Thursday, September 10, 2020

So, is the NYT going to give us sponsored verticals next?

A month ago I blogged about the departure of outgoing New York Times CEO Mark Thompson.

Now, via Digiday, I look at his successor, Meredith Kopit Levien.

And, no, the header is not a total joke, given that she introduced to Forbes its "controversial sponsored content unit," called Brandvoice. Given that Forbes also at this time became the first major biz magazine to expand the quantity, though not the quality, of its online "content" with biz-celebrity columns galore, Forbes has kind of sucked ass on the editorial side for some time.

The piece praises Levien for working to uphold the editorial-advertising wall during her time as ad director there. BUT ... it also notes she brought over from Forbes a penchant for native advertising. or advertorial, as I still call it here.

I've no doubt that will expand in the future.

Per the story, I'd expect a lot more of sponsored podcasting in the future, too. It also wouldn't totally surprise me if the NYT launched its own version of programmatic advertising to outsource, not so much to newspapers but to magazines.

No comments: