• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 2, 2011

Jordan Cohen, VP of business development at Pontiflex, said a contact at the Wall Street Journal tells him the paper is giving away ads in email newsletters for free, essentially as added-value as part of a print buy.

Content creators -- DailyCandy being an exception -- have not figured out a way to successfully integrate ads into the newsletters.

He said CMOs are largely uninspired by the opportunity. They get pumped about Super Bowl ads, but there's a "lack of sexiness" with an email newsletter.

Even with an explanation of the potential, Cohen said: "Then he starts snoring."

The challenge is to create engaging ways for publishers to monetize email newsletters and cover costs.

Dave Hendricks, COO of LiveIntent, said MSNBC struggled with selling out ad inventory in emails. So it was running house ads. Its emails were running at a loss every time. But through geo-targeting and other upgrades, LiveIntent was able to help MSNBC move to a 100% sellout swiftly, and start making money