Influence on browsing and shopping
The perception is news brands don’t impact the whole consumer journey. The reality is news brand environments provide both a direct and indirect impact on retail browsing online.
News brand environments spark retail moments
Our click-by-click dataset captured every instance where the reading of a specific news article was immediately followed with related online retail activity, proving the influence of news brand environments on online buying decisions.
These journeys reflect the sometimes random, sometimes incoherent journey of a thought process in a true way that is difficult to recreate. It’s a clear reminder to all marketers that purchase journeys are never straightforward and linear (as much as we would like to think they are).
From the 15,230 instances where a news brand URL was immediately followed by a retail URL, we captured in real time how news brands provide the information and influence that can spark a retail browse and sale.
68% of news brand readers went to a retail site after reading news, on average 4.2 times over the month.
News brands influence all stages of the consumer journey
News brands excel in long-term brand building and encourage action across the whole consumer journey, from awareness and discovery through to purchase. 75% have taken a retail action after reading a news brand article.
News brand reviews matter
News brands’ trusted and authoritative place in readers’ consciousness carries weight. The value of a good review is priceless:
56% are more likely to avoid a negatively reviewed product or brand.
54% will recommend to others a positively reviewed product or brand.
56% believe advertising in news brand environments signal that a brand is popular and widely recognised.
“I would treat that advert with a lot more respect than I would an advert that you are scrolling through on Instagram. Adverts in newspapers and online news sources are a lot more regulated.”
Matt, 28, London
News brand environments provide a trusted halo effect for advertisers
“I would say seeing an ad in a news site would make me do more research into it. I’m already in the mindset of being engaged so it will encourage me to do a search on Google and find out more. I’ll think that was advertised there so it must a good brand.”
Seb, 22, Glasgow
And when it comes specifically to viewing ads, news brand environments raise the bar to delivering contextual trust and respect to the brands featured.
The retail categories visited by our young readers after reading news brand content closely correlate with Nielsen’s reported digital advertising investment into news brands. Across 10 key retail categories, there is a strong positive correlation of 0.87.
News brands’ role in helping people feel informed and able to make the right decisions extends to advertising and product reviews. News brand environments are a respected trusted space for advertisers.
