NPR: Media Web Sites Try Selling Words in Stories

Media Web Sites Try Selling Words in Stories

Ads seem to be everywhere online: pop-ups, side links, ads that float across your screen, banner ads. Now some online publishers are picking up on yet another idea: selling words in their editorial content and linking them to ads.

It's known as in-text advertising, and it's being used by newspaper sites like AZCentral, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Reno Gazette-Journal and The Indianapolis Star. (For an example, in this AJC story about Georgia football, the words "football" and "sports" have been purchased by a deodorant company. Look for the green text and double underlining.)

Bill Mitchell, editor of Poynter Online, the Web site of the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists and journalism teachers, finds the idea intriguing but sees some problems.

"Reader confusion is a big issue here," he told me. "When you see links in the body of editorial content, you believe that it leads to material that is likely to add to your understanding of the content or enables you to go deeper into the story. You don't think that you're going to an ad."

A spokeswoman for Vibrant Media, the company that provides the in-text advertising service for these sites, told me that it addresses that problem by using a double-underlined link, rather than the regular single underline, to distinguish ads from links to more editorial content.

The advertising tactic also prompts ethical questions. For instance, AZCentral isn't using the ad links in news stories. The site's vice president of digital media told the McGuire on Media blog that he would hate to see a story about a local murder that included an advertisement for a gun manufacturer.

Vibrant Media addresses another potential pitfall — that advertising could influence the stories — in its editorial guidelines posted online. They say that in-text advertising can only be included after the story has been written and that all content that follows the links is clearly labeled as advertising.

Online publishers have been trying to find the most effective way to sell ads for years, but Mitchell points out that this approach might lead readers to ignore links in stories altogether. Do you think in-text advertising can work or is the potential for problems with ethical conflicts and confusion too strong?

6:54 PM ET | 11- 6-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

I feel this is not a very ethical way to present the online news. It creates the opportunity for greed, dishonesty,cynicism with the news, and apathy toward editorial news.

It creates "tense" reading because the readers will be driven to "peek" at the underlying advertisement. Enough already with advertising on the web.

Sent by Jane Tzilvelis | 7:45 AM ET | 11-07-2007

I think it's an interesting concept in terms of generating revenue, but ultimately harms the credibility of whatever website utilizes it since people won't trust the links contained in the story.

Sent by Steven Chang | 9:42 AM ET | 11-07-2007

Advertising really only serves to censor websites. How many people really buy things from ads that pop up on their screens? They are really nothing more than a nuisance, and don't serve much of a purpose except to put more money in the hands of greedy people... not to mention the fact that a majority of people won't even see the ads anyway as ads these days have become so pervasive as to incline people to get ad blockers for their browsers.

Sent by Nate | 10:06 AM ET | 11-07-2007

The line between advertising and copy has already been blurred in specialty magazines, which feature products in their articles and then provide a reference section on where to purchase them. If I am reading a piece on the Internet about, say, building a deck, I would be happy to find a link to an advertiser who might sell me related tools or materials. However, the placement of advertising links in a news story would dramatically decrease my respect for that particular media outlet - and I would avoid using it. That's now. But who knows, in 20 years I might think it was totally acceptable.

Sent by Carol Morris | 10:58 AM ET | 11-07-2007

One of the first news sites I saw do this was the Daily Star of Lebanon, but with embarrassing results. During the war with Israel, they would have text such as "Seventeen bodies were found under piles of rubble" and the word "piles" would link to ads touting hemorrhoid cream. Given the serious of the news coverage it seemed pretty crass and poorly implemented.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post often uses links to point to searches for certain keywords, but that's misleading as well. A few days ago I saw a link to the word "Pentagon" in a sentence that read something like "Documents released by the Pentagon...." I was hoping that if I clicked the link I'd get to see the documents in question, or a story about the release of those documents, but instead it was just a keyword search for all stories related to "Pentagon."

Sent by andy carvin | 11:07 AM ET | 11-07-2007

I have no objection to the use of in-text advertising as long as it is clearly disclosed as such.

Sent by Alessia Brio | 11:16 AM ET | 11-07-2007

I know this isn't a popular position to take, but....I think this type of advertising is actually a good idea for generating revenue. But perhaps I feel that way because I work on the editorial side of online media and I want to be able to have a job. :)

To the commenter who said "Enough already with advertising on the web" -- that's not feasible. Some companies, i.e. web sites, make all their money from advertising.

And to the commentor who said "advertising only serves to censor web sties" -- I agree with you, but I wouldn't call it 'censorship,' I would call in 'influence.' And that's not any different from the way advertising influences print media or television media.

Sent by Wakewoman | 2:17 PM ET | 11-07-2007

Boy is this a disaster waiting to happen. Picture this: School shooting. Dozens of teens/children dead. The word gun is double underlined in the text of the story. Click on it, get an advertisement for a gun shop. Oh look, and they're having a sale on the gun that the killer used! Wow, yeah, brilliant idea. (place eyes rolling here).

Sent by John R. Otten | 7:55 PM ET | 11-09-2007

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