Don’t Miss Out: News Junkies Are the Next Premium Audience for Advertisers
- Stagwell’s Mark Penn on the business case for advertising in news.
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.]
The notion of “brand safety” is one of modern advertising’s most common phrases. It used to mean ensuring your brand did not appear next to questionable content on questionable websites. But it has since grown to a widespread fear – one that’s prevented marketers from reaching a premium audience and drained much-needed advertising dollars from quality news publishers.
This fear is completely misguided. Ads placed next to stories covering politics or crime perform just as well as ads next to business, sports, or entertainment stories, according to Stagwell’s Future of News APAC News Advertising Study conducted among 9,876 adults across Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Vietnam. The study, which tested four different localized real brand ads placed next to six types of real news content, found there is unequivocally no difference in key brand reputational metrics – like purchase intent, favorability, and trustworthiness – between ads placed adjacent to supposedly “not brand safe” content and “brand safe” content.
There is also no brand safety issue among key demographic groups for advertisers, including news junkies, Gen Z, millennials, and university-educated adults.
Not only is there virtually no risk in placing ads next to news stories, but brands are also foregoing the opportunity to reach a premium audience. 21% of adults in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region are “news junkies” – individuals who follow news very closely, checking the news an average of 7.2 times per day and reading an average of over 9 news articles daily. Nearly three in four APAC adults say they follow the news closely. And 9% of them are exclusive news junkies who only follow news very closely, not sports nor entertainment.
These news junkies are a valuable audience, too: 78% of APAC news junkies have a tertiary degree compared to 65% of the general population; 70% are full-time employees; 72% are millennials or Gen X; and 71% live in urban areas. They’re decision-makers hungry for new information. They’re connected to vast networks in their jobs, from college, and in their neighborhoods.
News junkies yield higher conversion rates. In APAC, they have the highest purchase intent compared to other key marketing audiences – Gen Z, millennials, university-educated adults, and parents – with 76% of news junkies saying they were likely to make a purchase from a tested brand within the next six months.
Parents also stood out for having the best perception of brands appearing alongside local politics and crime coverage across eight reputational metrics compared to other demographics – indicating yet another key audience marketers are neglecting when they refuse to advertise in news. A whopping 85% of APAC parents said they had a favorable view of brands tested alongside local politics and crime content. It’s not just parents. A solid majority of the other key marketing audiences had positive perceptions of brands advertising next to so-called “not brand safe” stories.
In Hong Kong, news junkies check the news 7.6 times a day. 61% of adults say they are likely to make a purchase or use services from a brand after viewing the brand’s ad next to news content. Roughly two-thirds of Hong Kong adults have favorable views of brands that advertise next to politics or crime. And ads next to news performed just as efficiently as those next to business, sports, and entertainment across all eight performance metrics, consistent with the results of the other three APAC markets.
We’ve run this study in the US, the UK, Canada, and now in APAC. Each time, we find the same thing regardless of the market: first, ads next to news content perform just as well as ads next to traditionally “safe” content, and second, news junkies are a considerable percent of the population. They are more engaged, more educated, and earn more. They are more likely to follow through with purchases and ultimately drive results for businesses.
News junkies are a highly desirable audience for advertisers around the world. Any sensible marketer will test their ads in news and see for themselves why news is such a high-performing advertising environment.
Mark Penn, Chairman & CEO, Stagwell
Mark Penn is Chairman & CEO, Stagwell, a NASDAQ-listed company. His career spans 40 years in market research, advertising, public relations, and politics. A globally recognized strategist, Penn has advised world leaders including Bill Clinton and Tony Blair; founded companies; and written two bestselling books.