Commercial sales

 Given the current economic climate, the move towards online dissemination of information, and the drive for open-access and free information, commercial sales is becoming an increasingly attractive revenue-generating proposition for publishers.

Unlike most traditional advertising and sponsorships, the online medium offers much more variety and flexibility. It is possible to devise programs that help commercial partners with exposure, brand awareness, lead generation, and education of the market in a non-intrusive way that can be welcomed by the audience as genuinely beneficial. Commercial sales’ describe the revenue that a publisher generates from sources other than content sales. The revenue normally comes from a commercial third party that has a target audience of the readership of a particular publisher’s content.

The most traditional commercial sales take the form of advertising/sponsorship and the publishing of third-party content under an existing brand. However, the trend towards the flexibility of online dissemination of information has led to new avenues for lead generation and relationship building.

Advertising – Independent exposure within an existing content stream.

Online advertising and microsites that feature content from a sponsor or link to a site.

Sponsorship – Association with a specific piece of content or brand.

Special Issue/Supplemental Issue – Presentation of new content (sometimes supplied by the commercial partner) or relevant re-purposed content, funded by the commercial partner, either within or without the existing schedule respectively. Read more..