‘Rather than a mass customer base, advertising on these blogs gives lobbyists unbridled access to an extremely valuable audience: Britain’s political elite’

So writes David Crow in The Business. The article goes on to say -

This new generation of websites will require strong marketing skills and an indepth knowledge of the audience. That information can then be sold to advertisers. More importantly, mechanisms are needed to make such advertising as easy as dealing with big-hitting sites.

In Britain, political blogs from all parts of the ideological spectrum, including ConservativeHome.com, Guido Fawkes, and Lib Dem Blogs, have teamed up with a new company, MessageSpace, to pursue this strategy. Started by Alex Hilton (who also launched Labour Home), the company sells advertising space across seven political blogs and uses the specialised appeal of its content as a unique selling point.

Rather than offering a mass ­cust­omer base, advertising on these blogs gives lobbyists and others un­bridled access to an extremely stream­lined and valuable audience: Britain’s political elite and those wor­king in the “Westminster village”.

MessageSpace claims to offer a banner advertisement in every political office in Britain. According to Hilton, MessageSpace sold out of banner space on Conservative sites well before the start of this year’s conference season. …

For British media firms the ­opp­ortunity to think big by going small and investing in small, targeted ­websites is still there. The advent of high-speed internet is best harnessed by focusing on small communities bound by common interests. Gen­eric and universal solutions that ignore consumer individuality will, like their TV counterparts, be left behind.

Full article here.