Since 2017, brands have benefitted from an additional £268 million profit return on investment (ROI) by optimising their ad spend in news brands, an upswing of 10% over the last three years, says Newsworks.
Newsworks’ ‘The Bottom Line’ research, which draws on a decade’s worth of effectiveness data, forecasts that by 2025, brands will boost profit margins by as much as £1 billion from optimising investment in news brands.
It follows on from Newsworks’ 2017 study ‘Planning for Profit’, which found that brands were missing out on £3 billion of potential profit ROI by under-investing in news brands.
If advertisers continue to utilise news brands effectively, their bottom lines will only improve.
Jo Allan
According to Newsworks, that profit gap has narrowed to £2.7 billion despite the pandemic and is forecast to be just above £2 billion by 2025.
Jo Allan, Newsworks CEO, said: “It’s great to see an impressive shift in the last few years, despite the knock-on effect of Covid. If advertisers continue to utilise news brands effectively, their bottom lines will only improve. This research offers compelling and tangible evidence for advertisers who are looking to increase profit ROI and benefit from being in brand-safe, quality environments.”
Advertisers can use Newsworks’ new profit calculator to find out how to optimise spend in news brands across specific categories and increase their campaign profit return.
‘The Bottom Line’ study, conducted by consultancy Benchmarketing, analysed 1,012 cases from 2011 to 2020, including during the pandemic.
Sally Dickerson, chief effectiveness officer at Benchmarketing, said: “This project is unique in assessing news brands’ role in overall campaign effectiveness. Significantly, it also isolates news brands’ digital spend as a structural factor. With the rise of misinformation, digital news brands offer an attractive brand-safe environment for advertisers. This research proves that they also deliver solid business returns when utilised at the right level.”
Newsworks’ new study includes in-depth learnings across nine categories covering 90% of advertised brands. Category-specific insights will be released in the coming months.
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