Advertisers have grappled with the complexities of an online media landscape saturated with misinformation and provocative content for more than a decade. To reduce potential conflicts with brand safety standards, many digital advertisers have resorted to excluding news content from their media plans, cutting off revenue to credible news outlets.

By leveraging Ad Fontes Media’s responsible journalism insights with Channel Factory’s brand suitability and safety contextual awareness, reliable and diverse news organizations that were previously blocked will be curated and available to advertisers.

“As the 2024 U.S. presidential election nears, it’s more important than ever for citizens to get  minimally biased and highly reliable news so they can make informed choices when they go to the polls,” said Vanessa Otero, founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media. “Our collaboration with Channel Factory addresses the ongoing crisis of credible journalism by ensuring advertising revenue goes to credible news outlets instead of purveyors of brand-unsafe, dubious content.”

Recent research released by Stagwell at the Future of News summit showed that news inventory typically performs equally well as sports and entertainment content, and is better than average for the 11% of consumers who are avid news followers.

When unblocked, news and political content can deliver roughly 16% of total campaign impressions vs. 0% when the impressions remain blocked. Through this partnership, political advertisers and mainstream and mission-driven brands will have increased capabilities, including:

• Target consumers of various affiliations with key messaging in contexts that align with (or challenge) their personal leanings.
• Unlock large pools of ad inventory within credible news channels on social media without sacrificing brand safety.
• Target their messages to voters while ensuring their ads run against credible content.

“The industry standards that have been built in the name of brand safety and suitability were well-intentioned, but have had unexpected consequences. One of these has been the overblocking and demonetization of responsible news – and that is not only bad for the advertiser but for all of society,” said Phil Cowdell, Global Chief Strategy Officer of Channel Factory. “Ad Fontes and Channel Factory share a similar mission to create a more appropriate, responsible, and trusted media landscape.”

To learn more about this partnership, please visit ChannelFactory.com or adfontesmedia.com.

About Channel Factory

Channel Factory is a global technology and data platform that maximizes both business performance and brand reputation for advertisers without compromising on either through contextual targeting on YouTube and digital video. Channel Factory’s technology platform, ViewIQ, analyzes all YouTube channels and videos to ensure ads run on brand-suitable and contextually relevant content. Channel Factory maximizes performance for advertisers on YouTube through managed service or self-service dynamic inclusion and exclusion lists, easily implemented through DV360 or Google Ads. Our platform is built to meet the needs of advertisers, offering standard IAB category lists or highly customized content lists in 49+ languages.

About Ad Fontes Media
Ad Fontes Media is the producer of The Media Bias Chart®, which rates media sources in terms of political bias and reliability. The company was founded with the mission of rating all the news to positively impact the media ecosystem. Ad Fontes Media rates content at the source level, article level, and episode level using a combination of human analysts and AI for the most accurate and real-time ratings available on the market. The company’s Interactive Media Bias Chart Data Platform, API, and direct ad-tech integrations  allow Ad Fontes Media’s brand, media, and media technology partners to leverage its comprehensive news source ratings so they can engage with them in real time in media planning, activation, and reporting.