Wolf Tracking

Marking the continued erosion of traditional media viewership and readership, millions of consumers flocked to search engines to track the tragic events at Virginia Tech. Understanding this challenge and changing consumer behavior, many top-tier news organizations purchased search engine ads to promote their coverage.

The Associated Press ran a wire piece commenting on news outlets promoting their coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting via search engine ads. Ad Age sent out a poll to their readers asking them if it was in bad taste for these news organizations to capitalize on a tragedy.

At first blush, this approach may seem crass, especially if you look at the search terms that were purchased. The New York Times bought, “Shooting at Virginia Tech,” while others put their money on the general term, “Virginia Shooting.” As the AP article keenly points out, these search term ads are akin to yesteryear’s newsboys on street corners.

This use of technology reflects a changing consumer mindset and underscores the fact that the rise of social media is powerful and lasting. During the Web 1.0 era traditional news sites such as CNN.com were the first place people went for news. That was before the rise of powerful search engines such as Google that more and more consumers are using as their entry point to information online. News organizations are adapting to user behavior and are delivering content in ways that are palatable to consumers.

I understand what these news organizations are doing and support them for responding to an evolving market. Remember, promotion of news coverage is not a new phenomenon. Media companies have been touting their anchors and reporters with billboards, radio segments and TV ads for years. While many of us cringe to hear that the “Gray Lady” is associated with frank search engine ads, it is a necessity to remain relevant with today’s consumers.