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Missiles, violence, refugees and death—for news publishers covering the horror unfolding throughout Israel and Gaza, the language of their reporting reflects the brutal realities of war.
But that same language also triggers a series of brand safety measures—keyword blocklists, sentiment analysis, or contextual filters—that companies use to prevent their ads from running alongside polarizing content. Measures that demonetize vital, cost-intensive reporting in the process, according to interviews with publishers, media buyers and ad-tech vendors.
Although media buyers’ brand safety efforts have grown more nuanced and their technology more sophisticated in recent years, publishers’ ability to monetize their coverage of the latest Israel-Hamas war has still suffered, according to ad ops executives at three news outlets.
“A lot of people are taking responsible measures to support news environments in moments like this,” said Mario Diez, the chief executive of the brand safety vendor Peer39. “But you also don’t want to deliver a campaign flight next to content that might not be relevant.”
Keyword blocking has made some of publishers’ most consequential coverage their least financially sustainable. In 2019, for instance, brand safety filters cost the news industry $2.8 billion, according to the artificial intelligence firm Cheq. The practice has come under redoubled scrutiny in recent years, as news cycles surrounding Covid-19, the Black Lives Matter protests and the Russia-Ukraine war have cast a fresh spotlight on its unintended effects.
The dynamic reflects a core tension at the heart of digital advertising, as news publishers depend on advertising to fund their operations. Still, brands fear the reputational blowback of promoting themselves alongside divisive content.
Throttled revenues in critical junctures
News publishers are reluctant to complain publicly about brand safety measures, as griping about monetization amid a crisis appears tone-deaf.
But news outlets’ advertising revenues take a material hit during these disasters, some of which can last for months, according to an ad ops executive at a global news outlet.
According to Steve Brill, the cofounder of NewsGuard, some publishers lose between 30% to 50% of their advertising revenue to brand safety filters. Since the beginning of the latest Israel-Hamas war Oct. 7, one publisher has seen delivery of its house ads rise 12%, the result of unfilled programmatic inventory.