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60% of marketers say advertising in News outperforms campaign benchmarks
Global survey by DoubleVerify shows rising confidence in news environments, with majority planning increased investments despite concerns over “negative” content.
Just 1% of respondents said they consider all news environments unsuitable for advertising.
Advertising in news environments is delivering strong results and outperforming other media placements, according to a new DoubleVerify (DV) global study. The research, based on responses from 1,970 marketers worldwide, reveals that 60% believe ads placed alongside news content perform better than campaign baselines, while 27% say performance is on par. Only 11% found news placements underperformed.
The findings signal a significant shift in industry sentiment, reinforcing that news is not only a suitable advertising environment but also a high-performing and cost-effective one. A vast majority of marketers do not view news as unsafe terrain for advertising, the study shows.
Marketers Increasingly Confident in News
Just 1% of respondents said they consider all news environments unsuitable for advertising. In contrast, 95% reported suitability for ads near soft news such as sports and entertainment, and 93% for news homepages. Even for more sensitive categories like breaking news and current events, 88% and 84% respectively said they do not view adjacency as unsuitable.
Investment in News Rising
More than half (53%) of marketers currently invest in news content, and 28% plan to start, allocating an average 28% of their total budgets to such placements. DV noted that news publisher impression volumes grew 58% in H1 2025 across its advertiser set compared to last year.
Sectors including automotive, healthcare and pharmaceuticals lead investment activity, while agencies remain more cautious than brands: they were 20% more likely to identify controversial topics as a barrier, and 16% more concerned about negative news.
Biggest Barrier: Fear of Negative Adjacency
Across all respondents who either avoid or limit news spending, concerns over appearing next to negative or controversial stories emerged as the biggest deterrent.
To address this challenge, DoubleVerify introduced three new news suitability categories: Sensitive Breaking News, Current Events, and Opinion & Editorial: powered by DV’s advanced AI classifiers for greater control and precision. DV says these solutions enable advertisers to access more premium inventory while maintaining brand safety.
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