In a move likely to further blur lines between news reporting and advertising, Procter & Gamble will start plugging product promos on the Web in packaged news segments.
P&G has struck a deal to sponsor 90-second news features produced by San Diego-based TV producer Innx on topics such as nutrition, health care, leisure and personal finance. Innx stories, with former NBC News reporter Lucky Severson, get consistent carriage on NBc stations.
The features, distributed for free use by local TV stations, carry a 10-second "call to action" tag at the end telling viewers where they can find links on station Web sites to P&G brands relevant to the story. P&G will probably sponsor one segment per day from March through December, as Innx seeks sponsors for other news stories. - Richard Tedesco
