Amazon seeks patents for in-text ads on Kindle

The Kindle advertising model would operate much the same way ads appear on the Internet. A restaurant ad, for example, would be linked to a passage that mentions two characters dining out, while a Caribbean vacation promotion might appear next to a description of a beach.

Amazon also envisions the ability to cross-reference texts with annotations, supplements and illustrations.

From the reader's perspective, ad-supported texts could mean lower costs for e-books. What's so wrong about a few sponsored pages if it knocks a couple bucks off the cover price? On the other hand, Fast Company's Kit Eaton imagines the possibility in the future of Amazon charging more for books without advertising.

So far, Amazon's proposed patents relate only to books. Eaton compares in-text advertising on Kindle to the way ads have always worked in traditional magazines, and from there it's easy to make the jump to how the process might function in those publications' digital versions. As for newspapers, Matthew Shaer at the Christian Science Monitor makes passing mention of the ability to reduce prices for all media, a clear incentive for users. The standard Kindle photo seems to be a device showing the digital The New York Times, so the idea of ad-supported digital newspapers is there somewhere under the surface.

In fact, Kindle users might be more willing to accept ads in newspapers than in books. Such product placements already exist both in the print and web-based forms of news publications. Moreover, a cheaper subscription price as a result of advertising might help publishers attract new subscribers to the Kindle service.

In a webinar hosted by the World Editors Forum last March, Christian Science Monitor editor John Yemma lamented that the Kindle would never be the savior of newspapers because it lacks the interactivity craved by those raised in the Information Age. While advertising isn't necessarily what Yemma had in mind, it is a step in that direction. The potential for cross-referencing materials takes the idea even further.

Amazon may have made a mistake by not including advertising in some form right from the start. Plastic Logic Vice President of Business Development Daren Benzi told the Editors Weblog that his company's device would support ads that readers can click on for more information, adding another revenue source for newspapers. The Plastic Logic reader is set for release in January 2010. 

Even if Amazon succeeds in obtaining the patents, it is still uncertain how the company will implement any type of advertising on Kindle devices. Nevertheless, in-text ads in newspapers are a logical step with obvious promise for publishers.

Source: MediaPost, Christian Science Monitor, Fast Company