Beyond the toll the pandemic has taken on the lives and wellness of human beings, to date we have only seen a preview of the toll it will take on the global economy.

The media industry is already meaningfully affected: In regions where the virus has taken hold on the ground, it has also taken hold of news headlines on a daily basis. These events have unfolded not following, but during a long trend of advertisers being hyper-aware of what kind of environments their ads appear in, and what topics are covered in those environments. Throughout the 2010s, we’ve seen many brands grow increasingly unwilling to buy inventory in what they perceive as sensitive, brand-unsafe environments.