Brand lift on news brand content incorrectly classified as ‘unsafe’ hits 40% compared to 18% on ‘safe’ content, according to findings from the agency’s ‘Relative Advantage Unblocked’ research
Significant uplift was found across action intent, preference and consideration. What’s more, ‘unsafe’ content scored an attention index of 126 compared to 120 for content where brand safety filters were applied.
The research worked with four news brands, three clients and partners Ozone to challenge overreliance on brand safety technology routinely blocking quality content based on keywords alone. It tested two media lines through Bountiful Cow’s Prospero platform — one with brand safety filters applied and one with no filters — in live campaign conditions.
Further insights from Ozone revealed around 40% of ad requests on premium content sites are blocked by standard blocklists, while every £100 million worth of investment held back equates to nearly 1700 journalists — the headcount of two news brands.
The findings were shared with an audience of industry delegates in a breakfast event at Borough Yards on Thursday morning.
“All impressions on quality news brands are brand safe — full stop.”
Speaking at the event, Bountiful Cow CEO Adam Foley said: “All impressions on quality news brands are brand safe — full stop. We back the editors. No-one wants ads appearing next to content that’s genuinely not brand safe. Not the advertiser, of course, but also not the editors or the readers.
“News brands have been dealing with this issue for decades, if not hundreds of years. They can be trusted in a way that technology sometimes cannot.”
When describing the potential benefits of Bountiful Cow’s approach for both advertisers and society, Foley added: “That would be a world where we can harness the power of news to drive brilliant results for our brands with no sleepless nights and where we as an industry support the journalism and investigations that are so desperately needed in these times.”
Telegraph Media Group chief commercial officer Karen Eccles joined Foley in a Q&A session to explain news brands’ position in more detail.
“What a wonderful breath of fresh air it is to see this presentation from an agency”, she said. “The advocacy needs to come from the industry and clients and agencies changing behaviour.”
“Whatever the subject matter, advertising in trusted news brands works.”
Commenting on the findings, Newsworks CEO Jo Allan said: “The team at Bountiful Cow put the theory to the test and the results speak for themselves — whatever the subject matter, advertising in trusted news brands works.
“I really hope these results act as a catalyst for action-orientated change across the ad industry.”
Charlotte Powers, who led the research, said: “Brand safety tech, in its current form, is blocking quality mainstream news content — from politics to football — based on blunt keywords.
“Our study shows this fear is misplaced. Removing overzealous filters not only improves visibility, but ads benefited from the trusted context, driving stronger engagement and brand perception.
“We’re committed to applying these insights across all future campaigns, with a clear goal: to curate a list of premium news sites across our partners that can deliver high-volume display and video impressions — without excluding hard news.”
