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How the ad ecosystem penalizes quality journalism — and what comes next

Businessman pushing giant ball of newspaper up the slanted side of a cursor.

Illustration by Robyn Phelps / Getty / Shutterstock / The Current

Journalism isn’t just a public good — it’s a performance engine. In today’s fragmented attention economy, news readers stand out: They’re informed, decisive and engaged. Yet somehow, advertisers still shy away.

At a time when trust is scarce and attention is fleeting, the irony is clear: Brands are blocking the very environments where their messages are most likely to land. Quality news publishers have struggled to monetize their content, especially in the last decade. From keyword blocklists and overly cautious brand-safety tools to programmatic inefficiencies and curation gaps, valuable journalism is too often excluded from premium ad budgets.

The data doesn’t lie

A 2023 study (updated in 2025) from Stagwell’s Harris Poll and GARM revealed what many in the industry have suspected: Ads placed within news content actually outperform non-news placements. Across every metric — from brand recall to purchase intent — news environments consistently deliver stronger results.

  • In 2024, Stagwell has seen 3x the average return on ad spend (ROAS) on news campaigns. 
  • Among News Junkies, the average purchase intent is 66% — compared to 50% among the rest of the general population.
  • Avid news readers cross into every demographic and continues to grow in numbers. 

News doesn’t depress ad performance. It enhances it.

Journalism isn’t dead — it’s just been blocklisted

Advertisers fear adjacency to controversy — but the real controversy is how much high-performing inventory is left on the table due to outdated blocklists. The result? Premium journalism ends up in the bargain bin, while brands miss out on the high-value, loyal audiences that power these sites.

Even though the content may be factual journalism, advertisers fear negative association with distressing or divisive topics, despite that there is no data to support the existence of such negative associations. Keyword blocks and exclusion lists are built to keep distance. Instead of working more closely with trusted news publishers, vital, fact-based reporting gets automatically excluded from ad campaigns — even when it’s from trusted, legendary outlets.

Another challenge for news publishers is that weak contextual tech fails to distinguish journalism from harmful content and the gradients in between. As the digital landscape has grown, it has become legitimately difficult to sort out what exactly is “news” in a sea of content that also includes so much political opinion and untrustworthy material. It seems impossible to understand the nuance and intent behind content, so credible journalism is lumped together with unsuitable or downright harmful material simply because they share similar keywords. Without the ability to identify what is really “news,” assess tone, credibility or context, these systems treat everything the same. 

News readers: Informed, loyal and ready to act

News audiences aren’t just informed — they’re active. They’re more likely to take action after exposure, spend more time on site and have higher brand recall.

As AI further distorts how people discover information, direct relationships with trusted news sources will become more valuable. Though many news sites have seen their SEO-related traffic fall, many news publications have made up that traffic in direct visits, indicating that the Q&A format of AI search doesn’t necessarily meet all the needs of news readers. These readers intentionally seek out journalism — making them ideal targets for brands seeking relevance and trust.

And yet, the ecosystem continues to undervalue this cohort due to outdated assumptions even though performance data shows otherwise. 

  • Ads on trusted news sources are seen as 8% more relevant, 6% more valuable and 4% more trustworthy versus non-news environments.
  • A 2024 ThinkNewsBrands analysis revealed that campaigns on news platforms drove up to 88% higher profit and market share growth versus non-news placements.
  • Case studies from Ad Fontes Media showed that in its programmatic “news-only” campaigns, one advertiser achieved 60% decrease in CPA (Cost per Acquisition) and another achieved 50% higher conversion rate than non-news campaigns.
  • Advertisers using The Trade Desk’s News Navigator feature, which increased spend on high-quality news within a campaign by 24% on average, saw an 8% decrease in CPA and a 9% lift in click-through rate (CTR).

Misconceptions about monetizing the news enables fear-based decision-making and overlooks the opportunity cost.

Time to flip the script

Fear-based exclusion of news isn’t just shortsighted, it’s expensive. Marketers who want outcomes — not just optics — need to rethink where their dollars go.

It’s time for DSPs, SSPs, agencies and brands to adopt a new framework:

  • Start with performance data (Stagwell, Newsworks, etc.)
  • Replace blocklists with available tools for identifying high-quality news and contextual nuance
  • Test news like any other vertical, with A/B performance benchmarks, by using curated news pre-bid segments or PMPs and working directly with trusted news publishers

Freestar works with premium news publishers like Reuters, AP News and Fortune to ensure that performance and integrity go hand in hand. If you’re still blocking news, ask yourself: What are you afraid of — and what are you missing out on?

Numerous panels at Cannes this year noted a shift in the narrative to the missed opportunity and realized the potential of monetizing this audience. 

Inspire brand action

Advertisers say they want brand-safe, high-impact, premium environments. News offers all three, and it delivers results. 

The decline of ad revenue to news publishers over the last two decades due to a confluence of new technologies and industry missteps has resulted in the shrinking and closure of too many newsrooms, to our collective detriment. But humans have a fundamental need for good information, so journalism has continued to find a way. 

The tide has started turning on outdated brand-safety practices, and the recent wave of advertisers returning to news and their positive performance results are encouraging more brands to do the same, using smarter, context-aware solutions. Fortunately, that means there is reason for optimism for journalism publishers. Everyone has known for a long time that supporting quality news is good ethics, but the real reason marketers are turning to it more these days is simply that it performs.

This op-ed represents the views and opinions of the author and not of The Current, a division of The Trade Desk, or The Trade Desk. The appearance of the op-ed on The Current does not constitute an endorsement by The Current or The Trade Desk.