So, Viant is now letting advertisers pick news on connected TV based on bias. Great. Because what the world really needed was more ways to silo people into their own little information bubbles.
This isn’t just about brand safety anymore; it’s about brand alignment. The demand-side platform announced its tie-up with Ad Fontes Media, promising to apply content-level reliability and political bias scores to individual news shows. This means you can now, apparently, bid on programming that meets your quality thresholds – a phrase that smells suspiciously like ‘what makes my brand look good.’ Forget the actual news value; it’s all about the echo chamber now.
And it’s supposedly the first of its kind on CTV. How novel. We’ve spent years trying to get advertisers to spend more on news, says Vanessa Otero, founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media. Well, congratulations. You’ve found a way to make it even more about the advertiser’s ego than the journalism itself.
Advertisers Want Their Bubbles, Apparently
Look, the argument is always about brand safety. Advertisers don’t want to show up next to something… unsavory. That’s fair. But this goes a step further. It’s not just about avoiding controversy; it’s about actively seeking out content that aligns with a perceived political or reliability score. This is less about responsible advertising and more about weaponizing ad placement for ideological grooming. It’s a terrifyingly easy path to ensuring your brand never has to confront an uncomfortable truth, or worse, never has to advertise next to a viewpoint that challenges its own customer base.
This whole concept smacks of what I’d call ‘performative neutrality’ in advertising. Companies will tout their commitment to ‘responsible news placement’ while quietly ensuring their ads are only seen by people who already agree with their existing worldview. It’s the digital equivalent of only talking to people who nod along with everything you say. Not exactly a recipe for a well-informed public, is it?
Is This Just More Ad Tech Jargon?
The execution here feels less like innovation and more like a solution in search of a problem that shouldn’t exist. Ad Fontes Media’s framework, while attempting to bring nuance, is ultimately subjective. Who decides what’s ‘reliable’ or what level of ‘bias’ is acceptable? These scores are not gospel; they’re interpretations, and applying them at a granular level for ad targeting risks turning news consumption into a highly curated, ideologically segregated experience. We’re already struggling with filter bubbles; this just pours gasoline on the fire.
And let’s be honest, this is exactly what advertisers want. They want to reach a receptive audience. If that audience is a tightly defined political segment, so be it. The promise of targeting based on ‘content-level reliability and political bias scores’ is effectively an invitation to opt-out of engaging with diverse viewpoints. It’s easier to sell products to people who already trust your message, and if that means avoiding any news that might give them pause, well, that’s just good business, right? The companies told ADWEEK this is ‘the first of its kind on CTV.’ Small comfort, really.
The product applies Ad Fontes Media’s reliability-and-bias framework to individual news shows running across CTV publishers, allowing buyers to identify and bid on programming that meets their quality thresholds rather than relying on broader app-level or domain-level signals.
This quote perfectly encapsulates the shift. From broad signals to hyper-specific, bias-driven curation. It’s a marketer’s dream and a democratically-minded society’s nightmare. Imagine the headlines: ‘Advertisers Flock to Pre-Approved News Channels.’ It sounds less like an ad tech development and more like a new form of media censorship, albeit self-imposed by the market.
What’s next? Advertisers bidding on shows based on the hair color of the anchor? Or perhaps the audience’s perceived level of optimism? It’s a slippery slope, and Viant and Ad Fontes Media are pushing us down it with a cheerful, data-driven shove.
The Real Danger: Deeper Divisions
This isn’t just about ad dollars. It’s about the fragmentation of our shared reality. When advertisers, armed with sophisticated tools, can precisely target – or more accurately, avoid – news sources based on bias, they’re actively contributing to deeper societal divisions. They’re reinforcing existing beliefs and making it harder for individuals to encounter diverse perspectives. This, in turn, makes reasoned public discourse even more challenging.
The initial promise of programmatic advertising was to bring efficiency and relevance to ad buying. It’s devolved into a landscape where the most important metric isn’t engagement or brand impact, but the ability to isolate and exploit niche audiences. Adding bias targeting to CTV news is just the latest, and perhaps most insidious, iteration of this trend.
It’s a tool that can be used for good, I suppose. A brand that genuinely believes in supporting fact-based journalism could use this to find and support those outlets. But given the history of advertising, it’s far more likely to be used to reinforce ideological silos. Companies have a vested interest in reaching audiences that are predisposed to their messaging. This new capability makes that easier than ever, all under the guise of ‘brand safety’ and ‘quality thresholds.’
So, while Viant and Ad Fontes Media are celebrating this ‘first-of-its-kind’ integration, the rest of us should be watching with a healthy dose of skepticism. Because what looks like a sophisticated targeting solution today could well be a tool that further entrenches misinformation and division tomorrow. And that’s a price far too high for any advertiser to pay, no matter how ‘reliable’ their chosen news feed is.
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Frequently Asked Questions**
What does Ad Fontes Media do? Ad Fontes Media analyzes news sources for reliability and political bias, assigning scores to help users understand media content.
Will this replace traditional brand safety measures? It’s more of an add-on. Brand safety typically focuses on avoiding harmful content. This new tool allows for more nuanced targeting based on perceived content bias and reliability.
Is this ethical? That’s the million-dollar question. Critics argue it can exacerbate filter bubbles and societal divisions, while proponents suggest it allows for more responsible and value-aligned advertising.
