Marketers Have Spoken: News Sites Outperforms the Rest of Digital

News sites are quietly reclaiming their place in digital media plans—and the shift is no longer theoretical. 

A fresh global study from ad tech verification heavyweight DoubleVerify shows that advertising alongside news content is giving credibility as well as beating off other digital placements in performance. 

Let’s dive in because for journalists and publishers, this isn’t subtle for trendspotting. This is a potential pivot in how ad dollars flow toward journalism in a world starving for revenue. 

Attention, publishers of the News advertising data!

Double Verify surveyed 1,970 marketers globally about their experiences and attitudes toward advertising in the news. 

60 percent of marketers said ads placed in news environments outperform their campaign baselines. Another 27 percent said performance is on par with baseline, and only a tiny 11 percent said news underperforms other channels. 

That’s not “news does okay.” That’s a flip of the conventional wisdom that news content is brand safety risk city — a retread of the old fear that “news adjacency” equals doom for brand perception.  

Hell, the data shows nearly the opposite: news is delivering better results than a majority of other digital channels. 

So what’s actually working for marketers

The backlash most brands used to fear (ads next to hard news or negative stories) looks increasingly overblown. The survey drilled into this, and the signal is clear: 

• Only 1 percent of marketers say all news content is unsuitable for advertising. 

• 95 percent are fine with ads next to soft news like entertainment or sports. 

• 93 percent see homepages as suitable.

• Even breaking news and current events — the allegedly “toxic” stuff — is seen as acceptable by 84–88 percent of respondents. 

That’s a paradigm shift. The industry has spent years whispering about brand-safety landmines; now the chorus is saying news is not only acceptable, but also a performer. This should devastate outdated creative agency decks built on fear, uncertainty, and doubt. 

Budget votes with its wallet

Here’s where the data gets even juicier: money talks. 

53 percent of marketers have already put real dollars behind news placements. Another 28 percent plan for the future. That means a massive 81 percent of professionals surveyed either invest in news now or intend to do so soon. 

And it’s not a pocket change. Those currently investing say they’re allocating 28 percent of their budgets to news environments on average. That’s a serious commitment — especially from sectors that traditionally weren’t news lovers. 

Certain verticals like automotive and healthcare/pharma are pushing harder into news than others. This isn’t whimsy — it’s strategic allocation toward environments that move the needle. 

But marketing agencies are still wary

Before you hit “print” on every news page everywhere, there’s one notable caveat: agencies — the middlemen between brands and publishers — are more sensitive to controversy than the brands themselves. 

According to the research, 20 percent more agency respondents cited fear of controversial adjacency than brands, and 16 percent more said they worry about “negative” news. 

This is classic friction: the buying agents are conservative for their clients, even as clients are more open than ever. That discrepancy suggests news publishers might need to lead conversations directly with brand stakeholders rather than relying on agency assumptions. 

Why this is more than just headlines

Publishers have been in a revenue death spiral. Also, consumers are wary of the credibility and trustworthiness of branded ads. Search referrals are tanking thanks to AI answer boxes; walled gardens gobble up ad spend; programmatic churn can feel like digital highway robbery. 

So, when data emerges showing news placements outperform baseline campaign metrics with real budget commitment, it becomes a legitimate market correction. 

DoubleVerify’s findings also align with earlier research showing consumers actually value brands that support news content — meaning running ads next to journalism isn’t just defensible; it helps brand perception. 

In an era where brands chase short attention spans and TikTok drool, news environments are proving they still deliver audiences that engage, that convert, that matter. 

And there’s more for publishers

DoubleVerify’s research suggests that impression volume for advertisers across major news publishers jumped 58 percent in 2025 vs. the year before. 

That kind of growth doesn’t happen because everyone suddenly got nostalgic for hard news. It happens because marketers are tracking performance and putting money where metrics move up. 

We’ve reached a point where data is starting to override long-held biases about news advertising. 

This is about opportunity and well, survival

For publishers still hemorrhaging ad dollars, this should be interpreted as more than a trend. It’s an opening. A chance to sell news not as a risk — but as a high-performance environment with measurable ROI. 

The old template was fear: “Your brand might suffer if placed next to some news.” Now we’re entering a new narrative: “Your brand will likely perform better here than in other environments.” 

That’s a completely different sales story. 

Cut to the chase

News advertising is outperforming baselines for 60 percent of marketers. For publishers, this data is gold. And it’s time to stop apologizing for journalism in your ad pitches — start celebrating it because the market is starting to treat news environments not as a necessary evil, but as a strategic asset.