Three news audience insights that show how the pandemic has changed us

From March 2020 onwards, the most pressing question in business surrounded not so much what had changed, but which changes would remain – new insights shared by the Ozone Project, the premium publisher media platform, point to some of the enduring effects that matter to business.

Why it matters

The Ozone Project, an alliance of more than 12 premium UK publishers including The Guardian and Telegraph to open up premium ad inventory in trusted environments at scale, doesn’t just serve ads; from the 1.4 billion monthly page views across the 250+ domains it represents, critical audience insights flow back through the system.

Trends

• News readership has reset at a higher level since the pandemic. “Even before Russia invaded Ukraine, across our publishers we were seeing on average 10% higher weekly unique readers,” explains Frances Lazenby, head of strategic solutions, The Ozone Project, speaking at the IAB’s Engage conference. “That equates to about two million additional readers across ozone every single week.”
• Personal finance is top of mind for many. Personal finance content has seen a 35% increase in readership in the past quarter versus the same period last year. Key issues are, understandably, utilities and personal tax implications, following the lifting of energy price caps, and an increase in the rate of national insurance.
• Buying patterns have shifted. The travel category is seeing a deep change in its classic structure (brand building before January and then lots of sales activation through to March) but April has seen a 40+ month-on-month growth of views to sites about travel destinations and growth in April bookings bucking previous trends.

SPT reporting from IAB Engage