The advertisements on Salon.com reflect the audience that visits the Web site regularly. The ads are for such places and products as Chase Bank, Starbucks coffee, a pet grooming service and a smart phone. Salon is not inundated with pop-up ads that are irksome on so many Internet sites. The ads also do not appear to clutter the Web page but are designed to fit in such a way that will draw attention but not annoy the reader. The ads reflect an audience who has disposable income to spend money on things like name-brand coffee and pet grooming. The same ads would probably not appear on a news Web site like USAToday.com, which has a much broader audience whose average household income is likely lower.
It’s interesting to note that the same Starbucks advertisement appears on NYTimes.com, whose audience demographics more closely resemble that of Salon’s.
