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Posted by Randy Hill on June 30, 1998 at 10:00:32:
In Reply to: Advertising vs. Editorial posted by Ilknur Sancak on June 30, 1998 at 09:24:57:
Ilknur,
I used to be in advertising sales, and back when print media was the dominant force in how people got their information, editorial value certainly outweighed advertising value. Things are changing, though, with the advent and proliferation of electronic communication.
Back in the "good ol' days", we would have potential, and even existing advertisers, clamor for the "freebie" editorial write-ups spotlighting their products, strictly due to the fact that the editorial value far exceeded same-size advertising value. However, I was reading information in another forum (shh, don't tell anyone!), when I came across this interesting post about this very topic.
Posted by Kay Quinn on February 10, 1997 at 16:00:55:
"Time will tell- what with changing banner sizes and other developments, it can be difficult to
distinguish editorial from advertorial content, at least until ASME and other industry groups draft and
agree on on-line advertising standards. Personally, I feel it's imperative for publishers who wish to
preserve their editorial credibility and brand influence to differentiate between adv-supported content
and pure editorial. But then again, ad-sponsored golf scores are probably a lot less confusing than
ad-sponsored TIME feature articles. Point to ponder: Will new media have such a significant impact
on how readers or consumers search for and digest information that the need to separate advertising
and editorial content disappears? Time will tell."
This doesn't directly answer your question, but I think it gives an interesting slant on the topic. Things change, especially with media. With the electronic age flurishing, and more and more people getting their information from electronic sources, the lines between advertising and editorial value and content will become more and more blurred. Not to say this is right, only that it appears to be the way it's going.
In an article sent to me by Linda Schaible (another post-ee in this forum), Deloitte & Touche News reported that 91% of executives expect the Internet to be an important business news source for them in the year 2005, with only half expecting to get thier news from daily newspapers. If you plot this trend, print media has been slowly loosing its share of media sources over the last ten years. This trend will probably continue, and as it does, the gap between advertising value and editorial value will diminish. That's unless an industry standard is adopted or legislated calling for clear and distinct differences between the two.
So what the "norm" was several years ago (I remember that study as well) probably won't apply in the future. More and current research is probably what is needed in order to determine the current gap between editorial and advertising value, coupled with future predictions of how more or less the gap will be in say, three to five years.
I've included a link to the forum containing the above post.
Take care,
Randy Hill
Subject: Re: Re: Advertising vs. Editorial