Digiday Research: Coronavirus-related keyword blocking is a problem for 43% of all publishers
This research is based on unique data collected from our proprietary audience of publisher, agency, brand and tech insiders. It’s available to Digiday+ members. More from the series →
Coronavirus- related keyword blocking has become a problem for 43% of publishers, according to a new Digiday survey of 127 publishing execs undertaken this month.
The survey found that a quarter of publishers said it had not been a problem for them.
Keyword blocking has been an issue for publishers ever since the coronavirus outbreak began. Even as many publishers have seen site-traffic grow, advertisers have been quick to add virus-related words to keyword blocklists, the idea being that this will avoid any fallout from their ads coming alongside articles about the virus, deaths and other issues.
Meanwhile, a previous survey found that 40% of brands are not advertising next to coronavirus-related news online, up slightly from the same survey conducted a month ago, when 37% said they will not buy ads alongside coronavirus-related content.
As our research has found, publisher revenues took a major hit in the first quarter, but publishers expect things to get worse in the second quarter. Only 2% of raised forecasts, 17% have kept them flat, and the vast majority — 80% — have lowered forecasts.
Our survey found that for 80% of publishers, traffic is up. For almost a quarter, it’s up more than 50% from pre-pandemic levels.
Among business lines, ad revenue was hardest hit in the first quarter, decreasing for a whopping 65% of all publishers. This included direct sold and programmatic ad revenue.
More in Media
Media Briefing: Publishers’ Q3 earnings show revenue upticks despite election ad pullback
Q3 was a mixed bag for publishers, with some blaming the U.S. presidential election for an ad-spend pullback.
Workplace policies poised for seismic shakeup post-election
Topping the list of expected changes: a rollback of many health insurance reforms provided under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
News publishers didn’t sustain a traffic bump in the 2024 presidential election week like they did in 2020
Unlike the drawn out process of the presidential election in 2020, this year’s election quickly revealed that Donald Trump would be the winner – and that meant less of a sustained traffic bump to publishers.