STUDY: How Effective Is Sponsored Content? Not Very!

Probably not a sponsored story

Every agency with its head on straight began creating or facilitating the creation of content some time ago, and quite a few brands and publications have followed suit. Today The Washington Post added a former PR/journalist to its roster to manage a growing content production house.

Yet few can agree on what a successful piece of sponsored content looks like or on best practices for enhancing and measuring its effectiveness.

Expect the debate to continue with the help of some challenging research.

Today brought a new survey conducted by Contently, and its findings seem to undermine the company’s very raison d’etre:

• Only 24% of readers scroll through sponsored stuff while 71% do so for “normal content”
• Only 48% of respondents can (accurately) say that sponsored posts are paid for by a client who has some editorial influence over the final product
• 20% think a client paid but didn’t have...