With attention at a premium in our digitally dominated world, newsbrands are providing an online environment where ad viewing is 80% more likely and ads get noticed in around half the time, when compared to non-newsbrand sites, finds Lumen.
The research was presented at Newsworks’ second annual Effectiveness Summit at the Ham Yard Hotel yesterday by Lumen’s managing director Mike Follett. “This work shows that the attention we know newsbrands command in print translates to their digital offerings”, he said. “With so much content competing for our eyeballs in the digital landscape, as well as advertisers’ concerns over measurability and transparency, newsbrands are providing an engaging online context for advertisers to reach consumers.”
Also presented at the summit, Newsworks’ research project ‘Is the medium still the massage?’ explores newsbrands’ digital presence and shows that people are 1.4 times more likely to trust newsbrand content on social media than social media content in general.
This latest body of work builds on Newsworks’ ongoing insight programme into newsbrands’ effectiveness, which last year proved the ROI benefits of advertising via print newspapers. The latest stage of research projects explore how newsbrands deliver against the three main components of effectiveness – ROI, context and influence.
These are themes that will continue to inform Newsworks’ insight agenda, with its CEO Vanessa Clifford and Robin O’Neill – Group M’s managing director, digital trading – announcing a long-running partnership to explore the value of quality context.
Prior to rolling out the large-scale project, Group M conducted a ‘proof of concept’ test analysing the engagement and brand scores of five campaigns and allying the results with quality of inventory.
The number of campaigns covered will now increase tenfold to more than 50 within eight months, with the aim of proving that quality brand environments deliver better value for advertisers. The first round of results will be released in the autumn and the eventual goal of the project is to make the results an actionable factor in trading.
Discussing the venture, O’Neill said: “We believe that viewability and engagement with digital advertising, not just potential exposure, is vital for brand success. Our aim is to make this a factor in trading, just as much as numbers of people and impressions. We’re excited to be partnering with Newsworks to both prove the value of quality context and monetise it as well.”
Clifford added: “The past few months have shown us that the premium we place on context in our day-to-day lives needs to be translated online. Media owners – whether that be newsbrands, TV companies or radio stations – are creating professional, curated content in a safe and accountable environment. Being able to place a quantifiable value on that context is paramount.”
You can find out more about the event and Newsworks’ effectiveness research programme here.
