Newspaper Group Partners with Yahoo!

By Leo Blanco

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

Cementing its ambition to be the first integrated online advertising network developed in the newspaper industry, a group of 12 leading US newspaper companies have forged a strategic partnership with the world’s most trafficked Internet site: Yahoo!

 

Started last November 2006, the consortium is now composed of 12 newspaper publishing companies including its newest members The McClatchy Company and four other new groups.  Its combined business represents 264 newspapers scattered in 44 states. In addition, Web sites of these leading newspapers add 50 million unique visitors monthly and another 18.5 million for the Sunday circulation.

 

"This milestone deal represents far more than an advantageous, win-win business deal for Yahoo! and participating newspapers -- although it certainly is that. The consortium also demonstrates that our members recognize this plan delivers significant benefits to our advertisers and readers, starting almost at once. We expect other newspaper companies will be joining in the near future, and they will be welcomed as allies whose participation will increase the benefits we can deliver," said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, in a statement to the press.

 

There are four key opportunities anchored with this venture.

 

The first one is to improve online advertising revenues of newspapers with the help of Yahoo’s graphical advertising technology. Strongly connected with the first key opportunity is the integration of paid research technology in the newspaper sites-- giving users easy access to extensive Internet search.

 

Yahoo! Networks, in turn, will have rights to distribute newspaper content and integrate it within its local news modules. Consequently, this third key factor gives Internet readers superior local content coming from professionals and community contributors nationwide.

 

Lastly, this strategic partnership opens an all-in-one buying opportunity for local advertisers. In this agreement, newspaper representatives can sell local online inventory of Yahoo! to local advertisers while Yahoo! sales force can sell newspaper inventory to their respective contacts.

 

"The continued expansion of our relationship with the newspapers will deliver a best-of-breed local experience for advertisers and audiences. By working with top-notch, well-respected media companies, this relationship represents another step forward in our strategy to build the most robust ad network on the Internet," said Yahoo! Inc acting CFO, head of Advertiser and Publisher Group, and executive vice president Sue Decker.