Advertising and Sustainability in Ecuadorian Digital Media: La Posta and El Comercio on Instagram

Abstract

The transition to digitalization is a challenge for the media in social networks. This study reviews the situation of the Instagram accounts of two Ecuadorian media: La Posta and El Comercio, considering the transformation of digital journalism or cyberjournalism, new narrative forms, and hypertext, multimedia, and interactivity as characteristic elements of contemporary digital journalism. On this basis, advertising in this social network is reviewed by analyzing 780 posts in both media. The relationship between the publication and the advertising content is described, and the challenge of sustainability and profitability of traditional and native-digital media in social networks is posed. The study identifies the most frequently used native advertising formats and the emerging creation of new journalistic forms.