News brands have a long history of partnering with brands on brilliant sponsored content, directly connecting advertisers with audiences through quality editorial.
To understand how content partnerships work, we partnered with advertising research agency RAM UK, specialists in understanding how ads are consumed and perceived, to get under the skin of how and why content partnerships connect with audiences.
This analysis is based on a survey of 500 nationally representative UK adults. Firstly, we focus on general attitudes to content partnerships, followed by four specific campaigns across the retail, motors, travel and beauty sectors.
Facts include:
- Content partnerships convey detailed brand messages, with 65% thinking they tell them more about a brand.
- Content partnerships make brand involvement transparent, with 90% agreeing it’s clear a content partnership is sponsored by a brand.
- 75% of 15–34s would like to see brands working more with journalists.
- 54% of people would consider a brand after seeing sponsored content.
