Investing in news brands brings long-term benefits

Advertisers record better business effects, and over a longer term, when they invest in news brands, according to a new study by marketing consultant Peter Field.

Why it matters

Advertising in news brands has a significant effect on key drivers such as market share, pricing and profit, Field found from an analysis of 182 campaigns from the IPA Effectiveness Awards.

The detail

• Ads appearing in news brands are increasingly associated with trustworthiness and high quality by readers – two growth factors for advertisers.
• Fake news and disinformation online have driven record numbers of people to news brands looking for reliable news and analysis, and this has a knock-on beneficial effect on advertisers.
• Over the last six years, the study found, the effect on trust in brands that advertise on a single news platform was up by 17 percentage points. And this rise was almost 50 percentage points when ads ran across a brand’s print and digital platforms.

Soundbite

“News brands … deliver incredibly strong business effects for brands. They are able to do this because of their strong impacts on brand trust and quality perceptions – two brand effects that are now most strongly linked to profit growth” – Peter Field, marketing consultant.