Global adspend on news brands forecast to decline by a third

Global adspend on news brands is expected to fall to $32.3 billion in 2025, according to WARC’s latest Global Advertising Trends report, which would be indicative of a 33.1% decrease from 2019. 

The outlook for 2026 is spending will remain flat, with WARC positing that the advertising industry has a breaking news problem, driven by today’s abundance of hard news stories—from trade wars to armed conflicts—drawing audiences, but not ad dollars due to content safety concerns. Just 3.7% of total UK TV adspend was allocated to news programming in 2024, per Nielsen.

Publishers and broadcasters continue to lose out on ad dollars with brands favouring investment in big tech players such as Google and Meta for targeted, scalable ads. 

Globally, 51% of adspend goes to professionally-produced content, down from 72% in 2019, with user-generated-content (UGC) and ‘creator-journalists’ willing to operate within digital platform ecosystems identified as alternatives driving this shift.

By next year, professionally produced content is forecast to account for less than half of content-driven adspend, according to GroupM. 

Alex Brownsell, head of content at WARC Media, said, “Brands have become increasingly squeamish about hard news content. Keyword blocking hinders the ability of publishers to monetise newsworthy moments, while ad investment is increasingly shifting from professional journalism to ‘creator-journalists’.”

Platforms like TikTok and podcasts are fuelling the rise of creator-journalists, while AI-generated content is accelerating this trend. UGC offers low production costs, direct audience engagement and alignment with platform algorithms. 

Traditional media, which invests upfront in journalism and operates under stricter content standards and to tighter regulations, is struggling to compete. The report outlines that this shift is particularly damaging to the ad-funded news industry, which has long warned that shrinking investment in professional journalism risks a decline in civic literacy and weaker defences against disinformation.

Kate Scott-Dawkins, global president, business intelligence at GroupM, said, “As spend from the long tail of advertisers continues to outpace growth from the top 200, UGC is likely to dominate even more.”

As brands avoid placing ads alongside content deemed controversial or distressing, softer content like sport and lifestyle is being favoured. 

Traditionally, automotive, retail, finance, and telecoms have been the biggest business sectors advertising in the US news media, but this mix is shifting. 

Automotive and retail spend has moved toward digital and performance-based marketing and news publishers are increasingly targeting tech, healthcare and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands and niche B2B advertisers seeking trusted environments for adspend. 

In the US, pharma brands have become increasingly integral for news broadcasters, now accounting for 12% of national TV ad sales. 

Data, tech and trust may turn things around

Despite the diminishing adspend, the past decade has seen online news consumption surge in the UK and US. However, according to Gallup, news media now ranks among the least trusted institutions in the US, with only 34% expressing confidence.

News brands have responded to the changing market by investing in technology, developing plans for AI, and building out multiplatform strategies to offer brands and agencies a cohesive proposition.

In an effort to better reflect the effectiveness of campaigns placed against professionally-produced journalism, some media agencies have introduced new measures like ‘quality CPM’ (qCPM). 

To further allay advertiser concerns around brand safety, publishers like Reach and News UK have developed in-house tech solutions to avoid inappropriate blocking. CNN has developed a neuro-linguistic AI tool that analyses context across text, audio, video, and galleries to assess brand suitability.

Ultimately, per the report, future adspend growth for news brands hinges on first-party data, trusted environments and revenue diversification beyond ads such as subscriptions and direct consumer relationships.

This article was first published by Performance Marketing World.