Last Updated on 15th September 2020

Market intelligence of CBD whitelabel demand coverage by British mass media over the past year, has shown an almost universal positive attitude towards the sector.

CBD Intel, a market intelligence agency, found 300 articles related to CBD in mainstream UK daily, London and Sunday newspapers in the last 12 months.

In the year to June 2019, The Times ran 38 stories about CBD, while the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph were close behind, with 32 and 30 pieces respectively. Interestingly, the Mail also ran 16 promotional features for the product.

Educating the Public

Rather than being advertising features for a specific brand, pieces published were more general articles about the use of CBD oil. Some included a promotional offer from Tower CBD, others from FutureYou.

The Mail’s middle market rival, the Daily Express, also ran advertorials for CBD three times. Two pieces advertised PharmaCare’s Naturopathica lozenges, while the third promoted FutureYou’s oil. It also ran 16 regular pieces about CBD.

Meanwhile, the Sun ran 26 CBD articles, the Guardian ran 23 articles, the Daily Mirror ran 15, the inews ran 14, and the Daily Star 11, plus an advertising feature for Biethica CBD oil.

In the Sunday papers, a similar pattern emerges, with the Mail on Sunday coming out top with 21 pieces, followed by the Sunday Times with 18, the Sunday Telegraph with 11, and the Observer and People both running nine.

Overall the coverage was broadly positive, with many stories linked to the recent legalisation of medical cannabis.

Big Focus For Daily Mail

For instance, the conservative Daily Mail ran a feature piece in January 2019 rating various CBD products. The author, Claudia Connell, said she “slept like a baby” after eating CBD gummy sweets, that CBD marshmallows were “truly delicious” and made her feel relaxed, and that CBD-infused honey was “exquisite”.

While there have been some articles in the Daily Mail expressing concern about the nature of the medical cannabis industry, there have not been any outwardly negative pieces about CBD.

Scarce Criticism

Meanwhile, The Times – for so long the go-to paper for the British establishment – ran a piece on the growth of CBD as a supplement in October 2018.

The downmarket Sun, the UK’s top selling daily, ran stories about CBD-infused wine and how epileptic 15-year-old Lucy Conrad was banned from having CBD oil at her school.

The closest the Intel agency found to a critical article was a diary of a GP, which ran in the Daily Mail in May 2019, in which the doctor said: “Many people have read about this and are led to believe it is a magical cure for every disease. It’s not.”