Will Digital Advertising Doom Quality Journalism?

April 19th, 2006 | Category: WeMedia 2006
By Jeffrey Chester

There is a great deal of understandable excitement about the potential of digital communications to help unleash the public service potential of journalism. Many journalists hope that new digital technologies will provide them with an opportunity to bypass the mainstream gatekeepers. Others believe that a non-professional form of public journalism can create a vibrant new model for reporting and editorial analysis. Such new approaches are desperately needed (as demonstrated by the failure of much of the U.S. print and electronic press to effectively cover the issues related to the run-up to the war in Iraq).

But there are a number of obstacles that must be addressed. First, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the structure of new media distribution doesn’t automatically guarantee that content providers will have the necessary range of access to distribution. To succeed in the digital environment, most content providers will require unfettered connections to what the broadband industry calls its “triple play.” That means programming seamlessly available on PC’s, IPTV (or interactive TV), and mobile devices. It’s not just in the U.S. where closed or highly controlled models of broadband distribution, especially for IPTV, will emerge. It’s a issue that should be on the agenda in London. News programs and content should automatically receive prime distribution on all platforms: satellite, broadband, cable, etc. There should not be any gatekeepers for news-related content. News providers must also be given access to all the necessary tools for promotion, including electronic program guides, personal video recorders, and default portals. (I think such access should be for free.)

Two, the core of the business model for digital content–the seamless weaving together of information, data collection, profiling, and targeting–is problematic. The market will require content providers, including news producers, to deliver unique information about individuals. While the advertising industry likes to claim that such personalized ads are a service to consumers, it ultimately means violating their privacy (and engaging in deceptive behavior). The relationship between content and marketing online–where everything will be a form of virtual infomercial–is also troubling. I fear that the same ad dynamics that have helped `dumb’ down much video news will also greatly influence broadband. If you can’t deliver the right demographics and targets, advertisers won’t support the service. That’s why we need to develop new policies and business models for news in the digital era.

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Previous Comments

What about micro-targeting? Can’t advertisers make an educated guess about what type of user is looking at certain content and promote ads accordingly? The technology supports it. The content supports it. The user doesn’t mind that much. So it seems the folks who don’t seem to get it are the publishers.

I work in public affairs, so I spend a lot of time trying to position advertising alongside relevant news in order to drive action among key audiences online. We have statistical evidence that suggests that people who see an ad that relates to the topic of the article they are reading is more likely to click through than if the ad if that ad appeared randomly. But did we really need to run lots of tests to confirm what our gut told us from the start? No, but we needed the data to demonstrate to the venues that our demands for specific inventory were not unreasonable. They will sell advertising to the highest bidder, the person who will pay the most. I could have an ad for a humanitarian organization trying to respond to a crisis that is being covered extensively in the international section of an online news site, but if a financial services firm comes along and offers a higher CPM, I will get bumped.

Targeting advertising online (or via mobile, or via iTV, or whatever) is not easy. There are billions of impressions available on millions of different sites. But its also not as difficult as a lot of organizations seem to think it is. When data is available about who an audience is, we use it to tailor and target our ads more appropriately. When it is not avaialble, good ‘ol common sense seems to work pretty well. The challenge is that the venues just want to make money and haven’t realized that allowing context to rule will lead to profits.

Posted by: Brian Reich | April 22, 2006 07:51 AM

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