Editorial Quality: A Performance Driver for Brands

By Emmanuelle Schaedele, Head of Publishing & Responsible Investment Director, WPP Media

Regardless of the channel, adding a publisher brand strengthens a cross-media plan, from recall through to purchase intent. This contribution invites us to consider every dimension of performance. Reaching the right audience at the best possible cost remains essential. But the context in which the message appears, the attention it attracts and the trust it inspires matter just as much.

Measuring the Additional Value Publisher Brands Deliver

The study Le pouvoir incrémental des marques publishers, conducted by iligo for the Syndicat des Régies Publishers, precisely measures this contribution without pitting media channels against one another.

To demonstrate it, the study isolates the specific effect of exposure to a publisher brand within an existing media plan.

The results are clear: exposure to a publisher brand has an impact at every stage of the journey. The environment in which a message appears directly influences how it is received and translated into preference.

Responsibility and Effectiveness: Part of the Same Dynamic

This finding adds a new dimension to responsible investment: supporting high-quality editorial environments also contributes directly to campaign effectiveness.

The quality of the context improves recall, brand image and activation: +13% in advertising recall, +14% in recognition, +27% in perceived quality and +15% in trust. The study also measures a contribution of 23% to purchase intent and 22% to consideration.

The challenge, therefore, is to better harness the complementary strengths of different media channels.

Where Investment Goes Is Becoming a Strategic Issue

The debate over potentially directing a proportion of digital investment towards news media is bringing the allocation of budgets back to the heart of decision-making. While the text and its implementation arrangements have yet to be defined, its potential impact must be anticipated: advertisers investing more than €1 million per year across media could be required to redirect up to 10% of their digital investment towards eligible news websites. This would be a sufficiently significant change to warrant preparation today.

Back to News: Translating This Conviction into Media Plans

We have chosen to translate this conviction into concrete action through our recommendations.

In 2024, WPP Media launched Back to News, enabling advertisers to activate selected news environments easily and measure their impact.

The offering combines certified media, brand suitability based on semantic content analysis, and print, digital and audio activations. With the same budget, it generates 16% more attention than advertising on platforms.

Responsible media investment is about better identifying what drives performance. Editorial quality, trust and attention are performance drivers in their own right. It is up to us to give them the place they deserve in media strategies.