Reputable news sites reporting on the corona virus are being blacklisted by advertisers worried about “brand safety“.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that publishers are losing ad revenue because some advertisers are avoiding any sites that report on the corona virus.
This blacklisting occurs even with public-service news or innocuous lifestyle pieces such as cooking healthy during quarantine.
“Most online ad-buying happens through automated marketplaces,” the Journal reported. “Typically, companies purchase ads aimed at audiences with certain characteristics—age, shopping habits or interests, for example—rather than space on specific sites. They can hire measurement or ‘brand-safety’ firms to track their campaigns and blacklist their ads from appearing in certain locations.”
Creating a “white list” to protect responsible publishers
As a response to these trends, a news-credibility rating service, Newsguard, has announced that is partnering with various advertising organizations and the World Health Organization to flag sites that provide misinformation about the corona virus.
Newsguard calls itself “the internet trust tool“, because it rates the reliability and trustworthiness of thousands of online news organizations.
One of the companies that helps advertisers choose where to run their ads, Amobee, announced that it is partnering with Newsguard to steer advertising away from sites publishing false information and toward those with “trustworthy” content.
Sensationalistic content about conspiracy theories generates lots of web traffic through algorithm-driven viral sharing on social media. It is a lucrative business. There is a profit motive in spreading misinformation.
Let’s hope that the efforts by Newsguard and others to counter this trend will help the news organizations providing a public service.
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Advertisers avoid media that cover the corona virus