• October 13, 2005

In another sign that the wall separating the so-called "church and state" of print editorial and advertising content, The New York Times Wednesday unveiled plans to begin superimposing ad-supported "branded watermarks" over certain editorial content in the venerable newspaper. The Times said the watermarks, which have been described as "shadow ads" by others in the newspaper industry, would be superimposed over a Tuesday to Saturday page of its public company stock listings in the Business Day section of the newspaper. "This new advertising offering will appear on a periodic basis and has been designed for major branding campaigns and new product launches, where reaching the financial community is of particular importance," said the Times in a statement. "The branded watermark will occupy a full page of tabular stock listings and will include the advertiser's message on the bottom of the page." -- Joe Mandese