Don’t block the news. Buy the best of it with News Navigator.

Some advertisers block the news (including news sites, podcasts, linear and Connected TV programs), fearing their ads could run alongside stories deemed negative or controversial. But research shows that news inventory is generally safe for brands and offers some distinct advantages. 

Advertisers can use News Navigator in Kokai to buy high-quality news content as verified by third-party news rating partners like Ad Fontes Media.

You’ll find that: 

• The news tends to bring brands to large, engaged audiences.

• News Navigator can help brands buy high-quality news content. 

• Advertising alongside highly rated news can help support quality journalism. 

The news tends to bring brands to large, engaged audiences 

The news reaches vast audiences every day through audio, TV, social, and display channels. More Americans closely follow the news than they do sports and entertainment. In fact, according to a 2024 Stagwell report, 25% of Americans said they “follow the news very closely.” A whopping 73% of Americans identify as “news readers,” 25% as “news junkies,” and a notable 11% exclusively follow the news yet avoid sports and entertainment.¹

Globally, 6 in 10 internet users say keeping up to date with the news and current events is a main reason they use the internet, and 8 in 10 internet users around the world say they have visited a news website, app, or service in the past month.²

So why haven’t advertisers been steadfast in advertising alongside news content? Some brands may believe it poses brand-safety concerns, and that appearing next to controversial or disturbing news stories could harm their brand image. 

The Stagwell report — which tested 10 real ads from 10 different brands across diverse publishers and topics and polled 50,000 U.S. adults on brand reputational metrics — debunks this myth. It found that brands surveyed deemed advertising alongside quality news content safe, regardless of the topic. 

News Navigator can help brands buy high-quality news content 

“The news” is a broad category that encompasses a range of content, including sensationalist tabloids, junky clickbait, and biased, poorly researched journalism — none of which deliver high-quality outcomes for advertisers. But this doesn’t mean you should avoid the news altogether. You just need the tools to help you buy verified, quality news content with confidence. 

News Navigator was designed to fill that need, helping you find and buy inventory on quality news sites and helping you avoid the risks and waste that come with low-quality content. 

News Navigator works with third-party news rating partners to help our customers buy high-quality content and reach a largely under-tapped audience. Using News Navigator, you can integrate real-time, page-level data to automatically prioritize high-quality content in your campaigns. It gives you the dexterity to prioritize quality content on the most granular level, even distinguishing between different levels of quality between articles from the same publisher. 

By plugging into the platform’s AI, News Navigator can help you shift spend toward quality journalism without limiting your decisioning power. The platform AI weighs news rating data as an input to impression value alongside all your other inputs and parameters, helping you bid on the right high-quality news content for your campaign goals without siloing your inventory or budget allocations. 

In addition to being brand-safe, quality news inventory can have a positive impact on campaign outcomes. 

Marketers who ran test campaigns with News Navigator invested 24% more in highly rated news content and saw an 8% decrease in CPA and a 9% lift in click-through rate (CTR).³

Advertising alongside highly rated news can help support quality journalism 

When marketers implement overly broad, outdated blocklists for news content, they can cut themselves off from highly engaged audiences and miss an opportunity to reward quality journalism. 

By turning on News Navigator in Kokai, you can automatically buy quality news content. That is simultaneously good for journalism and good for business. 

Want to learn more about how News Navigator can help your brand connect with news audiences? Reach out to your representative at The Trade Desk today. 

_Sources:

<sub>1. Stagwell Global, Future of News: News Advertising Study, 2024.
2. GWI, News Consumption: Understanding the News Landscape, 2019.
3. Aggregate campaign data from News Navigator testing on The Trade Desk’s platform.</sub>