Case Study: News UK achieves quantifiable online and offline advertising impact and expanded commercial opportunities with comScore

News UK, comScore and Keller Fay Partner to Quantify the Impact of Advertising on Online and Offline Behaviours

News UK, together with comScore and word-of-mouth specialist Keller Fay, launched Project Footprint to address a common industry problem: simplistic metrics like last-click attribution don’t capture the full effect of advertising. The study aimed to quantify how reading The Times influenced subsequent online behaviour, offline conversations and purchases to better evaluate media impact and ROI.

The team ran a month‑long longitudinal study with 70 multi‑platform subscribers who installed comScore meters on all devices and completed daily Keller Fay diaries, producing 1.3 million rows of linked data. Analysis showed strong correlations between ad exposure and brand advocacy, online actions (e.g., +111% likelihood to search/visit after cinema ads, +50% for Marks & Spencer) and offline purchases (+163% for BMW, +80% for Volkswagen). The research drove commercial wins (including a £400k contract), increased PR and industry awards, and helped News UK demonstrate and sell the value of its advertising.

News UK

Sean Adams

Head of Insight, Commercial