
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

One year in: SEO lessons from publishers after Google’s AI Overviews
One year after the launch of Google’s generative AI search feature AI Overviews, publishers are recalibrating their SEO and referral traffic plans.

Media Briefing: Reliant on search, haunted by AI: publishers at a crossroads
With AI-driven updates rolling out steadily and traffic patterns shifting, publishers are starting to plan for more zero-click searches.

Digiday+ Research: Publishers look to cash in on growing events revenue
Publishers are getting significantly more revenue from events in 2025, and they’re going to focus on growing that even further.