News Media Alliance: COVID-19 ad blocking hurting publishers

News Media Alliance’s Rebecca Frank recently published an article on Medium on the problem of digital advertisers and ad tech companies blocking their ads from appearing next to coronavirus-related content. The issue has ballooned into an existential crisis for news publishers, the Alliance says.

There are multiple solutions being posed by various industry players in an attempt to curb the use of keyword blocking, writes Frank, vice president, research and insights. “For example, NewsGuard’s ranking of trustworthy news sites, and the Local Media Consortium/Brand Safety Institute’s white list are good solutions. The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) is also taking a multi-pronged approach to encourage advertisers to continue to support news,” she writes.

“And we think multiple solutions will be needed and that organizations should implement the solution that works best for them. If they’re waiting for an industry-wide consensus, it will be too late. If they’re passing responsibility for the problem on to other members of the advertising ecosystem to let them deal with it, that is not helpful and in the meantime, the problem is getting worse,” she writes.

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