E-Mailbag: How Separate Are Ads And Editorial Content On The Web Site?

Here's a question we get from time to time and one worth revisiting here. Jeremiah N. wants to know more about the ads run on CBSNews.com and the content on the site:

I was wondering if there are rules or guidelines that CBSNews.com follows in regards to the giant ads on the top of the homepage that one must collapse. While always irritating and too in-your-face for my liking, they don't always appear. Is the appearance of these ads in any way related to the top stories? If there is a big headline or breaking news does the giant ad get removed, only to be used when the more "routine" stories are being highlighted? Or is the appearance of these awful things simply related to having advertisers willing to pay for them? And I guess a larger question would be, what power or promise is given to advertisers on the web page in relation to the placement of ads and/or major news stories?

The appearance of "home page takeovers" is in no way tied to news stories or any editorial decisions. In fact, news personnel don't know what is scheduled by ad sales on any given day. Keeping a positive user experience in mind, the takeovers appear only twice every 12 hours -- the first two visits to the home page during each 12 hour period.