Media Prediction: Magazines buying ads for content

On the most recent episode of What's New in News, I was thrown a curve ball when asked for my prediction for what will happen in 2009. Thankfully, the human brain moves at a much faster pace than we speak, so by the time it was my turn to answer, I had something to say. Here it is:

News magazines (as in, Time, Newsweek, those kinds of magazines that have news in them) will see a very difficult year. To help offset costs and to strengthen the cross-branding among media companies, news magazines will buy ad pages from other magazines in which to insert content. You may pick up a copy of People magazine and inside will be two pages of news from Time magazine, bought and paid for.

With high recognition but a decreasing print product, magazines will try to promote themselves with their content, not just a terrific display ad, but terrifically displayed ads showing news and information from the magazines themselves.

You can take this model further. What if your news organization could buy ads for your town's magazine? You could put in the most talked-about news since the past circulation, relevant news, more than just "this is where you can catch us" and "fun weather facts." Do deeper. Do more. Put (more of) your content out there.

Can it boost sales and/or page views? Maybe. Its untested, as far as I know. There is the danger that media companies would just turn their magazines into "samplers" for their online brands, where there is little content but lots of previews for what they own online (or maybe even still in the store). And yet, I think that if you can buy the ad space and its approved, it could be a very creative way of promoting yourself in a engaging and creative medium.