Exclusive: News outlets target Madison Ave. with "NewsFronts" event
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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 news executives panicked about the year ahead.
- "The idea that brands should avoid news is outdated and wrong," Penn said.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."
Zoom in: The new event, slated for Oct. 16 in New York City, is meant to serve as a compliment to the advertising industry's newfronts and upfronts media presentations that occur each spring.
- The upfronts were created decades ago for TV advertisers to reserve ad placements around fall programming ahead of time.
- In recent years, digital companies, including streamers, have been added to the mix. Their newfronts presentations typically occur the week before traditional TV companies in early May.
Between the lines: Bigger news companies have occasionally stood up their own presentations.
- Some network news operations are featured as part of bigger presentations by their parent companies. But the upfronts and newfronts broadly tend to focus most on new prime-time shows and live sports events, not news.
Between the lines: The new event will feature presentations, programming and panel discussions from news outlets that are part of Stagwell's "Future of News" initiative.
- 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.
- 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.
- "Launching the Newsfronts in October — after the creative momentum of Cannes Lions and before 2026 budgets are finalized — is well timed to spark critical conversations and ensure that brands prioritize investing in trusted news when it matters most," Penn said.
The big picture: Stagwell and Penn launched the "Future of News" initiative last year to educate ad buyers about the benefits of supporting news publishers.
- They've since hosted a slew of events around the globe and have commissioned research meant that debunks the notion that news content can be damaging to brands.
- One of their biggest findings was that ads adjacent to news stories that are considered "not brand safe" performed on par with those next to "brand safe" content.
