IAB Ireland press release
Friday, March 26th, 2020
IAB IRELAND PUBLISHER MEMBERS RESPONSE TO COVID-19
As recognised by our politicians and HSE leaders, quality content sites have never been more important as a source of authoritative information concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. IAB Ireland Publisher Council members have focused their resources on meeting the challenge of updating their users with the latest information around the outbreak as well as assisting users with useful guides and advice to help in our daily work and home lives.
As we work remotely and practice social distancing and social isolation, the number of Irish users and the time that they spend on Irish quality content sites has grown considerably over recent weeks. The average uplift experienced by IAB Ireland’s Publisher Council members across audience numbers and engagement is as follows (compared to an average week in 2020).
Unique Users: Average Increase + 49%
Page Views: Average Increase + 35%
Dwell Time: Average Increase + 23%
IAB Ireland Publisher Council Members include: Communicorp Media, DMG Media Ireland, INM, Image, Lovin Media Group, News Ireland, Packed House, Reach plc, The Irish Times and TheJournal.ie.
To meet the challenge of meeting users’ appetite for up-to-the-minute Corona virus information from trusted sources as well as their increased need for quality lifestyle, business, entertainment content and social engagement, our online publishers have invested in increased resources and the audience growth tracked illustrates users’ response to their digital services.
An unintended consequences of the current virus outbreak is that keywords such as “coronavirus” and “COVID-19” are featuring on advertisers’ blocklists and consequentially depriving quality content publishers of essential advertiser revenue at a time when they are experiencing record audiences.
Commenting on this situation, Suzanne McElligott CEO of IAB Ireland, said “One of the great benefits of being in a smaller market like Ireland is that there is a very close relationship between publishers, agencies and advertisers. We know that our members across all these key stakeholders are determined to work together to get through this most challenging time. Our Publisher Council members are as always committed to providing brand safe environments and will work with their agency and advertisers clients to meet their campaign specifications”
“The great audience surge experienced by our member publishers is not surprising. It is also important to recall the power of these content rich sites to drive branding results as demonstrated in IAB Ireland’s Display research from Q4 2019. This study was conducted by Red C Research and was in partnership with our Publishers Council, Chupi and Mindshare. The display research recorded a 38% increase in brand awareness, 48% in brand consideration and 16% in brand image – compelling proof of the power of our publisher members’ sites to deliver now more than ever for advertisers. View the full results here.”
In seeking to support its members through this period of working from home, IAB Ireland has also developed two ‘virtual’ training workshops which will ensure that your business is benefiting from global and local best practice.
Facilitated by our trainer Steve Thompson, we are kicking off our webinar series with the following workshops:
– Here come Generation Z on Thursday 2nd April – 10am – 12pm
– Digital metrics and decision-making on Thursday 16th April – 9.30am – 1pm
For more info and to book go to iabireland.ie
Ends
For further information please contact: Maeve O’Meara, IAB Ireland, 086 852 2291, maeve@iabireland.ie
About IAB Ireland
IAB Ireland (www.iabireland.ie) is the trade association for the Irish online advertising industry. As a not-for-profit organisation IAB Ireland works with members to ensure marketers can identify the best role for online in building their brands. IAB Ireland is licensed by IAB US and is a member of the IAB Europe network. The IAB network shares three core objectives, namely to; prove, promote and protect the online advertising industry. These objectives are fulfilled through the dissemination of authoritative research, the organisation of educational events and by promoting industry-wide best practice.
