The Local Media Consortium (LMC)’s NewsPassID advertising network announced the release of new solutions for digital advertising buyers creating a more efficient way to reach local audiences with ads placed next to favorable, brand-suitable content. Brands and agencies can now easily buy high-quality local media audiences across more than 5,000 newspaper, radio, TV and online-only news outlets through a single point of contact targeting top categories such as local weather forecasts, local elections, high school and college sports, amongst others. LMC’s NewsPassID nationwide audience of 200M unique visitors per month ranks #6 on Comscore, just behind Amazon.
Effective immediately, NewsPassID is releasing the first local news taxonomy of the categories most relevant to local news audiences, private marketplace (PMP) segmentation for buyers that is aligned with these categories, and local news supply path optimization – the most direct supply path to local journalism at scale.
“Many of our members have had an uphill battle overcoming buyer misperceptions about running ads on news sites, which is why we are so excited about the possibilities of the new NewsPassID ad network solutions, particularly the local news taxonomy,” said Fran Wills, CEO of the LMC. “Now buyers can be more confident in buying local news audiences and every dollar allocated back to publishers is a big deal in helping the industry deliver credible, timely and important journalism to their communities.”
Since NewsPassID launched in 2021, the LMC has been working with Scott Cunningham, initiative lead of NewsPassID and NewsNext and Chair of the Publisher Council at Brand Safety Institute, to build the program, raise awareness and increase participation. Its aim is to provide a more direct connection between advertisers and publishers. NewsPassID optimizes programmatic performance for both advertisers and local media, elevating local media’s standing by operating as an agent for publishers in the digital ecosystem and creating a more scalable, privacy-compliant way to directly connect brand marketers, advertising buyers and consumers in communities across North America.
“In just a few short years, the NewsPassID and NewsNext initiatives have helped local news outlets earn revenue that directly contributes to their top line, but there’s more work to be done to compensate for the increased blocking of news and lack of transparency in the advertising supply chain,” said Cunningham. “These new solutions, including identifying unique content categories such as High School Sports and Women’s Sports across local news publishers, and building direct programmatic supply paths to their advertising inventory allow buyers to buy suitable categories and enable journalism itself to play offense. NewsPassID has already netted revenue equivalent to hiring 130 more journalists, with much work still ahead.”
Highlighted in a blog post by Cunningham, the following is an overview of NewsPassID’s new solutions:
- LMC Local News Taxonomy – Not previously available in the advertising supply chain, the LMC taxonomy is a foundation for local news contextual targeting. It provides buyers with new opportunities to target local audiences that consume highly engaging content on trusted local publishing brands. The local news taxonomy makes it possible for buyers to use a scalpel to buy against brand suitable verticals like women’s sports, weather, and local and national politics.
At launch, the top 10 categories identified by the LMC as highly valuable include: 1) high school sports, 2) weather/climate, 3) women’s sports, 4) local politics/elections, 5) national politics/presidential race, 6) NFL sports, 7) college sports, 8) health/wellness, 9) back to school and 10) travel/tourism.. Subsequent categories will be released over the next year. - NewsPassID PMP Segmentation – Brands and advertisers can now set up custom private marketplaces (PMP deals) with NewsPassID that include display, video, native and CTV inventory across NPID’s local news network. While each deal is unique, users have the ability to customize campaigns based on geography and other audience segments. Examples of participating media companies are TEGNA, Tribune, LA Times, CoxMediaGroup, Gray, E.W. Scripps, Graham Media, Nexstar, Media News Group, Lee Enterprises, and more.
- Local News Supply Path Optimization – Partnerships to Create Efficiencies for Advertisers and Publishers – The latest NewsPassID release includes solutions from partnerships with digital technology providers such as Hashtag Labs, Media.net and Comscore, Microsoft Advertising Curate. These partnerships carve a brand new efficient path to local news advertising for Brands and Buyers. A key goal is to make advertiser investments more efficient and discoverable, so a higher percent of ad investment goes directly towards the publisher, with fewer intermediaries, more controllable margins and more transparent reporting which advertisers covet. The LMC will continue to expand their partnerships based on agency and advertiser demand.
“We’ve been part of NewsPassID since its inception in 2022 and seen it produce significant value for advertisers and publishers alike,” said Chris Fehrmann, TEGNA’s VP of Digital Products and LMC Board Director. “The recent launch of NewsPassID PMP and Local News Taxonomy will provide a more streamlined, direct way for advertisers to reach quality local audiences and inventory at scale, more cost effectively.
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