I’m not entirely convinced the current trend of mixing up news and advertising, content and ads, is something I like; I mean, the New York Times does it well enough though:

I was working on a client’s project yesterday focusing on Google Video Ads and also read information on making ads and text integrate so visitors see the advertising as part of the story on the web page.

In the same vein, some TV / Cable broadcast commericals are almost indistinguishable from the regular programming they are placed around making it harder to filter the “noise” out.

Mixing it all up as other implications – since we’ve all experienced the hazy lines between work life and home life – between what you say in person and what you say or write on line, and what you say about yourself vs what others say about you.

The “Editorial” ad about “Stop Switching to Mac!”, while entertaining, is an example of an effective ad, but it lowers the quality of the news around it.  I can understand the economic pressures the New York Times, and other Newspapers, are experiencing at this time, though I question how much tolerance a person looking for news is going to have for a continual assault of  video advertising interfering with reading the news stories.

I don’t know, but do you think the New York Times will end up looking like your own personal MySpace.com page – but for everyone?

I’m sure all the best analytics is being used to figure out just what ads to show, and the best advertisers are lining up for an opportunity to run their ads on the home page of the New York Times, but this new development of making the ads become part of the news is probably going to make me visit the site less, not more.