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5 reasons why news brands can power up your planning

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Scale

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National news brands show significant reach

Source: PAMCo H2 2023 (Jun’21 – Jun’23) Fused with Jun’23 Ipsos iris data| Total brand reach =National News brands

45m

Adults monthly

24m

Adults daily

38m

Adults weekly

Total brand reach

News brands audiences are rising rapidly because journalism matters to people – every day, collectively and individually

And it matters more than ever - that’s why the news industry in such rude health in terms of the audiences and attention it attracts
The ability of the news to educate, inform & challenge is more needed, and more in-demand than ever
That’s why audiences are growing at an impressive speed

Total UK news brand sector (National News brands plus UK’s leading regional titles) across print & digital now reaches

24 million highly engaged readers, every day and across more channels than ever before
38 million people every week
45.0 million people every month (to put this in perspective that’s half a million more unique visitors than Facebook 44.6m and Tiktok 22.8m)

N.B. Titles included in the ‘Total UK news brand reach”

Daily Star, Evening Standard, Daily Express, i, The Independent, Daily Mail, Metro, Daily Mirror, The Sun, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Sunday People, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times, Observer, Sunday Express, Sun on Sunday, Daily Star Sunday, Sunday Mirror, Mail on Sunday.

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20m

adults monthly

16m

adults weekly

9m

adults daily

40m

adults monthly

32m

adults weekly

18m

adults daily

Monthly

print only

Monthly print AND digital

Monthly digital only

5

million

15

million

25

million

How are people consuming their news?

Source: PAMCo H2 2023 (Jun’21 – Jun’23) Fused with Jun’23 Ipsos iris data| Total brand reach =National News brands

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…which equates to 9 million people

11m

(78%)

monthly

9m

(61%)

weekly

5m

(32%)

daily

They reach 61%

of all 18-34s weekly

Source: PAMCo H2 2023 (Jun’21 – Jun’23) Fused with Jun’23 Ipsos iris data| Total brand reach =National News brands

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The news is closer to its audience, more often, than any other medium

News brands are thriving across all platforms

2.09m YouTube subscribers

2m Snapchat subscribers

672.5k Twitter followers

The news is also unique in its ability to create high quality content at incredible speed and publish across multiple platforms. News brands constantly listen to and attempt to stay ahead of its audiences’ incredible thirst for ‘what’s new’ and for a coherent point of view on it.

Journalists are probably closer to their audiences than any other content creator – it is what their entire livelihood depends on.

This audience closeness is borne out not only in the quality and popularity of the content itself, but in the ability of the industry to innovate in new channels

It’s how the Guardian has managed to reach 2.09 million YouTube subscribers
How the Telegraph has grown to 2 million Snapchat subscribers (as of Jan 2023)
And it’s how the Evening Standard has 673k followers on Twitter

These are outstanding examples of audience-centric innovation.

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Trust

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Source: What’s the fuss about trust, PAMCo 2 2020 & Edelman Trust Barometer

News brands are widely trusted

69%

of people say they trust their news brand

40%

more trust for news brand content on social media than general social media content

71%

of people trust what they see in news brands

Trust what they see in social media

29%

Within those very large numbers, it’s worth remembering that the news is not just 1 thing or 1 platform. It is beautifully diverse and represents multiple worldviews.

This can be challenging, because it means everyone can find a news title with whose editorial perspective they often disagree.

But it also means that 69% of people say they trust their news brand of choice (vs. 44% when asked if they trust news brands in general) – well above any market norms and significantly higher than the trust credentials that social media attracts.

For many, their news brand is their most trusted source of information and of understanding.

This is corroborated by PAMCo engagement data which confirms that 71% of readers trust what they see in news brands

Interestingly, News brand content on social media is 40% more trusted than general social media content and six in ten people agree that since the rise of fake news, they rely more on established newspaper brands, rising to 65% for under 35s (Source: What’s the fuss about trust, d.fferento/ogy).

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New brands deliver a strong impact on brand trust

Source: IPA Databank UK case studies 2012-20202

Whilst trust in brands that don’t advertise with news brands has shown steady growth.

This effect is even stronger for brands that use at least one news brand platform.

Furthermore, using both print and digital news brand platforms significantly increases this effect.

To read the full story IPA Databank Study click here.

% of cases reporting very large growth in brand trust

Click to edit Master title style

The reason why including new brands in a campaign results in greater business effectiveness for advertisers is because of their strong impact on brand trust

Looking at trust first

Trust has been a growing issue in recent years, but campaigns using news brands benefit much more than others.
Trust in brands that advertise as part of this dataset, that don’t use news brands as part of the media mix, has been growing over time

Doubling from 2012-2016 to 2018-2022

However, this effect is even stronger for brands that use at least one news brand platform

The impact on trust in brands that advertise on a single news brand platform has increased by 15 percentage points
12% vs 27% for 2012-16 vs 2018-22

But Using both print and digital news brand platforms significantly increases that effect, with 33 percentage point increase in trust for brands that advertise on two news brand platforms

9% vs 42% for 2012-16 vs 2018-22

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Influence

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Source: d.fferento/ogy; Getting closer to the Great British Public, Flamingo and Tapestry, 2017

71% �Agree the news brands you read is one of the best predictors of attitudes & behaviours

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News brand readership helps us to define and test our values

Adding newspaper readership to a predictive model of people’s attitudes to politics, risk and success makes it 1.8x as effective as using demographics only.

To read our World Without News research click here.

Journalism plays a significant role in helping us to define and test our values and shape our worldview.

In fact, we conducted some research which highlighted that adding news brand readership to a predictive model of people’s attitudes, measuring things like politics, risk and success, makes it almost twice as effective as using demographics only [exact figure 1.8x], highlighting the strong influence that journalism continues to have.

People turn to journalism because they need news and information they can trust, at a time where it’s harder than ever before to understand and trust what you’re hearing.

And as we’ve already seen, when asked which sources are trusted to keep people well informed about local, national and global issues, news brands consistently comes in at the top compared with the likes of TV, radio, social media, friends and family and blogs. Evidence that news brand journalism continues to be an an important window on the world.

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People who recognise the news brand element of a campaign show higher levels of brand knowledge, purchase intent, WOM & advocacy

Source: What should I use news brands for? Future Thinking, 2019

We also know from research that news brands power to influence has a positive impact on key brand drivers such as brand knowledge, purchase intent, WOM & advocacy.

News brands help to create a brand story by increasing brand knowledge:

Knowledge was 18% points higher due to news brand exposure
On average across the campaigns, 62% people who recognised the non-newsbrand elements on average knew a lot/little about the brands advertised, compared to 80% of the news brand sample

News brands help to drive sales by increasing purchase intent:

Purchase intent was 23% points higher due to news brand exposure, rising from 42% of people who recognised the non-newsbrand campaign elements to 65% of the news brand recognisers.

News brands sustain customer loyalty and influence other purchasing by prompting word of mouth and brand advocacy:

Word of mouth increased by 29% points (37% to 66%) and advocacy by 23% points (46% to 69%) due to news brand exposure

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Context

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Advertising that appears in a quality environment is also much more likely to be retained in people’s memories

Left brain memory encoding (for words and detail)

Stronger on premium sites than during general free browsing

21%

Right brain memory encoding (overall general picture

Stronger on premium sites than during general free browsing

13%

Source: Context matters 2017, Newsworks, AOP and NeuroInsight

In addition, advertising that appears in the quality environment offered by published media is much more likely to be retained in people’s memories

One of the findings from a neuroscience study conducted by a company called NeuroInsight is that the same ads stimulate very different brain responses, depending on where they are placed - advertising in a quality environment such as journalism elicits higher levels of long-term memory encoding (or in other words message retention) in peoples’ memories.

The reason why this is important is because long-term memory encoding (or message retention) is proven to correlate with decision-making and purchase behaviour.

This whole area of neuro study is really interesting because the methodology used is based on what’s actually happening in the brain by tracking the levels of electrical activity, rather than claimed behaviour.

The evidence for this is based on analysis of long-term memory encoding (LTME):

LTME is the most important way that the brain responds to advertising
It is a measure of how much activity is happening in the parts of the brain where memories are stored
Long-term memory encoding is proven to correlate with decision making and purchase intent
It comprises both left brain (detail and language) and right brain (more global aspects of processing) long term memory encoding
Left brain memory encoding (for words and detail) 21% stronger on premium digital sites than during general browsing
Right Brain memory encoding is 13% stronger on premium sites than during general free browsing

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1.4x

Dwell time for ads in hard news

Source: Neuro-Insight brain response data

Neuroscience research suggests that hard news does not damage advertiser brands

Hard News

Soft News

Average time ads are in view

To read the Hard News Project click here.

For those concerned about the impact of investing in news brands at a time when the news is tackling some very hard-hitting subject matters, be reassured that evidence from neuroscience learnings indicate that there is no negative impact in terms of people’s response to advertising that is placed within a hard news environment.

Although readers know there’s a difference between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ news, their subconscious brain responses are almost the same

Research indicates that memory, engagement and emotional response to advertising are similar in hard and soft news contexts, suggesting that hard news does not damages advertiser brands.

In fact, hard news delivers an advantage in terms of time spent on the ads which can only be an advantage.

As the brain is more actively engaged in a hard news environment and there is more likelihood of key messages being remembered.

So, advertisers that avoid the news context – whether inadvertently through blunt instruments such as keywords, or deliberately via a ban on “breaking news”, or just without knowing that it’s happening in their programmatic systems – are missing out on the real value that news brands can deliver online.

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ROI

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The Bottom Line

Bottom Line:

The Results

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2.

3.

Between 2018 – 2021 brands enjoyed a 10% profit boost by investing in news brands

The future is bright, with profit from news brand investment forecast to rise by up to £1bn by 2025

Increasing investment in news brands from low levels delivers better gains than doing the same across other channels

To read the full story for our Bottom Line research click here.

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Campaigns using news brands are 58% more likely to deliver profit

Source: IPA Databank UK case studies 2012-2020 (64% of all cases)

This chart shows the % of campaigns reporting significant increases in business metrics when news brands are on the plan, which you can see is even stronger with two news brand platforms.

It shows a consistent picture of the benefit to brands, on market share, price sensitivity and profit, when they invest in both print and online news channels.

To read the full story IPA Databank Study click here.

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Summary

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1. Scale

News brands have a unique ability to land new messages at speed and scale; they are thriving across all platforms reaching 26 million adults daily, 40 million adults weekly and 46 million adults every month.

2. Trust

For many, their news brand is their most trusted source of information and of understanding, this is corroborated by PAMCo engagement data which confirms that 71% of readers trust what they see in news brands.

3. Influence

The news brand that you read is one of the best predictors of attitudes and behaviours; they therefore have the power to influence and shape people’s perceptions.

4. Context

Advertising that appears in the quality environment offered by published media is much more likely to be retained in people’s memories.

5. ROI

Increasing investment in news brands from low levels delivers better gains than doing the same across other channels.

5 reasons why news brands can power up your planning

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Back British journalism

Because journalism matters