Comments on: Gawker VP says sponsored posts will bring in majority of revenue one day

By: PR 101 aka insight into Elizadeath’s real job « Mixed Drinks, Hungover Thoughts

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:49:38 +0000

[...] of people think Advertorial is the future. They might be right, because it’s definitely the present. Here’s how to tell if [...]

By: The move away from standard advertising formats

The move away from standard advertising formats — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:10:24 +0000

[...] VP of popular blog network Gawker was recently quoted on saying that in a few years time sponsored posts will bring in “the majority of our [...]

By: Journalism Meets Marketing » Blog Archive » If Every Company Is a Media Company, Then Where Does That Leave Media Companies?

Mon, 10 May 2010 17:28:23 +0000

[...] this model, saying that it will one day be the company’s main source of revenue, according to this article from the Nieman Journalism Lab. The Daily Beast and Hewlett-Packard came together to sponsor the [...]

By: Journalism Meets Marketing » Blog Archive » Sponsored Blogging in the Gawker Family

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:00:20 +0000

[...] This article from the Nieman Journalism Lab from last May describes Gawker’s use of sponsored posts and, in the case of BloodCopy (which promotes HBO’s series True Blood), a sponsored blog as a source of ad revenue. Zachary Seward explores how Gawker labels its digital advertorial; much of the time the sponsorship is explicit, but in the case of BloodCopy, the content cross-posted to the Gawker family of blogs was not identified at all. [...]

By: The Celebirty Blog! | The Gawker Field Guide to Gift Guides

The Celebirty Blog! | The Gawker Field Guide to Gift Guides — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:10:38 +0000

[...] of people think Advertorial is the future. They might be right, because it’s definitely the present. Here’s how to tell if [...]

By: Made The New York Times on Saturday, Slammed by Gawker on Sunday | The Best Seo Blogs

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:04:11 +0000

[...] why Gawker didn’t link me since they hate everything sponsored tweeting stands for. However, Gawker will gladly do a sponsored post for you. Double standards, [...]

By: Made The New York Times on Saturday, Slammed by Gawker on Sunday | My Blog

Made The New York Times on Saturday, Slammed by Gawker on Sunday | My Blog — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:40:26 +0000

[...] why Gawker didn’t link me since they hate everything sponsored tweeting stands for. However, Gawker will gladly do a sponsored post for you. Double standards, [...]

By: Made The New York Times on Saturday, Slammed by Gawker on Sunday | John Chow dot Com

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:17:02 +0000

[...] why Gawker didn’t link me since they hate everything sponsored tweeting stands for. However, Gawker will gladly do a sponsored post for you. Double standards, [...]

By: Gawker’s Bloody Miss, A Hit After All? | BLOGCHINA

Gawker’s Bloody Miss, A Hit After All? | BLOGCHINA — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:01:12 +0000

[...] sales on Gawker Media, a truly progressive blog network headed up by Nick Denton. Batty said this to Nieman Journalism Lab: If we’re around in three or four years, the majority of our advertising revenue will be in [...]

By: Custom for dummies

Custom for dummies — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:14:12 +0000

[...] to grow its sponsored advertising faster than its brand advertising. Take a look at Bloodcopy, its recent experiment with HBO’s True Blood. Just as Valleywag no longer exists independently of Gawker, so Gawker is publishing Bloodcopy [...]

By: onlain » Blog Archive » Posts sponsoreados, sin avisar

onlain » Blog Archive » Posts sponsoreados, sin avisar — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:04:20 +0000

[...] a propósito, pero no lo es. Luego del post sobre ética blogger me encuentro con esto. En Nieman Journalism entrevistan a un VP de la conocida red de blogs Gawker (Gizmodo es su producto para gadgets) [...]

By: Gawker’s Bloody Miss, A Hit After All? | The Blog Herald

Gawker’s Bloody Miss, A Hit After All? | The Blog Herald — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:10:09 +0000

By: Web Feet Integrated Marketing » Blog Archive » The Ticker: Paying Bloggers, America’s Bad PR, MySpace’s Need to Innovate…

Thu, 28 May 2009 23:20:10 +0000

[...] Nieman Journalism Lab: Gawker VP says sponsored posts will bring in majority of revenue one day [...]

By: Carrie Williamson

Carrie Williamson — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:03:21 +0000

Excellent article. Thanks, Zachary.

By: eCommerce Share » PR Case Study: Gawker Plays the Ad Press Like a Fiddle

eCommerce Share » PR Case Study: Gawker Plays the Ad Press Like a Fiddle — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:55:43 +0000

[...] Chris Batty defended the strategy, telling the Nieman Journalism Lab, “If we’re around in three or four years, the [...]

By: Zachary M. Seward

Zachary M. Seward — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:12:34 +0000

It’s a fair question, Carrie. I don’t think this particular campaign is at risk of violating the FTC regulations, but it’s worth keeping in mind. Another good piece on the topic that I just saw: http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=136852

By: Wait, Is This An Ad? True Blood’s Gawker Campaign | HarperStudio

Wait, Is This An Ad? True Blood’s Gawker Campaign | HarperStudio — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:42:44 +0000

[...] Gawker’s vice president of sales and marketing. Check the complete interview with Batty at Nieman Journalism Lab. Share and [...]

By: Carrie Williamson

Carrie Williamson — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:43:17 +0000

Wonder if that violate the new FTC rules on blogs and paid content?

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2009/tc20090518_532031.htm

By: Jessica Chapel / Railbird v2 - Links for 2009-05-28

Jessica Chapel / Railbird v2 - Links for 2009-05-28 — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:02:07 +0000

[...] Gawker VP says sponsored posts will bring in majority of revenue one day Disturbing. Or is that just my old media training? (tags: media blogging advertising marketing) [...]

By: Zachary M. Seward

Zachary M. Seward — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:58:12 +0000

Great point re vacuum cleaners, John. I'm sure a creative copywriter could devise a narrative for Oreck, yet it still wouldn't fit into the content of a site like Gawker. But what about a homemaking blog or something? There's probably somewhere it would work, like the paper-shredding ad on Gawker Media's Lifehacker. Keith, the aptness of Batty's name had not occurred to me, but as I was obviously intent on making a vampire pun, I wish I'd thought of it! And, Rory, your skepticism has good company. —Zach

By: Rory O'Connor

Rory O'Connor — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:45:26 +0000

Gawker’s editorial credibility?

Was that INTENDED as a joke?

By: ContentKeith

ContentKeith — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:39:07 +0000

True Blood.

Vampires.

Anyone else find it interesting that Gawker’s VP of Sales and Marketing is

Chris Batty?

By: John Evan Frook

John Evan Frook — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:49:37 +0000

This is far more effective than “True Blood” extra content posted on HBO’s channel.

For a show that already has cult follow that will build, it makes sense.

Future of advertising? Tell me, how do you use it to sell an Oreck Vacuum Cleaner? It is a part of the equation, perhaps?

Too, I would commend both the article editor and previous commentators. Simply good reportage & response.

Thank you,

John Evan Frook
Sticks_hick

By: Zachary M. Seward

Zachary M. Seward — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:42:32 +0000

Interesting, Dana, and you’re right about scalability. Batty said, “It’s a fairly labor and capital intensive program,” and therefore, “the bar for success is going to be higher.” Thanks for pointing out your company. —Zach

By: The Truth

The Truth — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:36:43 +0000

Looks like these executions are not being disclosed as sponsored content and the edit team doesn’t look too happy about it. Seem the clarifications note above the sponsored post on the Gawker.com homepage.

By: Dana Todd

Dana Todd — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:17:39 +0000

I have to say I get a little bit happy inside when I read stories like this. It feels like market validation for us, since we focus on automating the advertorial/sponsored content for companies. The glossy custom integrations like this campaign are great (assuming they’re transparent and disclosed as sponsored content), but they typically aren’t available as an “everybrand” solution. Meaning, not every company has the budget or the creativity to pull this off, and there’s limited shelf space to do a fully integrated campaign for everyone. And, while they may have made more money from this than a standard ad campaign, it’s almost a one-off. Scalability is still the demon to conquer.

One of the things I’ve noticed is that blogs are doing a better job than traditional news publishers in realizing that their influence is worth more than just the pixelspace. News publishers actually consider banners to be a valuable part of the “color” of the page layout, which is a fairly print-centric view. Search engines learned long ago that presenting information as a “feed” with only minor variations in presentation layer of items, increases consumption of the total page information. Maybe news should take note?

I don’t think we’re done yet with experiments that test user interest against maximum monetization. But I do agree that transparency is key – users do NOT like to feel foolish, and I think I’d feel like an idiot if I reported to my friends that advertorial information was fact. ‘Course, I’d probably not report vampire stories as fact, so maybe this situation gets a pass.

Dana Todd, CMO
Newsforce Network