Newspapers Set To Jointly Sell Ads on Web Sites

Gannett, McClatchy And Tribune to Form Nationwide Network Yahoo's Competing Effort
By JULIA ANGWIN
January 10, 2007; Page A1

The nation's three largest newspaper publishers are gearing up to sell advertising jointly on their newspapers' Web sites, believing their survival depends on seizing new online revenue.

Gannett Co., McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co. are planning to offer advertisers one-stop shopping for display ads on Internet sites. The goal is to attract big advertisers such as car makers and phone companies that want to reach a nationwide online audience but don't want the hassle of negotiating ad deals with each company or newspaper.
TEAMING UP
The News: Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune are preparing to team up to offer national advertisers a one-stop shop for online ads.

• The Background: Local newspapers have had trouble winning national ads. Cooperative efforts haven't gone far.

• What's Next: Other newspaper groups are working with Yahoo in online ads, raising fears about a divided industry.


The joint effort, code-named "Open Network," marks a big new bid to win back advertisers that are defecting in droves to the Web. Currently, national advertisers buy the bulk of their online display ads -- banners and boxes -- from big portals such as Yahoo Inc., Time Warner Inc.'s AOL or Microsoft Corp.'s MSN. Yahoo has announced plans to work with seven other newspaper publishers to build a similar one-stop-shopping spot for advertisers. Google Inc. has also reaped a bonanza with advertising links that appear next to search results.

The three newspaper companies, known in the industry as GMT, are likely to each contribute 10% of their online-advertising space to the network, according to people familiar with the situation. They hope to announce something early this year, although the deal isn't finalized and could still fall apart.

The venture is designed to help the chains tackle a vexing problem: They have long had trouble attracting national advertisers. In their print editions, this is largely because of price. Newspapers can jack up ad prices for local retailers that have few other ways to reach a hometown audience. But national advertisers often find it cheaper to buy a TV spot or magazine ad than to buy space in dozens of newspapers. National advertisers also account for about 75% of advertising on the Internet, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.