WSJ exec downplays branded content as revenue source

The head of global media sales for the Wall Street Journal downplayed Tuesday the potential of branded content as a major revenue source, reports Nic Christensen of Mumbrella.

Christensen writes, “Trevor Fellows told the World Congress of the International News Media Association summit in New York there was a limit to its potential, despite a prediction from the Boston Consulting Group earlier in the day that the US$12bn spend would more than double to $25bn in the next five years.

“Asked by Murdoch Media’s Matt Handbury if there was a time when half of a newspaper would be branded content Fellows said: ‘There is not a snowball’s chance (in hell) that that is going to happen.

“‘We all like this content – I think the New York Times has done a cracking job – but it’s a lot of work for the client, it’s a lot of work for the publisher.’

“Fellows said there was a perception that it was cheap and easy, but argued this was wrong and that many of the case studies being cited could not be easily repeated.

“‘I disagree with that perception,’ he said. ‘It is cheaper than a TVC but everything is cheaper than a television commercial… I think this is going be growing, but I think one of the big challenges is that when brands are all talking about the same thing it changes the equation.'”

Read more here.