‘Advertisers nowhere to be seen’ despite election traffic high, warns The Guardian

“Advertisers are nowhere to be seen” around newsbrands’ online election coverage, The Guardian has warned, despite the news brand clocking up its biggest day of election news traffic this week.

The title said it achieved 40m page views on election-related content on Tuesday and criticised “nervousness around brand safety” for creating a missed opportunity for advertisers.

“The general election is one of those rare moments of mass cultural interest, where everyone is looking in the same direction at once,” a spokesperson for The Guardian said. “And yet nervousness around brand safety means that most advertisers are nowhere to be seen.”

BT, however, has sponsored The Guardian’s 2024 election coverage with a “multi-platform approach” spanning the publication’s digital coverage (including live blogs and takeovers), spot ads across daily news podcast Today in Focus and print ads on the days following the election.

Imogen Fox, chief advertising officer at Guardian Media Group, said: “Advertising around news and politics can be a bit of a minefield with brand-safety concerns and a feeling that ads might be interruptive — but it needn’t be with the right media partner. We’re delighted to have BT on board as our partners and are grateful for their support.”

Fox’s predecessor, Adam Foley (now CEO of media agency Bountiful Cow), previously claimed that a Guardian A/B study in 2021 found “risky” content delivered a 36% brand lift compared with “safe” content, which delivered a 4% brand lift.