As Marketers Seek Diverse-Owned Media Buys, Some Dollars Directed to Unwanted Sites

livemint.com:

Marketers paying to programmatically advertise on websites and apps with minority, LGBTQ and women owners should be able to find enough space to meet their diverse-owned media spending goals, which have been on the rise in recent years as brands up their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.But marketers should also be wary of who they work with to place those ads, to avoid having ads end up running in unwanted places, including sites that buy much of their traffic, according to a new report from Jounce Media. The report by the digital marketing consultancy examined data across the advertising supply chain on over a million websites, nearly 800,000 mobile apps and more than 30,000 connected TV apps, focusing on lists marketers use to ascertain the ownership of media sites and apps.

The report said the lists can often omit major diverse-owned media properties or include properties that don’t actually have diverse ownership. Marketers in recent years have been pledging to spend more of their ad budgets on media with minority, LGBTQ or female owners, among other groups.

Walmart, for instance, said in 2021 it would spend at least 2% of that year’s ad budget with Black-owned media businesses, and 4% in 2022. The retailer didn’t respond to requests for comment on whether it met those goals or set a target for 2023.

Although 56% of diverse media suppliers—including agencies, media companies and other companies—said marketers’ interest in their properties increased between 2021 and 2022, just 38% said investment from the marketing and advertising community grew in that time, according to a survey by the Association of National Advertisers, a trade group for marketers, released earlier this year. Some marketers