
Advertisers love “impactful” ads that grab attention. In the case of ESPN.com, that means rich-media units that break through or interrupt the content. There are plenty of readers who can’t stand it, but publishers have to pay the bills. ESPN might have wanted to pause its homepage rich-media “breakthrough” ad for its Jeep campaign when the site was running a story about Joe Paterno’s memorial service. The end result: a Jeep Wrangler rampages through the former Penn State coach’s casket. Yikes. Via NESW Sports.
More in Media

Inside Bloomberg Media’s survival guide for the AI era
The business news publisher has yet to sign a content licensing deal with an AI company, but it did recently implement a new AI-powered on-site search engine.

Media Briefing: Overheard at the Digiday Publishing Summit, September 2025 Google search edition
Media execs aired their grievances about Google referral traffic and their souring relationship with platform during the Digiday Publishing Summit.

How EssentiallySports’ creator program benefits both sides of the equation
Over the past year, sports news publication EssentiallySports has employed creators to make in-house video and editorial content around major tentpole sporting events — and thus far, the experiment has paid off.