With every tech leap, consumer habits change. Amanda Wigginton, audience and insight specialist, takes a look at the findings from Ender’s recent report, and highlights the implications for advertisers.

Search engines and traditional websites are no longer the primary anchors for consumers and advertisers they once were. Time on mobiles continues to grow, and much of this is with social and short-form video. This behavioural shift, coupled with the advance of AI, has blurred the lines between channels. Agility and evolution for advertisers, their agencies and publishers is essential. 

Publishers of trusted editorial brands are seeing it as an exciting time to create even stronger connections with the audiences they have, and that advertisers want.

1. Consumer needs must be central to strategy
   As the digital world evolves, the underlying need for information, entertainment, and connection remains. Consumer expectations have developed to include new engaging video formats and increased personalisation. Key to this is to know your consumer, what they want, and where they want it.It’s a clear directive, increased audience understanding feeds a cycle of more refined content offerings that resonate and better meet audience needs.  

Trusted Editorial brands have this flexibility and a wealth of knowledge about their readers and consumers.

Case study: Women’s Running
It’s not enough to be ‘just a magazine’ in the modern media landscape, and Women’s Running content strategy is led by where their audience is and by what the audience wants. That might be meeting readers and listeners at live events or using the messaging tool Discord as a tool to build a community. They are also in the ears of over 40,000 runners each month. Podcast listeners are very engaged, often tuning in for more than 80% of the podcast.

How can advertiser partnerships evolve?
Diversifying and enriching campaigns to include all platforms and channels will ensure brands reach relevant audiences actively seeking out information, advice and inspiration from trusted, knowledgeable sources. This will lead to more effective campaigns with stronger ROI.

2. Consumers navigate to what they value
People are increasingly selective, so delivering utility and value to the customer has never been as important. Curation, ease of access, and variety of content are hygiene factors for consumers as digital media, AI and algorithms have eased the process of discovery, and improved relevance.

Trusted editorial brands focus on niche topics and special interests around their deep expertise and authority – be that food trends, for followers of fashion, interior latest and fitness fads. This allows them to build trust with their respective communities who are actively looking for tips and tricks, insider knowledge and time-saving research.

Cohesive, multi-touchpoint, product-oriented approaches win. By meeting the evolving needs of diverse audiences, publishers are driving greater willingness to pay for content, through subscriptions, events and more, which also builds trust and increases receptiveness to advertising.

Case study: Which?
Which? has been a trusted source of expert reviews and advice for almost 70 years, striving to make consumers’ lives simpler, fairer and safer. It is a brand that people trust, and brand tracking data has revealed a key driver of relevance includes being seen as a modern brand that makes life easier. Half a million people are paying members to Which? and they have expanded their multichannel reach: as the go-to destination for everyday advice. Newsletters engage 800K non-member subscribers, and its growing social media presence includes over 100K TikTok followers.

How can advertiser partnerships evolve?
Advertising campaigns need to move beyond simply driving traffic to publisher sites, and instead focus on appearing in brand-safe, high-impact environments that offer real value to consumers. That’s where lasting impact and brand affinity are built.

3. Data is central to unlocking consumer knowledge and driving  utility 
Data tools that reveal real consumer needs are becoming central to the media experience. They help brands stand out, strengthen targeting and audience understanding, and deliver more relevant content. Crucially, measurement must evolve too, moving beyond volume metrics to track depth of engagement. That’s how we prove the higher value of a truly engaged, known audience.

Case study: Reach plc
Reach PLC implemented a customer value strategy centred on first-party data that creates more targeted and engaging digital content for users. Reach’s data-driven revenue streams saw a 7% growth in 2024. Their first party data-driven page views are, on average, nine times more valuable than their open market, programmatic equivalents.

How can advertiser partnerships evolve?
Trusted editorial brands are investing in richer first-party data to help advertisers target niche, high-value audiences more effectively. Tools like Bauer’s AudioXi and Hearst’s Aura demonstrate how combining quality content with behavioural signals and first-party insight enables smarter, addressable targeting, and ultimately delivers stronger returns.

4. Quality, authentic and original content are the decisive factors for consumers
AI isn’t the problem, it’s the sheer volume of low-quality content that’s flooding the landscape. High-quality content still cuts through the noise, and every format continues to play a distinct and valuable role, not by competing with one another, but by complementing the broader media mix.

The strengths of print and offline formats, such as events, will become more defined as digital fatigue and privacy increasingly impact and concern audiences. 

Alignment between content and format is essential to convincing users of the value-add, and also the value of paying for it: what works for one brand may not work for another, and embracing more creative formats opens up more opportunities for consumers to engage.

Case study: Eliza
Eliza is a creator-led, social-native, fashion and beauty publisher appealing to Gen Z and Millennial women. Relatable fashion and beauty content is created specifically for 600,000+ Instagram and TikTok followers, collectively receiving 50M+ content views per month. Eliza prioritises deep engagement: 70% of the content is in-depth expertise on fashion and beauty and encourages users to shop. The other 30% is ‘reach’ content, designed to drive awareness of the brand with credible, viral, and entertaining formats. Eliza’s editorial independence, niche community and highly engaged followers are particularly appealing to advertisers and commercial opportunities available reflect this.

How can advertiser partnerships evolve? 
Quality translates into premium brand-safe environments. Advertising messages are strategically positioned within content that audiences actively seek out and implicitly trust. For advertisers, this means a chance to invest in environments that are truly impactful, brand-safe, and capable of fostering deep trust with consumers – messages associated with editorial excellence, not just reach.

5. Brands play a critical and trusted role to help people to navigate and make decisions
Brand and reputation will be increasingly important to consumers and advertisers moving forward. 

Consumers buy into brands they believe in, they’re seeking authenticity, reliability, and genuine connection. Brands are shortcuts that help consumers curate and purchase. 

Audiences are more open to brands they trust, with 60% willing to share their data. As click through rates continue to erode, a strong brand will become increasingly important, driving more resilient engagement and growing  the monetisation opportunities available.

Case study: Good Food
Immediate’s Good Food generates high performing YouTube and social-first content by bringing together standout presenting talent and self-shooting recipe developers. The new role of Social Video Creator has been pivotal, driving a 10% uplift in views and setting a new benchmark for quality. Their streamlined ‘editor + talent’ model has driven a 199% increase in views and over 3.5 million combined engagements across websites, apps, YouTube and vertical social platforms in Q1 2025. 

How can advertiser partnerships evolve? 
Leveraging trusted editorial brands is about securing a trust premium for your clients’ campaigns. The halo effect of using trusted editorial brands means that you don’t just generate impressions; you cultivate connection, build advocacy, and ultimately, drive more meaningful and measurable returns.

Findings are taken from the PPA and Enders Analysis report ‘Consumers, creators, and brands: Rewriting the media playbook’ , May 2025. For more information contact hello@magnetic.media