Exclusive ..."NewsFronts" fall debut
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Stagwell, a publicly-traded ad holding group, will host a new "NewsFronts" event this fall that will highlight advertising opportunities around news content for skeptical marketers on Madison Avenue, chairman and CEO Mark Penn told Axios.
Why it matters: Amid growing polarization, news companies have struggled to convince advertisers that their content is brand safe. That, in conjunction with economic uncertainty, has executives panicking about the year ahead.
Zoom in: The new event, slated for Oct. 16 in New York City, is meant to serve as a complement to the advertising industry's newfronts and upfronts media presentations that occur each spring.
- Upfronts and newfronts broadly tend to focus most on new prime-time shows and live sports events, not news.
- Stagwell is hoping to secure advertising commitments from brands and ad agencies around news content for the year ahead, the same way bigger publishers look to secure budgets during the upfronts and newfronts.
What to expect: The new event will feature presentations, programming and panel discussions from news outlets that are part of Stagwell's "Future of News" initiative.
- The participating publishers are Ad Fontes Media, Associated Press, Axel Springer, Axios, Business Insider, CNN, Gannett, The Guardian US, The Independent, News Corp, Newsweek, The New York Times, Ozone, POLITICO, Press Gazette, The Trade Desk, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Reuters, The Rebooting and 1440.
The bottom line: "The idea that brands should avoid news is outdated and wrong," Penn said. "Our research shows that advertising in quality news outlets is not only safe — it drives strong brand performance."
