favourability or brand perception compared to placing ads next to sport or entertainment. Across eight brand metrics, including ‘purchase intent’, ‘trustworthiness’ and ‘right values’, the average perception score difference between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ news was 1.6 per cent.
The lack of discernible difference between ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ news even rang true at the demographic level. For instance, among Gen Z, the average purchase intent for brands whose ads were placed next to articles on the Middle East, Crime, Inflation and Sport were all within four percentage points.
ThinkNewsBrands CEO Vanessa Lyons told B&T that this reality differs from the perception of some brands and agencies in the industry and pointed to GroupM CEO Christian Juhl’s testimony in front of the US Senate last month.
“One of marketers’ biggest fears is that years of brand value could evaporate overnight as a consequence of bad ad placement, companies spending millions of advertising dollars do not want to risk their brand on a strategy that could backfire,” he told senators.
“Brands consistently inform us as their agency, that they do not want to advertise next to hot-button or divisive content. They want predictable, reliable environments. In 2017 news outlets reported that major brands were unwittingly advertising next to ISIS propaganda. Unsurprisingly, they faced significant consumer pushback. Brands also had to contend with reports of Russian troll farms infiltrating platforms to disrupt presidential elections, and most recently, brands had to develop advertising strategies in the context of a pandemic that divided Americans,” Juhl continued.
“This resulted in a growing emphasis on brand suitability, or marketers desire to protect the brand’s value by ensuring their ads are not placed adjacent to content that could negatively affect their reputation. Brand suitability is particular to each brand.”
However, according to ThinkNewsBrands’ study while advertising next to ISIS propaganda is bad, advertising next to news covering the topics is respected by consumers. Advertising next to news topics covering the political situation in the Middle East gives brands a 62 per cent purchase intent among consumers, 70 per cent favourability and a 67 per cent score across the eight metric average. Advertising next to entertainment news, by way of comparison, a 62 per cent purchase intent among consumers, 73 per cent favourability and a 68 per cent score across the eight metric average.
“Australian market studies show news media boosts campaign effectiveness and brand recall due to its
high trust, focus, and engagement attributes which are passed on to advertising,” said Lyons.
“The evidence is clear. Not only are some advertisers avoiding news based on a myth, but they are
also significantly limiting the effectiveness of their campaigns.
“The irony is that brand suitability actions seem reserved for news, despite everyone knowing that
social media holds rivers of harmful content and misinformation that will actually hurt a brand,” she continued.
“In the interest of their brands, the marketing and media communities must reassess their thinking
and practices around brand suitability. We call on the industry to look closely at this data and invest
more in news, not less,” Lyons said.
