NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Banner serving based on content of news...
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Banner serving based on content of news...
Mark J. Welch (MarkWelch_at_MarkWelch.com)
Sun, 20 Sep 1998 18:27:49 -0500 (CDT)
At 02:21 PM 9/19/98 -0500, Richard wrote:
>Is anyone serving banners based on the content of a news article?
DoubleClick at one time claimed to have this capability, but
when I called they admitted it wasn't yet available.
More important, selling advertising based on the subject
and specifically the content of news articles would violate
the journalistic ethics of many publications. Indeed, the
logical next step would be to buy advertising based on the
slant of the news article: I'll run my ad next to all articles
that say nice things about my product, but not articles that
call my product crap.
"Editorial adjacency" is a very sensitive issue to journalists,
because it can create the impression that editorial content
is being bought or dictated by advertisers. Although the web
makes such transactions more technically possible to do,
that does not mean that ethical publishers will sell space on
this basis.
One key issue is that good journalists would resent any
implication that they are being paid to write what an advertiser
wants, rather than writing about what READERS want to know.
Thus, it's perfectly appropriate for a publication to decide to
offer a monthly column on Subject X, and then many of those
publications would sell advertising "adjacent to" that column.
It's a very sensitive issue, and the internet is fast blurring the
lines between "editorial" and "advertising," especially with the
advent of deals where publications feature commission-based
links to vendors in their book reviews and other product reviews.
I'll volunteer an ethical issue: on my site, I list ad networks.
In some cases, the ad networks offer a referral fee, on a pay-
per-click, pay-per-signup, or percentage basis, for links to their
networks. I have chosen to use paid links when available, but
I believe that my coverage of these companies is not affected.
(Example: I urge publishers not to use pay-per-click ad networks
including ValueClick, yet last month I earned more than $800 in
referral fees from ValueClick.) I recognize that professional
publications like InfoWorld would never permit a reporter (or the
magazine itself) to profit from editorial coverage of a vendor, yet
I do it anyway. (So, although I bitch and moan about ethics, I
don't pretend to be "holier than thou.")
-- Mark Welch, http://www.markwelch.com/bannerad/
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