In new research from DoubleVerify (“DV”) (NYSE: DV), a software platform to verify media quality and optimise ad performance, 60% of respondents report that ad inventory in news environments outperforms campaign baselines.
DV surveyed 1,970 marketers globally to explore their attitudes and investment decisions related to news content. The research highlights the opportunity that news presents for marketers looking for high-performing, cost-effective media, and builds on previous DV research indicating that consumers actively value brands that support news content by advertising alongside it.
The research also found that the vast majority of marketers do not consider news an unsuitable advertising environment.Indeed, most marketers currently invest in news content or intend to do so in the future. That said, brands in certain verticals are more likely than others to invest in news content, with concerns about “negative” news and controversial topics the biggest barriers for additional investment in news environments.
60% of marketer respondents said advertising placed in news environments performs better than campaign baselines, and 27% said it performs on par with baselines. Just 11% of respondents found that news inventory performed below average compared with other media.
A tiny portion of marketers – just 1% – said they consider all types of news content to be unsuitable for advertising, but perspectives on suitability varied slightly depending on adjacency with different types of news content and pages.
95% of marketers said they do not consider it unsuitable for their ads to appear next to “soft” news topics such as sports and entertainment, while 93% said the same about news homepages. Marketers are slightly more cautious about content related to current events and breaking news, however, with 88% and 84% not considering that content unsuitable for advertising, respectively.
The data highlights the need for advertisers to take a nuanced approach to news to capitalise on the opportunity it presents while maintaining their suitability needs.
53% of marketers said they currently invest in news content, and an additional 28% said they intend to in the future. Marketers currently investing in news also said they allocate significant portions of their budgets towards it, spending 28% of their budgets on average.
That finding correlates with trends seen in DV’s data, which suggest that advertiser engagement with news is growing. Impression volume for DV advertisers increased 58% across major news publishers’ sites in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period last year.
Some sectors are more likely to invest in news than others. Marketers in automotive and healthcare & pharmaceuticals, among others, say they advertise alongside news more than marketers in other verticals.
Among marketers investing in news, 20% more respondents from agencies said the prospect of appearing alongside controversial topics is a barrier for growing their investment in news. The research also indicated that 16% more agency respondents cited concerns about negative news when compared with brand respondents.
To address these concerns, DV recently introduced three news-related suitability categories to make it easier than ever for advertisers to invest confidently in news while ensuring their suitability needs are satisfied: Sensitive Breaking News, Current Events and Opinion & Editorial.
The new categories apply DoubleVerify’s advanced AI-classification models to give advertisers granularity, flexibility and control, enabling them to open up additional inventory and spend with news publishers.
DoubleVerify is committed to encouraging greater advertiser investment in news content and journalism, and to ensuring that DV’s product innovation continues to support the needs of the news industry. DV’s News Accelerator™ is powering these efforts and is investing in ongoing research highlighting the brand-building opportunities of news content to ensure advertisers have the insights they need to unlock its full potential.
Get more information on the research here.
DoubleVerify is a client of Bluestripe Group, publisher of New Digital Age.
