By Jack Marshall, Head of News
Advertising alongside news content typically outperforms other digital channels, marketers say.
DoubleVerify surveyed 1,970 marketers globally to explore their attitudes and investment decisions related to news content, and 60% of respondents reported that inventory in news environments outperforms campaign baselines.
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.
Other key findings include:
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 capitalize 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.
Among marketers who do not currently actively invest in news, respondents said the biggest barrier preventing them from doing so is concern over advertising alongside negative news content.
Similarly, marketers who do invest in news said the most significant factors preventing them from allocating more budget are concerns about appearing alongside negative news or potentially controversial topics.
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 unparalleled granularity, flexibility and control, enabling them to open up additional inventory and spend with news publishers and helping them capitalize on the brand-building opportunities news presents.
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.