Traditional news increases advertising attention, eye-tracking research finds

The Power of Traditional News study, commissioned by Teads, found that ‘traditional news’ content – defined as covering politics, the economy, foreign policy or war, or climate – drove higher levels of attention and contributed to a 77% increase in brand recall, compared with ‘soft news’ covering the topics of sport/health, entertainment, style or travel.

To conduct the study, 900 consumers were recruited to view news content alongside ads from verticals including retail, luxury, technology, consumer packaged goods and finance on news sites such as CNN and Reuters, via their smartphones.

Lumen then conducted a survey that measured prompted brand recall, brand choice, and brand perceptions to understand the impact of news exposure on brand outcomes.

The research found that traditional news resulted in a stronger emotional response among participants – reader interest was 18% higher than it was for so-called ‘soft news’. Additionally, reader engagement was 35% higher.

The stronger emotional response did not translate into a negative impact for brands, according to the research, which found a 20% increase in attention paid to advertising within a traditional news context, compared with soft news.

While readers of traditional news tended to experience stronger emotions such as sadness and anxiousness while reading (driven by coverage of hard-hitting topics), the study suggested this did not negatively impact brand perception, with readers of both traditional and soft news reporting similar levels of negative, neutral and positive responses to brands who had placed ads within the articles they read.

John Trotter, senior director, research and insights, Teads, said: “Over the last several years, brand safety concerns and new industry parameters have influenced brands to shy away from advertising alongside traditional news. We see these results as a proof point for brands determining a path forward amid a focus on global politics, the economy, and other traditional news topics. Consumers are invested in these stories, and advertisers have a prime opportunity to reach engaged key audiences in a traditionally underutilised space.”

The study follows an earlier piece of research from Stagwell, ‘The Future of News study’, which found that advertising next to ‘controversial’ topics on hard news sites performed as effectively as those within ‘positive’ news environments – such as sports and entertainment.

“If marketers and business leaders continue to shy away from investing in the news, the continued defunding of news will continue, and also, brands will miss out on the ability to reach incredibly valuable audiences,” said Alexis Williams, chief corporate affairs officer, Stagwell. “This is the time to reverse the vicious cycle of defunding news and to support the journalism that underpins our societal future.”

Mike Follett, chief executive, Lumen Research, said: “There’s a myth that advertising next to bad news is bad for business. Our work with Teads showed that the ads served on traditional news content can drive higher attention and outcomes without impacting brand sentiment. As election season gets into full swing, advertisers who are avoiding news content should realise that not only are they defunding quality journalism, they are also missing a golden business opportunity.”

Methodology

Lumen Research conducted an online survey with 900 respondents from the US. The study measured against prompted brand recall, brand choice and brand perceptions to explore the impact of advertising exposure on brand outcomes. One group saw traditional news and one group read soft news content to understand how the news content affected attention to the ads. Using Lumen’s eye-tracking platform, participants scrolled from the front-facing smartphone camera to measure the visual attention data of how they read the news and paid attention to the ads.

Additionally, a control group of 250 people matched on demographics took part in the survey component of the study. Fieldwork was undertaken between 2-24 May 2024.