Publishers are rushing out “sponsored content” ad units in the hopes of escaping the clutches of the commoditized display ad market.
Yet there are some problems, beyond questions of whether such units blur the line between editorial and advertising. They add up to costs. Right now, publishers are pricing too high, and the process for running sponsored content is too convoluted, adding in even more costs. Add those together, compare to the dirt-cheap pricing throughout most of online advertising, and sponsored content is at risk of being just not worth the effort, even if it is more effective (not to mention sexy) than old-fashioned banner ads.