IPG Mediabrands announced an agreement with NewsGuard where it will expand its existing partnership with NewsGuard that empowers responsible digital programmatic advertising into a pre-planning capacity as well as co-creating the first-ever tool to evaluate and rate individual broadcast and cable news programs and networks. This tool goes beyond NewsGuard’s current offering of reliability ratings for news and information websites, giving advertisers greater insight before they invest their media dollars. The new rankings will encompass 117 shows on 27 networks and will launch in spring 2022, in time for the Upfronts, as an exclusive offering for Mediabrands’ clients.

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“Mediabrands has been visionary in guiding its clients to responsible advertising, and we’re pleased to be partnering with them in this next trailblazing initiative to complete that vision”

“In this age of misinformation and disinformation, one of the most important things we can offer our clients is greater assurances that their media dollars are not supporting misleading content,” said Dani Benowitz, President, U.S., of MAGNA, Mediabrands’ leading global media investment and intelligence company. “NewsGuard is rapidly earning trust among viewers as an unbiased evaluator of news networks and sites. We are excited to be supporting NewsGuard as it goes one step further and rates the programs themselves.”

“Mediabrands has been visionary in guiding its clients to responsible advertising, and we’re pleased to be partnering with them in this next trailblazing initiative to complete that vision,” said NewsGuard Co-CEO Steven Brill.

Currently, under an agreement providing its clients with discounted rates for using NewsGuard’s data, Mediabrands recommends websites including those of networks that score 85% or higher on NewsGuard’s reliability ratings scale of nine credibility and transparency criteria, creating a “nutrition label” for news, surpassing the 60% grade that NewsGuard requires to earn its green checkmark of approval. Recognizing that some programs on cable news, for example, are more journalistically vetted than others, the program-by-program ratings will give advertisers more options to consider.

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“Our team of experienced journalists with diverse backgrounds brings a determinedly apolitical and transparent approach to ratings of news outlets,” said Gordon Crovitz, Co-CEO of NewsGuard. “We are gratified to have a partner in Mediabrands as we expand our mission of rating the trustworthiness of news sources now to include the assessment of the spectrum of TV news, from morning shows to nightly, host-driven opinion programs. With this expansion of our partnership, Mediabrands, which has already made NewsGuard’s services for programmatic advertising available to its clients, now becomes a leader in providing brands with responsible advertising assurance across a full range of advertising venues and media.”

Mediabrands’ 2021 report, The Dis/Misinformation Challenge for Marketers, detailed how unsupported opinions masquerading as news on social networks were a growing concern for consumers and advertisers alike. It recommended advertisers use services such as NewsGuard to identify news outlets that presented reliable, carefully sourced information.

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