Business Critical: TV Got Better, AdSense “Magazine” Ads, NYT Goes Viral
By Flying Hippo
WIRED Takes a Page from NYT on “Snow Fall”-Like Netflix Content
New York Times blew people away in 2012 when they unveiled their “Snow Fall” feature, showcasing new browser technologies and integrated media capabilities to tell an immersive and engaging story of an avalanche at Tunnel Creek.
Since then, other media companies have jumped on board, producing highly-customized feature content that breaks from traditional templates. This week, WIRED followed suite in a new way by taking the same tack and applying it to sponsored content in a collaboration with Netflix called “TV Got Better“.
As we’ve mentioned before, this type of native advertising is getting evermore popular, but this new example shows how the idea can be pushed even further. “TV Got Better” tells the story of Netflix as a part of the cultural canon, integrates interactive media components, and more.
Ad Age explains the story behind the new content/ad unit.
“Magazine” Ads Come to Google’s AdSense
No, Google won’t be running versions of ads in print magazines. Instead, they announced this week that the text-based ads being run through their AdSense network will now be repackaged as “Magazine” ads and compete for display ad slots as well as text-only ad space.
From an advertisers point of view, this means that any text ads will likely see a huge spike in impressions as they begin filling into the display slots across the web. Publishers shouldn’t notice much of a difference, aside from a possible decrease in click-through rate if the text-only ads prove to be less enticing than their graphic competitors.
Check out Marketing Land for more on the new ad units.
New York Times Makes the News
The NYT grabbed a bunch of headlines this week when news broke that the paper’s Executive Editor, Jill Abramson, had been fired.
Normally, this isn’t much news — let alone business critical-worthy news — as people come and go from organizations all the time. But, the difference here is that this was a very, very public departure, including the story becoming a national trending topic on Twitter and being covered far and wide by other media.
The point here is that there are few things that happen behind closed doors in today’s social age. News travels fast and spreads far, which means that organizations need to be mindful of all things that happen under their roof, even in spaces that would normally be considered an internal affair.
Read more about Abramson’s departure from CNN Money.
