Eight in in 10 UK consumers were unaware that advertisers use keyword blocklists with publishers, according to a Newsworks study conducted by OnePoll.
The research found that, once they learned about the practice, 70% of Brits agree advertisers should invest more in quality journalism rather than blocking it on their advertising.
Half of those surveyed said seeing an ad next to a hard-hitting news story would make no difference to them compared with seeing the ad next to any other news story — a conclusion also shared by Stagwell’s Future of News research last year.
When asked what kind of stories journalists should focus on, the top three topics chosen by participants were global conflict (57%), politics (56%) and health (53%). The study found that consumers also believe these are the same three subjects that are most likely to be blocked by advertisers.
Advertising adjacent to quality news content is brand-safe regardless of topic
As part of the research, respondents were also shown “hard news” and “soft news” headlines that contain terms that could appear in advertisers’ blocklists, such as “explosion of dance”.
Half of them said none of the headlines should be blocked from carrying advertising. Moreover, the same proportion said keyword-blocking impacts on news brands’ ability to report on important stories, while 70% said advertisers should support quality news brands.
Attitude towards tech platforms
Newsworks’ research also examined consumers’ reaction to recent changes to content moderation made by Meta in the US, with 79% agreeing that online content should be subject to fact-checking to avoid the spread of misinformation.
In fact, 82% believe advertisers should stand up to tech giants that permit misinformation on their services by either reducing spend with them or boycotting the platforms entirely.
Moreover, 79% suggest tech giants should face fines if they fail to tackle fake news on their platforms.
Jo Allan, Newsworks’ CEO, said: “While debates around ad-blocking largely remain within the ad industry, it is clear from this survey that consumers are concerned about the impact of blocklisting on trusted journalism.
“Keyword blocklists are blunt tools that fail to take nuance into account and we appeal to advertisers to reconsider their brand-safety policies when it comes trusted quality environments like news brands.”
The survey involved 2,000 nationally representative UK adults, with the data collected during 18-21 February.
Newsworks is running the “Back don’t block” webinar on this topic on Tuesday morning at 9:30am.
