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Traditionally, the editorial department is kept separate from the ad sales department in a publishing outfit. This makes a lot of sense when you consider the fact that many advertisers tend to think that they get a say in how their product is reviewed.
So it makes a lot of sense that a publisher should keep the ad team, and therefore any contact with ad buyers, strictly off the map for the people who write reviews (stories, etc.).
I wonder – will the new system work as well?
The new separation between editorial and sales is going to be a digital divide. Most, if not all (ok, probably just most), ad purchases will be made self-serve in the next eight years. It’s just not cost-effective anymore for most publishers to have a sales team running around doing a high-cost version of what an automated piece of software and some good copy can do for free.
So the only interaction that the publisher will have AT ALL with an ad buyer is the same contact that Google has – that is to say, not really any contact at all. The ad buyer is welcome to buy the ad, or not, or if there’s an error in the system, they can request a help ticket.
In fact, the only way that advertising affects editorial is in the silent pressure that always exists: you need readers.
I still maintain that a smaller loyal readership is better than a larger, transient group of surfers, so it will be more important for newsbrands to build reader loyalty with good content than to seek massive traffic fixes with sensational stories.
And if that’s the case, that should provide a decent counterbalance against the temptation to go for linkbait all the time. So in fact, the new system might even be a little better than the old system, since there’s a little less room for human error.
Of course, there’s less oversight as well. So who’s to say when small publications are cheating?
What do you think? Are we doomed or liberated?
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Eat Sleep Publish is a Seattle-based blog that explores the difficulties and opportunities currently facing the publishing industry. 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m not sure that self-placing ads are the best thing since sliced bread, but that’s not to say that we won’t try them. I do think that there’s still a role for human interaction in the process. Ad people are like technicians or service people. Maybe you can fix your busted sink/stove/washer/ air conditioner and maybe you can’t. Lots of people still want some one to walk them through the process. This is especially true of people who have just opened a business.
If you cut back on this human interaction I fear that it’ll be no different than cutting editorial staff. You may not be able to keep your current level of staffing, but at some point you’ll need some one out there.
That’s probably true – it may be unrealistic to run a business with no sales staff. Then again, maybe the sales staff is entirely external – like through Federated Media?