Most stations make you guess whether businesses can buy a feature at all. WGN is different: the product is visible on the station's own website, named, labelled, and already being bought by Chicago businesses who proudly link to their features. It is called Spotlight Chicago. This page explains exactly how those sponsored articles on wgntv.com work, what you keep afterwards, and how to publish yours.
Yes, Chicago businesses already buy features on WGN: here is the actual product
Sponsored content runs openly on wgntv.com under the Spotlight Chicago strand, and Chicago businesses publicly announce their own sponsored features there. A basement finishing company was linking customers to its Spotlight Chicago feature as recently as March 2026. That visibility matters to you as a buyer, because it means the product is not a rumour, a pitch deck or a back door. It is a standing strand on the website of Chicago's channel 9, and local businesses are already using it.
Our job is the route in. We arrange Spotlight Chicago sponsored articles for businesses like yours, from the first email to the live link. How the product itself works is laid out in full below, including the parts most sellers skip: the radio mix-up, the difference between a segment and an article, and what decides the price. For the wider picture of how paid placements work across outlets, see our guide to which news outlets accept sponsored content.
Ready to get your business on wgntv.com?
Send us your business name, your website, and the feature you have in mind. You get a fit confirmation and your individual quote back by email.
uzairasad@pressfeature.orgOne email starts it. No form, no obligation.
WGN-TV is not WGN Radio: clearing the mix-up first
One confusion pollutes every search on this topic, so let us clear it in one short section. WGN Radio is a separate, famous Chicago institution, and the ad rate pages that rank for "WGN advertising" are mostly about radio spots. This page is not about radio. It is about WGN-TV, channel 9, and its website, wgntv.com, where the Spotlight Chicago sponsored articles live.
If you have been quoted radio rates while researching a website feature, you were looking at the wrong WGN. The article, the strand, the link and the permanent page are all television side, on wgntv.com. Everything below is about that product only.
Why WGN carries weight in Chicago
Chicago is the third largest television market in the United States, and WGN-TV's place in it is unusual. For decades the station was a national superstation, carried far beyond Chicago, which made "WGN" a name known across the country. At home it is simply "Chicago's Very Own", the independent-minded local station Chicagoans treat as theirs.
The morning loyalty is part of that standing. WGN Morning News has run since 6 September 1994, weekdays from 4:00 to 10:00 a.m., and Chicago loves it precisely because it does not behave like other morning shows: relaxed anchors, on-air pranks, and segments like Around Town, Dean Cooks, Friday Forecaster, The 6 @ 6 and The 9 @ 9. A station people joke with at breakfast is a station they trust by lunch.
In our outlet directory, wgntv.com carries a Domain Authority of 80 and roughly 2.8 million monthly organic visits. Those are supporting figures. The real asset is that a feature on wgntv.com borrows fifty years of Chicago habit.
What Spotlight Chicago sponsored content looks like on wgntv.com
Spotlight Chicago is the sponsored content strand on wgntv.com where paid local business features are published. A feature there reads as a proper article about the business: who they are, what they do, why Chicago customers choose them, presented on the station's own site, in the strand whose name tells readers exactly what it is. The labelling is in the strand's identity itself, which is part of why the product is credible rather than sneaky.
Sponsored pages also appear around Daytime Chicago, the station's daytime programme, as the adjacent strand where television and web content meet. We describe Spotlight Chicago from what is publicly visible on the site, because that is the honest basis for a buying decision: the strand exists, businesses publish in it, readers can see the features, and your business can be one of them.
TV segment or website article: what you keep afterwards
Daytime Chicago appearances are genuinely attractive, and plenty of businesses buy them. But be clear about what each product leaves behind. A TV segment is a moment: it airs, it is enjoyed, and by the next morning it exists only as a clip you host yourself. If a customer checks you out three months later, the segment does nothing for you unless you do the work of resurfacing it.
The Spotlight Chicago article is the opposite shape. It is published on wgntv.com, it stays live, and it carries a link to your website. You send it to customers, you attach it to proposals, and search engines can find it when someone looks up your business. The two products can share a campaign, and a segment can point viewers to the article. But only one of them is still working for you next year. This page arranges the one that stays.
Who a WGN sponsored article fits, and who it does not
The fit is visible in who already buys it: Chicagoland businesses that sell across the metro and trade on being established. Home services, professional firms, healthcare practices, multi-location brands and retailers all use local features like this because their customers research before they buy, and a feature on the hometown station's site answers the trust question at the exact moment it is asked.
It does not fit a business outside the Chicago market whose customers have no relationship with WGN. And it does not fit anyone expecting editorial coverage: a Spotlight Chicago feature is paid content, labelled as such, and it will never be presented as the WGN Morning News deciding to cover your business. If editorial coverage is what you want, no honest seller can book it for you.
How publishing on wgntv.com works, step by step
Step 1: Email us. Write to uzairasad@pressfeature.org with your business name, your website, and the feature you have in mind. That email is the whole submission process.
Step 2: Fit confirmation and your quote. We confirm the fit and send your individual quote for the Spotlight Chicago placement. The factors are in the next section.
Step 3: The feature is produced. The content is produced from your brief, and you approve the angle before anything is written, so there are no surprises about what the feature will say.
Step 4: Review and publish. The feature is reviewed before publishing, then goes live on wgntv.com under Spotlight Chicago.
Step 5: Your live link. You receive the published link, yours to send, attach and keep.
Your protection, stated before you pay anything: payment is in full in advance, and if the feature does not go live, you receive a full refund, in writing.
What decides the price of WGN sponsored content
There is no public price for a Spotlight Chicago feature, and the radio rate cards that rank for this search are not a guide, because they price a different product on a different WGN. The factors that decide your quote are the strand and placement, the production scope (a written feature versus a segment-linked package), the link requirements, and the timing. Those variables differ for every business, so each placement is quoted individually, by email, with no obligation.
Our guide to how much a sponsored article costs explains this factor model in full. The promise on this page is narrower: the quote you receive is the whole price, and the refund protection above stands behind it.
Links and how long your WGN article stays live
The article links to your website. Paid links carry sponsored attributes under paid content rules, and we state that plainly rather than dressing the link up as something it is not; its value is the customers it sends you and the credibility of the page it sits on. The placement is a permanent article, with the terms confirmed in writing with your order, not a page that vanishes when a campaign ends.
The honest limit belongs here too: no sponsored article can guarantee you rankings, traffic or sales, and any seller who promises those outcomes is inventing them. What the placement guarantees is itself: a labelled, permanent, professional feature about your business on wgntv.com, in the strand Chicago businesses already use.
Start your WGN feature
The product is real, it is named, and Chicago businesses are already in it. If your business sells to Chicagoland and your customers check you online before they buy, a Spotlight Chicago feature is the asset built for that check.
Write to uzairasad@pressfeature.org with your business name, your website, and what the feature should say. We handle the route from that email to your live link on wgntv.com.
Get your business featured on WGN
One email with your business name, your website, and the feature you want. We reply with fit confirmation and your individual quote.
uzairasad@pressfeature.orgFull refund in writing if your feature does not go live.
Frequently asked questions
How much does WGN sponsored content cost?
There is no public figure, because each placement is quoted individually. The factors are the strand and placement, the production scope, the link requirements and the timing. One email to uzairasad@pressfeature.org returns your exact quote, with no obligation.
What is Spotlight Chicago on WGN?
It is WGN-TV's sponsored content strand on wgntv.com, where paid features about local businesses are published and labelled as sponsored content.
Can a Chicago business pay to be featured on WGN?
Yes. Businesses already do, and their features are publicly visible on wgntv.com under Spotlight Chicago.
Is WGN sponsored content on TV, on the website, or both?
The product this page arranges is the website article on wgntv.com. TV segments, such as Daytime Chicago appearances, are a separate buy.
How long does a WGN sponsored article stay live?
It is placed as a permanent article, with the terms confirmed in writing with your order.
Will the article link to my website?
Yes. Paid links carry sponsored attributes, stated honestly, as paid content rules require.
Who produces the sponsored content for WGN?
The feature is produced from your brief and reviewed before publishing. You approve the angle before anything is written.
How do I submit a business for a WGN sponsored feature?
One email to uzairasad@pressfeature.org with your business name and website. We handle the route from there.
Disclosure: PressFeature sells article placements on WGN, and this page is our own marketing content, published to explain the placement honestly. Figures cited are from our public outlet directory. Published October 2026. Last reviewed: October 2026.