Bloomberg
The New York Times Co. “is considering letting advertisers sponsor more stories on its website,” Edmund Lee reports. Lee writes that Times Co. CEO Mark Thompson and Chairman Arthur Sulzberger have had several meetings about the idea, and that “outside executives such as BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti were brought in to talk about creating successful ‘native ads,’ which often take the form of sponsored stories.”
Times Co. Advertising Vice President Todd Haskell told Lee the company is considering “ways you can use journalistic storytelling techniques in how you could present a narrative for our clients without misleading or confusing the reader.” Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson said recently she worried about “leaving confusion in readers’ minds about where the content comes from, and purposefully making advertising look like a news story.”
The Times is already using sponsored content on one of its mobile apps.
Previously: New York Times Co., Hearst Magazines introduce native advertising
