The premium effect of quality journalism on ad performance

WMG-Moat survey benchmarks audience engagement

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journalism

New analysis shows that quality journalism is winning the war on attention. The latest figures revealed by the World Media Group (WMG), a strategic alliance of ten of the world’s leading international media brands, demonstrate the growing ‘premium’ effect that is boosting the performance of ad campaigns when viewed within a high quality, trusted editorial environment.

Independent analysis from SaaS analytics and measurement firm, Moat, demonstrates that premium digital inventory (comprising digital inventory across all WMG brands) in 2017* outperforms Moat’s benchmarks by between 16% and 73%.

In addition, when looking at the quality of engagement delivered by WMG brands the analysis shows that there has been a significant increase in attention measures since the previous year. In particular, active page dwell time for WMG Display Desktop (average length of time the user was on the page with the window in-focus) has increased by 67% year-on-year and is now 72% higher than the Moat benchmark. Also, Display Desktop in-view time (the length of time an ad has been active and in-view) is up by 34% compared to last year and stands 51% higher than the Moat benchmark.

Rupert Turnbull, Vice President, EMEA & LatAm at Time Inc, a member of the WMG, explains, “Ironically, it seems that far from turning consumers away from us, the ‘Trump-factor’ has had a positive impact across the World Media Group in the past twelve months. The Moat analysis adds to the growing body of evidence that suggests consumers are not only actively searching for quality journalism on trusted sites, but also moving away from bite-sized, click-bait headlines and enjoying the long form content created by quality media brands. This is great news for advertisers who are benefiting from the halo effect of our readers’ greater attention levels when viewing our content.”

Munira Ibrahim, SVP, Sales & Content Solutions, Reuters, which has just been announced as the newest member of the World Media Group, adds, “At Reuters our passion is for providing well-researched, trusted news, written by world class journalists — and the latest Moat analysis confirms that these are values that are held strongly across the whole of the World Media Group. We are delighted to have joined the World Media Group and are looking forward to working together with the rest of the members to promote quality journalism, delivered around the world through high-spec technology.”

The WMG brands comprise Bloomberg Media Group, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, The New York Times, Reuters, TIME, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. These prestigious titles have received over 1,000 major journalism awards, including at least 190 Pulitzer prizes, between them. In addition, WMG members also provide innovative technology to optimise digital ad delivery and viewability, such as device-agnostic solutions that ensure ads are always viewed at the appropriate size.

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Naresh Khanna – 12 January 2026

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