Features

SAN FRANCISCO – Fighting for survival, online magazine publisher Salon Media Group Inc. has introduced an unusual advertising program that waives subscriptions for readers willing to wade through an interactive commercial. 

The San Francisco-based company is offering “Ultramercials” sponsored by Mercedes-Benz as an alternative to paying an annual access fee ranging from $18.50 to $30. About 45,000 subscribers pay the fees to view 20 percent of the content on Salon’s Web site. 

The remaining 80 percent of Salon’s site remains free to all visitors. 

Readers who clicked through all four sections of a commercial for Mercedes’ E-Class sedan on Tuesday received a 12-hour pass to Salon’s subscription-based content. Visitors can get additional 12-hour passes by sitting through the advertisement on other days. 

The response to the new Mercedes promotion has exceeded expectations since its debut last week, said Cheryl Lucanegro, Salon’s senior vice president of sales. Salon is trying to sign up other sponsors besides Mercedes-Benz. 

Salon’s new program is the latest marketing twist developed by cash-strapped Internet companies hoping to drum up more business in the depressed advertising market. 

Having lost $79.7 million since its 1995 inception, Salon is particularly desperate. 

The company could run out of money at the end of November, according to documents filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Salon received a reprieve last month when one of its directors, Adobe Systems Inc. co-founder John Warnock, loaned Salon $200,000. 

As a last resort, Salon is prepared to raise money by selling the rights to collect bills owed by its customers, according to SEC documents. 

Salon would discount the face value of its account receivables 20 percent to 40 percent under an agreement with an unnamed bank, the SEC documents said. 

The new marketing strategy is designed to increase Salon’s subscriptions as well as provide an “altruistic” way for advertisers to reach consumers, said Patrick Hurley, the company’s senior vice president of operations. 

“There are still a fairly significant amount of people who aren’t ready to pay for content on the Web,” Hurley said. “We would hope that some people who sample our paid content under this program will see what they are missing and sign up for subscriptions.”