As the COVID-19 pandemic spread continues, our daily routines and also the way we live has changed. Research Data from IAS shows that this has also affected the content consumption patterns, 82% are actively seeking out Coronavirus news and content online.

As per the most recent UN Trade report “The world economy will go into recession this year with a predicted loss of more than trillion dollars of global income owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, with serious troubles for developing countries like India and China. 

With all the information and new articles floating on spreading awareness on COVID-19, digital advertising or advertising, in general, has taken a toll. As major brands are pulling out or delaying their advertising campaigns, it’s affecting major publications as they see a decline in their ad sale. WPP CEO Mark Read said in an interview for CNBC that their ad revenue in China saw a decline of 17% within the last two months.

To be honest, why would brands opt in to show their ads on negative news or content related to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to IAS research, “over a quarter of respondents would not want to engage with an ad that was run alongside coronavirus content. 61% of the respondents said that the coronavirus situation is changing the type of content they are comfortable advertising alongside.” 

While I get the fear, I feel it’s a major responsibility of brands to utilize this ad space to communicate with an emphatic yet memorable message to the users. It would be really helpful if marketing and advertising industry experts put their creative minds to work and develop and manage a coherent campaign on best social and personal behaviors.

David Cohen, president at Interactive Advertising Bureau, said that blocking ads on coronavirus content threatens public safety. “Solid, fact-based reporting educates, informs, and saves lives,” he wrote in Business Insider.

DoubleVerify & IAS, ad verification companies have listed out ways to help brands make decisions to content they want to advertise on. While Adblocking is a necessity, Brands should understand not all news content on COVID-19 is damaging.

Suggestions for all the marketer and advertiser to reconsider their ad-block guidelines and have a glance at strategies below:

1. Keyword Blocking: Exempt top news sites you consider safe from your coronavirus-related keyword blocklists
2. Content Blocking: Advertisers/Marketer may contact their ad blocker to exempt top news publishers from their Ad Blocking lists. 
3. Exception lists: Brands can consider adding homepages and section pages from trusted news sites to their exemption lists.

Finally, we advertisers must understand it isn’t always a blanket approach that ought to be followed on coronavirus related content. We need to consider that many publishers provide high-quality content in a premium environment to a highly engaged audience.

Supporting trusted news at the time of a worldwide health pandemic is something all brands to strongly consider.