Brands are seeing a significant boost to their bottom line from investing in news brands, a new study reveals.
Since 2017, brands have benefitted from an additional £268 million profit return on investment (ROI) by optimising their ad spend in news brands, an upswing of 10% over the last three years.
Newsworks’ ‘The Bottom Line’ research, which draws on a decade’s worth of effectiveness data, forecasts that by 2025, brands will boost profit margins by as much as £1 billion from optimising investment in news brands.
It follows on from Newsworks’ 2017 study ‘Planning for Profit’, which found that brands were missing out on £3 billion of potential profit ROI by under-investing in news brands.
That profit gap has narrowed to £2.7 billion despite the pandemic and is forecast to be just above £2 billion by 2025.
Jo Allan, Newsworks CEO, said: “It’s great to see an impressive shift in the last few years, despite the knock-on effect of Covid. If advertisers continue to utilise news brands effectively, their bottom lines will only improve. This research offers compelling and tangible evidence for advertisers who are looking to increase profit ROI and benefit from being in brand-safe, quality environments.”
Advertisers can use Newsworks’ new profit calculator to find out how to optimise spend in news brands across specific categories and increase their campaign profit return.
‘The Bottom Line’ study, conducted by consultancy Benchmarketing, analysed 1,012 cases from 2011 to 2020, including during the pandemic.
Sally Dickerson, chief effectiveness officer at Benchmarketing, said: “This project is unique in assessing news brands’ role in overall campaign effectiveness. Significantly, it also isolates news brands’ digital spend as a structural factor. With the rise of misinformation, digital news brands offer an attractive brand-safe environment for advertisers. This research proves that they also deliver solid business returns when utilised at the right level.”
Newsworks’ new study includes in-depth learnings across nine categories covering 90% of advertised brands. Category-specific insights will be released in the coming months.
Presentation
Profit Calculator
Multiple studies prove the effectiveness of multi-platform news brand campaigns. Below we show the recommended news brand print and digital split.
The Bottom Line – Category Segmentation
This study is designed to provide maximum benefit and the widest possible application. Benchmarketing introduced an amazing innovation to make this happen. Looking at over 30 individual categories, analysing characteristics such as purchase behaviour as well as how they behaved in relation to response to advertising investment, Benchmarketing developed five ‘super-categories’ as distinct segments. overcomes the issue of having enough cases in a sector to enable robust and actionable conclusions. In addition to the super-categories, there is also in-depth category analysis for four individual categories – motors, finance, supermarkets and retail. As a result of this work, the vast majority of UK advertisers will be able to determine optimal spend in news brands.
Super-category descriptions
This covers low cost items we buy very frequently, out of habit. It includes impulse treats, such as crisps, magazines and chocolate bars that we buy from a shortlist of favourite brands. It also includes routine household essentials, such as loo paper, where we don’t usually spend time pondering each purchase.
This covers all the things that prepare us for the day ahead, keep us going, perk us up, help us recharge our batteries and restore our bodies at the end of the day. Generally affordable, quite frequently bought items that we choose from a repertoire of favourite brands – although we’re also on the lookout for the new and interesting to add a spark to the routine. It comprises coffee shops and high street restaurants, non-alcoholic drinks, food, beauty and personal care, health and medicine.
This covers items that we buy reasonably regularly, that (mostly) give us enjoyment in life, both inside and outside the home. These range from trips to the cinema, to alcoholic drinks, to products that we hope will change our future, such as National Lottery tickets.
The ‘shiny new things’ super-category covers bigger, more expensive and less frequently bought treats that feed our passions and keep us up with the latest trends – such as the latest smartphone or that must-have handbag.
This covers the fundamentals and necessities you’d associate with adult life. It includes tickets for trains and planes, utility providers and other services such as breakdown cover or online delivery.
Category Analysis
Over the coming months we will be creating specific analysis for the categories detailed above. You can see the ones published so far below.
