Ad-Tech Companies Say They Aren't Hurting Despite Prevalent Coronavirus Blacklisting

Publishers are facing lower CPMs due to rampant keyword blocking

Thanks to strict advertiser blacklists, news publishers have historically struggled to monetize open inventory on so-called “hard news,”and coronavirus coverage is no exception. The ad-tech companies powering publishers’ sites, however, are finding it’s mostly business as usual.

Advertisers have blacklisted “coronavirus” and, according to Integral Ad Science, the term was the second most blocked keyword in February in the U.S., having been blocked over 38 million times across news domains last month. It was the eighth-most blocked term in January on news domains at nearly 8.5

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