The digital video news app Newsy says it wants to give advertisers a break from coronavirus coverage.
The streaming channel, owned by E.W. Scripps Company, developed an ad product that guarantees commercials appear before and after lighter news, avoiding direct association with content relating to the deadly pandemic.
Newsy's answer has been to create an ad pod within the first half-hour of its news programs that runs between less serious subject matter than the most harrowing virus stories. Newsy plans to open the inventory this week for advertisers to buy programmatically, which means they can bid through the digital ad exchanges, including The Trade Desk, a Newsy spokesman told Ad Age.
"This makes it easier for marketers to have confidence in knowing that their spot is going to show up in a place that either aligns with what their own brand guidelines are, or gives them certainty as to what they can expect form a content experience," says Ken Ripley, Newsy's VP of sales.