Types of Advertising
There are three basic types of advertising in the newspaper. They are: display, classified and advertorial.
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Display advertising: Display advertisements appear in various sizes on most pages throughout the newspaper. They contain artwork and other information that informs the customer about a business, a product or a service. Display advertising can be sub-divided into local or retail and national advertising. local retail advertising emphasizes merchandise, products or services available at stores or businesses in the community. National advertising consists of ads that generally promote country-wide operations such as Chrysler or Air Canada.
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Classified advertising: Classified ads are placed by individuals wishing to advertise goods and services available or needed. The ads, as their name implies, are grouped according to the product or service type. Classified advertisers are billed by the word or the line. As a result, classified ads are generally brief and descriptive.
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Advertorial sections: Most newspapers print supplements combining advertising geared to a particular theme with stories relating to that theme. Such supplements are called "advertorial" or are labelled as special advertising features. These supplements are produced by the advertising department. The editorial department is not involved in writing the stories in these advertising features. These supplements are an important source of revenue for newspapers and provide useful information for the readers. However, they are not news and should not be confused with news.
How Advertising Helps the Newspaper
Advertising accounts for approximately 80 per cent of a newspaper's revenue. Advertising is very important to the newspaper publisher. The quality of the newspaper, its news coverage and its printing plant rely heavily on advertising revenue. A newspaper tries to maintain a ratio of 60 per cent advertising to 40 per cent news.
The amount of space sold to advertisers determines the number of pages in the newspaper each day. Advertising is placed on the page first and the space remaining becomes the newshole. Editors will arrange the stories to be printed to fit the newshole.
Reprinted, with permission, from News is Not Just Black and White, a workbook produced by the Canadian Newspaper Association.
