A dozen of the nation’s largest newspaper publishers have signed off on a broad partnership with Yahoo Inc., stoking optimism among the newspapers as the industry tries to find its way in an increasingly digital age.
The consortium of newspaper publishers includes Denver-based ap and 11 other newspaper companies, covering 264 newspapers across 44 states. The participating papers count more than 50 million unique online visitors per month.
MediaNews is the nation’s fourth-largest newspaper publisher and owner of The Denver Post.
The deal, first announced in November, has been expanded beyond its initial scope of allowing help-wanted advertising to be listed jointly by the newspapers and on Yahoo’s HotJobs service. The number of participating newspaper companies has also grown, increasing from seven publishers to 12.
“The newspaper industry is changing,” Gary Pruitt, chief executive of McClatchy Co., one of the newest members of the consortium, said during a conference call earlier today. “This is a big step.”
The newspaper industry has seen advertising revenue decline in recent years as readers migrate to the Internet other media for entertainment and news.
The Newspaper Association of America last month reported that overall print advertising at newspapers fell 1.7 percent in 2006 and that total revenue fell 0.3 percent. Online advertising surged by 31.5 percent.
With that in mind, the consortium and Yahoo during the next 18 months intend to roll out a variety of revenue-sharing initiatives. Details on how the revenue will be divided was not disclosed.
The idea is to harnesses Yahoo’s technology and online presence with the newspapers’ wealth of content and sales teams, opening up new streams of revenue for both sides.
Yahoo and the newspaper companies have agreed to develop a common online platform that will enable national companies to purchase online advertising across dozens of newspaper websites. This would allow large advertisers such as car companies or cell phone carriers to more efficiently make advertising purchases through a “one buy, one bill” format.
The partnering newspapers’ websites will also eventually feature a Yahoo-branded search function and tool bar, giving the newspaper companies a slice of the booming paid-search industry.
The deal will also allow for newspaper stories to appear on Yahoo’s website. The stories will link back to the respective newspapers’ websites, providing the newspapers to greater control of their digital content.
“This is the first inning in a many inning game,” said Sue Decker, head of Yahoo’s Advertiser and Publisher Group.
In addition to MediaNews, other publishers include Cox Newspaper Inc. of Atlanta; Hearst Corp. of New York; and E.W. Scripps Co., the Cincinnati-based publisher of the Rocky Mountain News. Absent from the consortium is Gannett Co. and Tribune Co., the nation’s two largest newspaper publishers respectively.
Gannett and Tribune are currently working on a separate partnership that includes an online advertising platform.
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-954-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com
