I wonder how much their advertising teams cost and if wouldn't it render better results just to fire them and replace all banners with AdSense (or something like it) and live off their ever elongating tails. Those teams are pure overhead - news companies are in the business of reporting news. They should get rid of their fat. This world does not tolerate it.
my guess is that they've run this calculation and have decided against it. or there are top level execs that are in charge of the marketing divisions who don't want to lose jobs and learn something new.
I bet on your #2. There is a lot of money being pocketed in the media market in form of incentives. It's only natural they want to hold on to their jobs.
