In the hopes of increasing brand-safe advertising opportunities, Reach, one of Britain's biggest newspaper groups, has launched a new tool dubbed ‘Mantis’.
The tool is the result of a collaboration between Reach, IBM and Xandr, and heralds a major breakthrough for the news industry.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many publishers have struggled to monetise their content, despite a huge demand from readers for high quality, trusted journalism.
Worryingly, estimates suggest that if the pandemic lasts for another three months and no action is taken, the UK news industry is set to lose around £50 million.
To tackle this issue, Reach’s Mantis system uses IBM Watson’s AI technology to verify whether news content is safe for brands.
Brands can choose to have their adverts appear alongside neutral or positive stories - including those relating to the coronavirus pandemic.
This might include stories about cooking tips, how to stay fit at home, or stories celebrating frontline workers such as those in the NHS.
Benjamin Pheloung, General Manager for Mantis said: “There’s no reason why a brand shouldn’t want to have an advert placed next to a positive story, like one about sports and media personality Gary Lineker donating two months wages to the Red Cross to help fight Covid-19.”
Tests of the Mantis system revealed that the tool frees up at least 70% of content that is currently blocked by keyword targeting that prevents adverts from appearing alongside terms like ‘COVID-19’ and ‘coronavirus.’
Tim Dutton, Client Executive for Media and Entertainment, IBM UK and Ireland, said: “Safeguarding an organisation’s brand is essential to maintaining consumer trust during this unprecedented time.
“We are pleased that through Mantis powered by IBM Watson, IBM will help deliver a Covid-19 ad blocking solution for safe news content across the UK.”
The news comes shortly after a letter was published by the news industry, urging advertisers to remove coronavirus blacklists from trusted UK news brands.
