Branded Content and Media-Marketing Ecologies: Histories, Evolving Practices, and Governance

The relationships between media and advertising are changing profoundly as they integrate, and separate. Brands are increasingly involved in the production of publisher-hosted content from sponsored stories to native advertising. Evolving media, including streaming platforms, live-streaming, e-games, e-sports, podcasting, and social media influencer marketing, depend on advertising finance and co-develop novel marketing communication formats with advertisers. This Research Topic invites work that explores the integration of media and marketing communications, from historical studies on the development of branded content to ones that explore aspects of the contemporary media-marketing ecology, including platforms, adtech, artificial intelligence, and an expanding network of marketers, agencies, intermediaries, and content creators.

Branded content is content that is funded or produced by marketers and includes brands' own media content, paid advertising that is ‘native’—blending into the non-advertising communications environment in which it appears—as well as editorial-like content and hybridizations of media, advertising, and selling that are hosted on a growing variety of platforms and screens. Branded content has been the focus of media and marketing business and creative strategies especially over last decade. Some forms have been as short-lived as the hype accompanying them, but the underlying convergence of media and advertising continues to pose profound questions. These questions range from its implications in areas like journalism, TV production, and other industry practices to societal impacts, educational agendas, and policy responses. Therefore, we invite contributions that address practices, governance, or both, exploring the issues and interconnections between industry practices, ethics, and regulation, which together constitute the governance of branded content and advertising.

This Research Topic aims to provide a comprehensive historical review of how branded content has integrated with various media platforms. We invite contributions that explore key milestones, regulatory changes, and pivotal moments that have shaped the current landscape. Manuscripts may examine case studies from different regions and industry sectors. The research will highlight significant debates and regulatory responses over time, offering insights into the historical context of current practices in the media, creative, and cultural industries.

Possible topics for submission may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• branded content and media-marketing integration across all forms of media, including audio, audiovisual, publishing, online and social media, games, out-of-home, experiential, and other
• native advertising, sponsored content, influencer marketing
• emergent marketing formats, practices, and arrangements across the promotional industries

branded content and…

• journalism
• media production processes and cultures
• children and young people, including kidtech
• artificial intelligence
• adtech
• surveillance advertising
• media-marketing ecology, including marketers, agencies, media, platforms, creators, and adtech
• convergence and de-convergence (across practices and/or governance)
• governance, including policy, law, statutory/co-/self-regulation/professional-practitioner standards, and ethics
• policy proposals and strategies for governance
• training, education, digital media literacy, capacity-building, and curriculum design
• historical research on advertising and media
• research methods and comparative analysis relevant to advertising and media.

We aim to attract contributions from both established academics and emerging scholars. Industry professionals, legal-regulatory or policy actors, and stakeholders are also encouraged to submit.

Information and Instructions for Authors

This Research Topic accepts any of the article types listed below, except for Technology and Code and Editorial (Editorials are submitted exclusively by the Topic Editors).

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: digital advertising, marketing communications, branded content, native advertising, influencer marketing, adtec, advertising regulation, governance

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.