Smaaz’s Blog

Yahoo! And Newspaper Consortium Expand Partnership

Yahoo! and a group of 12 leading U.S. newspaper companies today announced a definitive agreement that expands a growing partnership combining the newspapers’ unmatched local news and advertising reach with the leading technologies and audience of Yahoo!, the leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide.

With the addition of The McClatchy Company and four other new members since November 2006, the newspaper group now stands at 12 newspaper publishing companies. This represents a critical mass of more than 264 newspapers across 44 states, along with multiple distribution channels that will benefit advertisers, readers and the participating companies.

The strategic partnership revolves around four key opportunities:

• Enhancing newspaper online advertising revenue using Yahoo!’s graphical advertising technology. For more than a decade, Yahoo! has been a leader in online graphical advertising. Advertisers and newspapers will be using Yahoo!’s sophisticated ad-serving, targeting and inventory management capabilities. This strategic alliance creates the newspaper industry’s most comprehensive and integrated online advertising network.
• Leveraging leading local and national online sales forces. This relationship creates an all-in-one buying opportunity for local advertisers, allowing newspaper sales representatives to offer the combined aggregated reach of local newspaper and local Yahoo! online audiences. Yahoo!’s sales force may sell newspaper inventory to their portfolio of national advertisers and newspapers’ sales forces can sell Yahoo!’s local online inventory to local advertisers.
• Integrating Yahoo!’s paid search technology across newspaper sites. Yahoo!’s search functionality will be deployed across hundreds of newspaper Web sites and exposed to more than 50 million users on a monthly basis. Additionally, users will benefit from having access to a customized Yahoo! toolbar which will be distributed on local newspaper Web sites, providing newspaper Web site users with easy access to the most comprehensive Internet search.
• Distributing high-quality newspaper content broadly across the Yahoo! Network. Newspaper content will be fully integrated within local news modules and delivered to Yahoo! users interested in local news, sports, finance and other content in Yahoo! vertical areas. This will give readers superior local content developed by credible news professionals and community contributors across the country. Additionally, this strategic partnership paves the way for mobile distribution of newspaper content.

The number of members working with Yahoo! in the group has nearly doubled since its formation in November 2006 when it announced an agreement to enable the newspapers to post their jobs on Yahoo! HotJobs. Today, the consortium includes more than 264 papers across 44 states. The consortium members’ newspapers have a combined Sunday circulation of 18.5 million, and their Web sites attract a combined total of more than 50 million monthly unique visitors.

Add comment April 16th, 2007

Google To Sell Radio Ads Through Clear Channel

Clear Channel Radio and Google, today announced a multi-year agreement that enables Google to sell a guaranteed portion of 30-second advertising inventory available on more than 675 of Clear Channel’s AM/FM stations. Specific financial terms are not being disclosed. Under the agreement, Google Audio Ads advertisers will have national distribution, enabling them to reach specific audiences, at specific times, in targeted geographies. For Clear Channel, this agreement opens up an additional sales channel and provides supplemental revenue by making Clear Channel inventory available to advertisers who previously had not used radio.

“This is a true win-win,” said John Hogan, Chief Executive Officer of Clear Channel Radio. “Clear Channel Radio gets access to an entirely new group of advertisers within a new and complementary sales channel, and Google adds another option for its existing customers. Google has proven its ability to gain premiums for advertising inventory and that fits perfectly into our broader strategy of building value for advertisers while increasing our overall revenue yield. We’re committed to working with the best-in-class and Google has a real economic incentive to produce meaningfully higher CPMs.”

“Clear Channel is the market leader in delivering radio value to consumers and advertisers and has built an innovative platform to manage its on-air ad inventory,” said Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google. “We look forward to working with Clear Channel Radio by providing a unique set of advertisers and a system that will increase the effectiveness and measurability of connecting advertisers with radio listeners.”

Clear Channel Radio’s national and local sales forces will continue to focus on the company’s most lucrative advertiser relationships, and on the many advertisers who seek specialized advertising packages and concepts. Google will focus primarily on advertisers who currently run ads online but do not run ads on radio.

For Clear Channel, the move is part of a larger initiative to differentiate its on-air ad inventory. The company created a number of special positions (such as first-in-pod and islands), new and innovative spot types (adlets and blinks), unparalleled creative resources (the Creative Services Group), and fresh combinations on-/off-air/online packages. These efforts have produced many new advertiser alternatives and steady gains in revenue yield-per-minute. Using its Viero System, the company already enables sales managers and sellers to dynamically evaluate and price inventory. Clear Channel Radio and Google today separately announced Viero Systems full AdSense for Audio Compatibility.

This agreement complements an existing online advertising partnership in which Google provides text ads to Clear Channel’s radio-station Web sites through the company’s Online Music & Radio Unit.

Add comment April 16th, 2007