• by Joe Mandese , August 18, 2021

On the heels of a joint report estimating advertisers place $2.6 billion annually in digital media buys on publishers of misinformation, Comscore and NewsGuard are launching a new service to help thwart it.

Comscore said it will integrate NewsGuard’s data into its pre-bid contextual targeting options for the demand-side platforms (DSPs) it works with, enabling advertisers and agencies to select custom NewsGuard segments that exclude publishers of misinformation from their ad buys.

Conversely, the two companies are also providing corresponding inclusion segments ensuring that “highly trustworthy news, trusted local news, or trusted news sources serving Black, Hispanic, Asian and LGBTQ+ communities” are not programmatically blacklisted from ad buys.

The partnership is the latest progression integrating NewsGuard’s data explicitly into Madison Avenue’s trading systems. In May, contextual advertising network GumGum announced a similar integration enabling advertisers to blacklist and or whitelist sites for misinformation utilizing NewsGuard’s data.

NewsGuard has quietly struck similar partnerships with other supply-side platforms (SSPs), including TripleLift, Teads and Index Exchange, as well as contextual targeting platforms such as Peer39 and Meetrics.

And some of the biggest agency holding companies -- including IPG Mediabrands, Omnicom and Publicis -- have already integrated NewsGuard’s data into their internal systems.

“We’re committed to providing our clients with brand-safe, brand-suitable ad placements while also ensuring they can reach the engaged, committed audiences on news content safely and responsibly if they choose to do so,” Joshua Lowcock, Chief Digital Officer at UM and Global Brand Safety Officer at IPG Mediabrands, said in a statement released in today’s announcement, adding, “We are always looking to leverage partnerships with subject-matter experts like NewsGuard and Comscore to achieve that, and we look forward to exploring these new opportunities.”