One would think this far into contextual targeting it wouldn’t yield ridiculous pairings with inappropriate content. But sadly one would be wrong. The New York Times today committed a textbook boo-boo by putting a huge half-page ad for Holland America Line cruises next to a story about a rescue attempt of a crippled Italian cruise ship. There is a bit of a pattern here, since the NYT slapped an ad for a different cruise line next to a story about a crippled ship in January. The Times appears to have fixed this issue by mid-morning. Thanks to ad targeting company Admantx for screenshot.
More in Media
Media Briefing: Overheard at the Digiday Publishing Summit, March 2026 edition
With no sign of search traffic returning, publishers are doubling down on subscriptions to build direct reader revenue — but it’s not easy.
People Inc.’s Jon Roberts on the AI licensing boom – and the revenue lag
People Inc’s Jon Roberts discusses the boom in AI content licensing marketplaces — and the revenue that could materialize for publishers.
YouTube is building infrastructure for the full creator-brand partnership life cycle
YouTube’s Gemini-powered Creator Partnerships promises to alleviate pain points in the influencer marketing pipeline.
