Globe launches pilot native advertising project

Photo courtesy of Eric Mark Do

By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor

The Globe and Mail is launching a 90-day advertising project for General Electric on its desktop and mobile websites.

Photo courtesy of Eric Mark Do

By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor

The Globe and Mail is launching a 90-day advertising project for General Electric on its desktop and mobile websites.

The project, which launches April 16, will appear in the Report on Business, technology and world sections, among the related links on select ROB and world news articles and in the video library. The native advertising will not appear on the newspaper’s apps, social media feeds or homepage.

“There is increasing demand from advertisers to showcase contextually relevant content within the editorial environment, which has led to the rise of native advertising across the media industry,” said Jill Borra, executive editor of the Globe, in a memo. “The New York Times, Forbes, Buzzfeed, The Economist and Washington Post are just a few who already incorporate native ads. The Globe, too, is continually adapting our ad products for both readers and advertisers.”

Borra said the native ad units will carry “clear markers” to identify them as sponsored content, including a yellow background screen, a “Sponsored Content” label and a different font than what is typically used for editorial content. “The content is not editorial content, it is advertiser content,” Borra added. “We will monitor reaction and measure audience engagement to ensure we are supporting both reader and advertiser needs before expanding the program.”

The native advertising will be produced by freelancers and overseen by the custom content managers in the Globe’s advertising department.

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