In the past the newspapers used to place advertisements that look like real newspaper articles. They actually continue doing it today, only they are required to print it in a font different from that of the newspaper and mark these pages as “advertising.” Recently i noticed a similar phenomenon happening online.
Ynet is the leading Israeli online newspaper. Usually, on its front page there is a leading story, then two to three emphasized threads to additional featured articles followed by a video item, and then all the categories with a number of articles in each. However sometimes Ynet present a different format. Take a look at the following:
Here you can see that there are still two emphasized threads, then the video, but then again an emphasized thread. The third thread look exactly as the previous two and only a trained eye could spot that it is a little bit different. Indeed, the third thread is in fact an advertisement presented in a form of article thread. This particular one is about a famous Israeli satiric TV show visiting the US.
It is interesting how certain practices survive the shifts between media.
October 17, 2007 at 10:20 am |
I think that it’s not that common and in this case they kind of combined the news story (the arrival of the TV show to the US) with the promotions of its tickets. What did you see once you clicked on it? An order form for the show’s tickets or additional information about their arrival as well?
Actually I think it’s a very good advertising channel in this case, because the only audience who will want to attend this, is the same audience that is reading this online newspaper from the US and Canada.
October 17, 2007 at 2:07 pm |
Nope, there was no news story, but an advertisement with an order form. And i don’t have a problem with them targeting people in North America, that is quite natural. The issue here is that the advertisement is camouflaged as news content.
November 7, 2007 at 3:37 pm |
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