No, it's just an educated guess. The ad links are a small percentage of the total links and the visitors are looking for gossip so there is plenty in the main body to click on. With that much content they will have a low CTR.
Being a premium publisher would be awesome. I've seen so many cool modified ads from premium publishers. Check out menshealth.com and scroll down to the bottom for another really cool custom ad.
Pardon my ignorance, but is it because the ad links themsevles have a different background shading is what makes that particular setup so unique?