Media types

Advertorial

advertising editorial

Definition

Advertorial is the older name for an ad designed to look like a news page: “special advertising section,” print wrap, Sunday insert. The modern web cousin is sponsored content. It is paid. The design is the tell and also the risk — readers and raters punish disguise.

Use the word with clients who still buy print. Do not use it as a cute name for a reported exclusive.

How it works

Disclose in type that a human can see. Keep the URL out of earned link reports. If you need the piece for sales, call it a paid asset.

Worked example

A four-page “innovation report” in a regional business journal, paid, labeled advertisement, no journalist byline. Sales loves the PDF. Comms does not add it to the earned dashboard.

How it differs

Native advertising is the feed-shaped version. Sponsored content is the web newsroom version. Advertorial is the print-shaped version. All paid.

Common errors

Matching the journal’s body font and skipping the advertisement label. Pitching the PDF to other reporters as coverage.

Sources