Contextual advertising provider Vibrant has launched Vibrant Related Content, an editorial application which automatically hyperlinks publisher specified content to related articles, video, images, etc.. These sort of solutions are not new by any means, but it might be something to investigate if you're in the market to generate some additional revenue.
The service is now live in beta and will begin rolling out to Vibrant's 3,500 publishers. As for advertising opportunities, publishers can choose to monetize these units which can accommodate standard IAB ads. The demo provided by Vibrand for Detnews.com featured no sponsored content.
How Vibrant Related Content Looks and Works:
Words/phrases are double underlined. When a user clicks the link, a new window pops open with the related content/advertising.
According to a new, custom study by Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, commissioned by Vibrant, in-text advertising has been shown to be one of the most relevant and most effective ad formats available. I tend to disagree with that fiercely but you'll need to decide for yourself. It's hard to argue however that tools like this which help users find related content are not a good thing to have around as they facilitate users spending more time on the site.
"Adapting our contextual technology for editorial use is a natural evolution as we expand our relationships with publishers and with users, ultimately, who enjoy interactivity and appreciate the convenience of in-text links to surface related information" said Vibrant Co-founder and CEO Doug Stevenson.