Media Companies Strike Gold With Sponsored Content

Media companies say they've struck gold in the form of content marketing -- during the third quarter, at least.

Recent quarterly earnings reports show that the practice of disguising ads as non-commercial content -- whether that content is an article from a professional newsroom or a Facebook post from your aunt -- is driving revenue gains at a variety of media companies, from The New York Times to LinkedIn. Whether it's called native advertising or sponsored content, it appears this practice will stick around for a while, or at least through the next set of earnings reports.