Online Journalism News

Adverts to invade editorial

The ever-thinning line between online advertising and editorial looks set to disappear altogether thanks to a new technology launched this week.

IntelliTXT from Vibrant Media allows advertisers to choose keywords related to their product. Any of these keywords that appear in copy on participating sites appear in green and are double-underlined.

When a visitor passes a mouse over the links, a small window pops up containing a link to the advertiser's site, sometimes in a pop-up window.

The system has already been tested in about 100 publications, including several gaming, automotive and technology titles.

Whether it will be adopted on news pages remains to be seen, however. The prospect of a story about a murderer who culls his victims with a sharp blade, appearing with a link from the word 'razor' to Gillette, for example, might be beyond the realms of good taste for some.

Many journalists will view it as tantamount to product placement, and a major threat to editorial independence.

Doug Stevenson, chief executive officer of Vibrant Media, told AdAge.com that he believes the product is a natural extension of Google's paid search adverts and claims response rates of 24 times that of banners.

The system works by forming partnerships between Vibrant Media and online publishers, with revenue based on pay for performance being shared between the two.

• CNN.com this week announced a contextual advertising deal with Overture Services, a division of Yahoo. Advertisers will bid on placement for linking words in the same way they might bid for placement on Yahoo searches.

• New online advertising jargon of the week: roadblocks. The sale of all the adverts on your home page to one advertiser. CNN.com has recently sold roadblocks to Dell computers and Ace Hardware.

See also:
https://www.vibrantmedia.com/content/intellitxt_product_page/main.htm
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=40190
http://www.ajc.com/tuesday/content/epaper/editions/tuesday/business_0427333600930156001d.html

Tags (click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed):
google | yahoo | online advertising | business partnership | online publishers | vibrant media | dell | ace hardware | gillette | overture services | contextual advertising deal | paid search | technology titles | online advertising jargon | doug stevenson |

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