The partnership also reflects Yahoo’s increasing focus on local ad sales and extending its APT display sales and management platform to other media companies besides newspapers.

SEE ALSO: @ Local Online: Yahoo Aims For More Ad Dollars From Quick Service Restaurants

For example, Yahoo recently signed a deal with local direct marketer Valassis as a way of capturing more advertising from telcos.

Also, Media General (NYSE: MEG) has had so much success with its newspapers, it has handed over expanded its Newspaper Consortium partnership to open up its TV station websites to Yahoo inventory.

The news came out just after Gannett (NYSE: GCI) released its Q2 earnings, which were largely positive, thanks in part, to revenues from its local stations. Despite newspapers’ financial challenges in the face of the migration of advertisers and readers from print to the web, papers have had a much easier time driving online revenue than local broadcasters. But broadcasters have been slowly realizing the additive potential of the web, especially given the growth rates for video advertising.

With many publishers, such as E.W. Scripps (NYSE: SSP) and Media General, crediting Yahoo with helping them realize millions of dollars in online advertising, it makes sense that they’d want to extend that to their other local holdings.

As part of this agreement, Gannett says it may also select local content for programming across Yahoo sites in the U.S., including the Yahoo homepage. A phased rollout will begin this quarter and will continue into 2011. Release