In Front Of Your Nose: An online PR blog

Andrew Bruce Smith of escherman on technology PR. And George Orwell. Mostly.

January 30, 2008 • 7:59 pm

Publishers value ad sales more than editorial shocker

Valleywag fails to be outraged by Alex Petraglia, editor of Primotech, a US videogames-news site, claiming that CNET’s “ad sales team carries more weight than the editorial team.”

As Valleywag puts it: “Media companies don’t care about their writers. Reporters are nothing more than expendable, semi-skilled labor. Despite the chicken and the egg scenario (you can’t sell ads if there isn’t content, you can’t pay people to create content without ad sales), sales staff land the multimillion dollar deals that dictate everything from magazine cover themes to advertorial packages. You don’t need a bloody beheading to point out the disparity — just glance at the parking lot. All those Infiniti G37s belong to sales. Editorial is lucky to be cruising about in a used Ford Focus.”

On one level, they are right – editorial has never been as well paid as the sales side of publishing – however, there does seem to be a paradox in that everyone seems to agree that quality content is a key differentiator (both in publishing and PR) – yet no one seems to want to pay for it.

Filed under: General PR, Technology PR, Web/Tech , ,

Leave a Reply

Andrew Bruce Smith on Twitter

RSS Online PR on Twitter

RSS Online PR and Social Media (via Econsultancy)

  • Five minutes on YouTube, a $30m Hollywood contract December 18, 2009
    But Halpern's big break looks incredibly small compared to that of Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez. According to the BBC, he has been offered a $30m contract to produce a Hollywood sci-fi film for Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures. Raimi, of course, is well-known for his work on the Spiderman films and Evil Dead series. Who is Alvarez? Alvarez is a prof […]
    Patricio Robles
  • Best of 2009: 24 social media experts interviewed December 18, 2009
    Dell's Richard Binhammer on selling via TwitterRichard talks about Dell's sales stats on Twittter, and the company's approach to social media measurement. Shel Israel talks about TwitterI recently talked to Shel about how businesses, large and small, are using Twitter. Pluck's Stephanie Himoff on social media for publishersStephanie talks […]
    Graham Charlton
  • Amazon boosts affiliate social media push on Blogger December 17, 2009
    Expanding on its effort to cash in on social media, Amazon has launched Amazon Associates for Blogger, which is designed to give bloggers on Google's popular blogging service the ability to easily add links to relevant Amazon products when they post. Amazon Associates for Blogger has two integration points: A Product Finder that enables bloggers to high […]
    Patricio Robles
  • Will Facebook's privacy blunder hurt advertisers most? December 16, 2009
    When Facebook launched, it was a private network reserved exclusively for students and alumni at a handful of schools. But over time, as it has opened up to the world at large, it has also become more public. The motivation for this is simple: it will be impossible for Facebook to grow into the company it needs to be financially as a closed, private network. […]
    Patricio Robles
  • Eight cool social media infographics December 16, 2009
    The World Map of Social Networks   Building a Company with Social Media   Facebook vs. Twitter   Map of Online Communities (2007)   The Life Cycle of a Blog   The Conversation Prism   Gender Balance on Social Networking Sites Twitter Statistics This is only a selection of what's out there. What other social media infographics did I miss? Leave your comm […]
    Jake Hird
  • End of Year Analysis: 2009 roundup and 2010 predictions December 15, 2009
    2009 As I suggested, cutbacks were made across marketing budgets everywhere, as the recession dragged on through the year. However, despite this, investment in online continued to grow and we saw a tipping point towards the end of Q3, where Google suddenly announced larger-than-expected profits and started adding new companies into it’s already-bulging portf […]
    Jake Hird
  • The tech decade in review December 15, 2009
    The .com bust Internet startups were going to take over the world. Untold billions were going to be made. But as is evident in retrospect, it was too good to be true. The NASDAQ peaked in March 2000, and soon thereafter the bubble started to deflate. In 2001, it became clear that the good times were over and many of those on the verge of .com millionairedom […]
    Patricio Robles
  • Online PR & Social Media December 14, 2009
    Overview: Circa. 12 - 20 attendees, no journalists, no audience, no sponsors, chaired and facilitated by Econsultancy. Objectives: To share knowledge, experiences and best practice on the topic in question, also covers issues, trends and developments. Network with like-minded industry peers. Typical agenda covers - Market Watch, Best Practice 'Clinic […]
  • 21 ways to commit brand suicide in the 21st Century December 14, 2009
    Spamfail. Everybody hates spam, which comes in many forms including emails, blog comments, social media spam, search engines spam, and old school spam such as junk mail. Too much of a bad thing is always a bad thing. Here are 10 ways to avoid spam.  Faking it. Speaking of spam, some of the most ill-advised spam campaigns have involved company executives. Tak […]
    Chris Lake
  • Managing your own online community / social network December 14, 2009
    Overview: Circa. 12 - 20 attendees, no journalists, no audience, no sponsors, chaired and facilitated by Econsultancy. Objectives: To share knowledge, experiences and best practice on the topic in question, also covers issues, trends and developments. Network with like-minded industry peers. Typical agenda covers - Market Watch, Best Practice 'Clinic […]

RSS Online PR

RSS PR Week Community