Working our newsfeed today, I just came across this item in the Dallas Morning News' Allen Neighbors blog:

"Win $10,000 for your prom

Attention AHS supporters - Dallas Morning News Sportsday is having a "click off" contest, with the school with the most clicks receiving $10,000 for their prom.

Just click on Allen High School's homepage every day at www.dallasnews.com/myhighschool until Thursday, Nov. 17. The winning school will be posted in the SportsDay section of the The Dallas Morning News Tuesday, Nov. 21. Only one click per computer per day will be counted. Now get clicking!"

It strikes me that DMN is falling back on the sort of tactics that most industry folks would tell you contributed to the current mess faced by the newspaper industry. In print terms, these clicks would be called "low-quality circulation," like unrequested newspapers sent out on behalf of advertisers; deeply discounted print subscriptions or lapsed subscribers who keep getting the paper anyway.

What's troubling to me here is that the DMN sells online advertising on a per-pageview basis. So, if I were an advertiser paying (even at low online rates) for an ad on a page that was being clicked on just to help a school win a contest, I would be upset. Granted, there is a small difference in clicking on an ad and viewing a page, but when you get paid by the pageview, there is a problem. Google ejects any publisher who actively exhorts users to take an action that incites a charge to an advertiser. And most reputable national advertising networks (like Tacoda, whom we use) forbid their participating publishers from driving traffic via click-contests.

In the end, is this much different from "click a monkey, win an Ipod?" Couldn't they at least have provided the deeplink to the Allen High School page?

The online media industry is struggling mightily with clickfraud. Given that the DMN has already weathered a print circulation scandal, I can't imagine that their management would intentionally engage in such marketing behavior. To find out, I sent an email to the person who posted this to get some clarification. I'll update when I hear back:

Saw this item on your site: http://allen.beloblog.com/archives/2006/11/win_10000_for_your_prom.html



I'm wondering if the DMN is charging its advertisers for pageviews on the pages in question here? I'm sure that it's not your intention, but most online advertisers would consider this to be clickfraud.

Just heard from Cyndi Carr at the Dallas Morning News: She says the ads on these pages are sponsorships, and therefore not prone to per/pageview charges.