Attention! Why brands shouldn’t underestimate the performance advantage of local news
Opinion
Research from Reach and PA Consulting finds that ads on local online news sites outperform those on social media, video, radio, or apps. Reach’s chief revenue officer examines the reasons.
The digital landscape can feel crowded and unpredictable, and most of the industry is trying to work out why attention keeps slipping through its fingers.
Every week brings a fresh tactic or another debate about what counts as meaningful engagement.
Platforms rise, fade, and reinvent themselves. But through all that churn, one thing stands out: people still want to read things they can trust. With AI-generated content and misinformation increasingly surrounding audiences, that instinct for credibility is stronger than ever – and it’s changing how people engage with advertising.
New research from Reach and PA Consulting looked at how this plays out for advertisers, and the results were striking.
Ads that appear on local online news sites consistently outperform those on social media, video, radio, or apps.
They make people feel more reassured (+41%), more trusting (+26%), and more connected (+26%). They also drive higher loyalty (+8%) and purchase intent (+6%).
In a market where genuine attention has become the scarcest resource, trust is proving to be the catalyst that pulls people in and keeps them engaged. It shapes what they read, who they listen to, and which brands feel worth their time and money.
The trust factor
We’ve known for a while that people are becoming more careful about what media they consume, but the data makes it clear – 87% of people say they actively look for trustworthy sources, and 81% say authenticity matters most.
And this trend doesn’t stop at the journalism itself. When an ad sits in a space people already believe in, that credibility transfers.
The thing about trust is that it’s personal; it’s built through relationships and reinforcement repetition, and cannot be manufactured overnight.
Almost two-thirds of people (63%) say they’re more likely to believe reporting from journalists who are part of their own community. Readers know the names and faces. They recognise the tone. They can tell those reporters understand the same local challenges and stories that matter to them.
That authenticity influences how people perceive the advertising that appears alongside it. For advertisers trying to secure real attention, this matters. Trust acts as fuel. It can make people more receptive, more patient, and more willing to accept what they see.
The halo effect
So does that trust in local journalism create a measurable advantage for advertisers?
The answer is yes – across every stage of the purchase funnel.
Local online news ads consistently perform better than other media channels across the funnel; for recall (+4%), engagement (+6%), purchase (+6%), and loyalty (+8%).
When people encounter ads within credible, community-driven content, they respond more openly and positively. The relationship between reader and publisher creates a halo of trust that benefits brands. And in a climate where attention is treated as the new currency of performance, this halo effect becomes a multiplier, driving greater dwell times and deeper engagement, while creating conditions where messages genuinely register – and ads convert.
That effect also carries across sectors. Financial services, travel, sport, and retail all see stronger engagement in local news environments, where audiences are more open to the messages in front of them and more likely to act. These are categories where credibility is critical, yet often hard to achieve on platforms that prioritise speed and scale over depth of connection.
Why young audiences still turn to local online news
There’s a common belief that young people have moved on from local news, but the research points to a reality many still underestimate: younger audiences aren’t rejecting news, they’re rejecting the environments that feel noisy, shallow, or inconsistent.
Gen Z and Millennials are still engaging with local news, and for reasons that make perfect sense. They describe it as more trustworthy (+18%), more uplifting (+17%), and more connected (+10%) than social platforms.
Although many of them may discover these stories through social media, when they want verified, grounded reporting, they follow it back to local publishers. What they’re really looking for is something that feels real; a sense of belonging and perspective that social feeds rarely deliver.
Recent IPSOS Iris data show that a significant share of local online news publishers’ audiences are under 35. According to IPSOS monthly data for October 2025 for Manchester Evening News, this segment accounts for over a fifth of its audience and 8.5m monthly page views, and for Belfast Live, 15% of its audience and 850,000 monthly page views.
This challenges one of the biggest myths in our industry. Younger audiences are often spoken about as if they only want short-form distraction, but the data shows they value relevance and reliability every bit as much as older readers.
Social still plays a role in how they navigate news, but it isn’t where they go to understand what’s actually happening. They turn to local online news because it gives them context, clarity, and a feeling of being rooted in something bigger than themselves.
When ads appear in environments that feel grounded and human, people notice. They remember them. And they’re more inclined to respond.
That’s why ads on local news sites see higher loyalty (+14%), ad recall (+11%), and engagement (+9%) among young readers. It’s also why, in the midst of all the noise online, they keep coming back. Their attention is earned, not forced, and that distinction shows up in the performance.
The advertiser’s opportunity
For advertisers, the message is simple. Context matters. The space where an ad appears shapes how people respond to it. In trusted local environments, that response is stronger, more positive, and more lasting. Attention becomes more stable. The time spent with content is more intentional. The surrounding stories carry weight, and that weight lifts the advertising rather than competing with it.
The temptation in digital marketing is to chase reach at all costs, but reach doesn’t mean much if the environment isn’t right.
Trusted local online news gives brands something different: an audience that’s paying attention, content that feels real, and the credibility that comes with a long-standing community connection.
The data shows that performance and trust are closely linked. When brands choose environments people genuinely value, the results follow.
Even with so much competing for our attention, local online news still breaks through. People believe in it, and that belief positively impacts the brands that choose to be there.
If we want the industry to move away from empty metrics and toward meaningful outcomes, we need to start treating trust as a performance driver in its own right.
The current model rewards noise. The future has to reward genuine impact. That shift won’t happen on its own. We have to push for it.
Emma Callaghan is chief revenue officer at Reach plc