Last week, Bloomberg News reported the New York Times was considering letting advertisers sponsor more stories on its website.
The apparent move would follow the business model of websites like BuzzFeed, which uses a mix of sponsored and in-house stories covering a range of topics from serious to silly.
At the New York Times, the approach would allow advertorial content to be placed on the website with original stories, rather than across the top or along the sides like traditional ads.
Advertorial content is an advertisement in the form of editorial.
The New York Times said they would clearly label the sponsored content so to eliminate confusion with readers.
It’s that transparency that makes advertorial content a viable option for the New York Times… and for the York Daily Record, said Jared Bean, vice president of multimedia sales for MediaOnePA.
The York Newspaper Company is willing to consider sponsored content in its publications, he said.
At the moment, the company publishes Intros — an advertising section, and some blog posts for the Smart Magazine brand are sponsored, he said.
“If the content is clearly marked, our readers are smart enough to figure it out,” Bean said.
The business model of news is changing, Bean said. And the goal of advertising is to find ways to generate revenue. “And when advertisers find effective ways to reach their customers, they generate revenue to help support great journalism.”
The question is, where is the line between sponsored editorial content and biased journalism? And who decides when the line is crossed?
Do you think the York Newspaper Company should explore sponsored content?
