Does it really hurt? Consumer reactions to content sponsorships in daily newspapers

Daily print newspapers have been facing dramatic decreases in advertising revenues and therefore require alternative sources for additional funding such as editorial content sponsorships. However, sponsorships of daily newspapers’ major editorial content sections have not been implemented yet because editors primarily suspect negative effects on the perceived journalistic quality of the newspaper’s reporting. Thus, editors seem to be in a dilemma since the realization of additional sponsorship funding might come at the cost of negative consumer reactions. Against this background, this study for the first time analyses consumer reactions to sponsorships of major editorial content sections in daily print newspapers. The results of three experimental studies show that editorial content sponsorships deteriorate consumers’ attitudes toward the newspaper by decreasing the perceived journalistic quality of the newspapers’ reporting. However, we identify relevant boundary conditions under which these negative effects disappear. Specifically, sponsorships of low thematic congruence between the sponsor’s business activity and the editorial content which are placed in editorial content sections with low societal relevance (i.e., sections which provide editorial content of low relevance for societal and political decision making) seem to be a promising configuration from a newspaper’s as well as a sponsor’s perspective.