This morning I caught this “Morning Joe” segment about this very subject – which got into a sort of interesting discussion around online advertising as a business model between Arianna Huffington and Peggy Noonan. Arianna, who can sometimes be insufferable, but is actually making the attempt to push the envelope when it comes to online investigative journalism, tried her best. But dealing with the incredibly condescending know-it-all tone of Peggy Noonan is difficult.
What is most infuriating about Noonan’s statements are the degree to which she dismisses online advertising and touts the great benefit of offline advertising, and frames that as if it’s ESTABLISHED FACT. Only it’s not. She was speaking for herself (which she basically admits at one point), but used grandiose framing to make it sound like this is the WAY IT IS. Well, online ads have their problems. But they have plenty of success stories too (search and video to just name a couple) and sites such as Huffington Post actually do a decent business based on online ads.
Certainly, overreliance on advertising as a model isn’t a good idea for sites that hope to built profitable, enduring futures, but the dismissal of it by Luddites like Noonan on national TV is even more ridiculous.
