Some Newspapers Now Include Ads With Printer-Friendly Articles

A printer-friendly version of an article at the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky.

As noted over at the Gannett Blog, a few newspapers are adding full-color ads to the printer-friendly versions of their articles.

Traditionally, printer-friendly versions of articles have offered many advantages over the standard versions--perhaps too many. The entire article is displayed in one place, instead of over several screens. It is free from clutter, which causes the page to load more quickly, creates fewer distractions, and allows for easier copying and pasting for other uses.

It's not uncommon for people to link to the printer-friendly version of an article. There's nothing worse for a newspaper than to have a printer-friendly page go viral instead of the main article page, because the page will generate no ad revenue (aside from generating a small amount of brand building and reader interest for future articles).

The advertisement on the printer-friendly version seems like a good solution. Even if some readers print many articles, these ads probably won't be a major nuisance. After all, it's not like people will switch news sources over such a thing, especially if it's their hometown paper.