Portfolio Buys Drudge Report Facetime
Oct. 27 2008, Published 7:07 a.m. ET
SANDWICHED IN Portfolio ad Say what you will about the Drudge Report's bare-bones layout and Web 1.0 design, but links on the site still drive large volumes of traffic and define the media agenda. As the above ad demonstrates, Portfolio, the closely monitored glossy business magazine that Condé Nast has pledged $100 million to getting off the ground, has figured out how to procure links with minimal effort: pay for them.
- Tragic One Direction Singer Liam Payne Dead Aged 31 After Horror Hotel Balcony Plunge: Celeb Tributes Pour In as Images Emerge of Smashed Up Hotel Room Strewn With White Powder and 'Drugs Foil'
- Family of Menendez Brothers Beg for Convicted Killers' Freedom in Press Conference Three Decades After Brutal Murders: 'They Were Failed By Their Parents!'
- BREAKING: Jailed 'Sex Beast' Sean 'Diddy' Combs Hit With Another Wave of Horrific Lawsuits — Rapper Accused of Drugging, Raping, Sodomizing and Threatening to Murder Multiple New Victims
DAILY. BREAKING. CELEBRITY NEWS. ALL FREE.
The genius of Portfolio's ad, of course, is that it looks like an authentic Drudge Link. No service or product is being hawked; you could easily click on the story and not realize it was an ad. In fact, the subject matter—evil fast food giants!—isn't that far removed from most of the non-advertiser links found on the page. Very crafty, Joanne Lipman!