Newspapers Look to Web Ads

Via Rueters: U.S. newspaper publishers Gannett Co. Inc., McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co. are planning to sell advertising jointly on their Web sites in a bid to capture more online revenue. It would probably be a safe bet to assume that it's a move to draw some of the dollars back from Google and Yahoo which recently signed some thirty local news outlets up to distrubute classified listings. These companies are formulating a plan to offer advertisers one-stop shopping for display ads on Internet sites.

"The goal is to create the largest network of newspaper- developed local sites for any advertiser to reach local consumers," Dubow said at the conference, according to a transcript on Gannett's Web site. What this all means to advertisers is that they may be able to start looking at online classified and display advertising more seriously. For many this is the first real sign ov viability as large U.S. newspaper publishers bulk up on online dollars as circulation at most papers slips and advertisers move away from print and onto the Internet.