NYTimes.com Introduces Self-Serve Ads For Hyperlocal Sites

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NYTimes.com Introduces Self-Serve Ads For Hyperlocal Sites

The NYTimes.com has opened up a self-serve ad system for businesses who want to advertise on its hyperlocal sites. The Local, which consists of citizen-j blogs focusing on five neighborhoods in New Jersey and Brooklyn, will charge $5 CPMs for the ads. In a post on The Local (via Nieman Lab), Jim Schachter, the NYT’s editor for digital initiatives, writes “that’s just this side of free.”

While general run-of-site rates on NYTimes.com start at around $30 CPMs, a NYTCo (NYSE: NYT) rep told us that to attract small, “mom & pop” businesses, the newspaper site will offer self-service rates of between $8 and $12 after the launch period. The campaigns are capped at “a few thousand dollars,” the rep said, with most running about several hundred.

When the NYTimes.com introduced the hyperlocal news sites in Febuary, executives had already been eying ways to attract the kinds of small-business marketers, such as plumbers and pizza parlors, that many newspaper sites had left to the online directories. Considering the huge financial challenges facing the NYTCo, which reports its Q2 earnings Thursday morning, any incremental advertising at this point is welcome, even if not immediately consequential.

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David Kaplan

@davidaKaplan Jul 22, 2009 11:00 PM ET

Posted In: Advertising, Local, Media & Publishing, Newspapers, Companies, New York Times

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Steven Peterson

I've pretty much given up on the big companies really focusing on "local". The fact is the big sites really do not care about the little guys. I have spent the last year focusing on true "local" directories - I get more conversions from local search than I do anywhere else.

My money is on the little guys - not the NY Times or any other big site - yes they have the numbers but I want focused results on a local level.

Thanks for the suggestion of http://mylocallookup.com/ - I am enroute there now!

Mike Wanner

If NY Times is going to capture any of the local advertising share from local.com, Google, Yahoo, or MyLocalLookup.com it has to find a better ad format other than CPM. We, small business owners,like CPC. But, if you dig down into the numbers, CPM can be as good if not better. But hardly on a $8-$30CPM on a NY Times web properties. If you tested any of these for text links you will know it's like Google Adsense. Most don't convert very well.

I recommend selling the oh sooo popular blog ads that are 25X25 and then small sponsor ads on a CPC basis.

If I were to follow a model, I would look at how http://www.mylocallookup.com does it. It works.

Scott Jackson

I like this addition to give more targetted advertising but it still doesnt really take the "scariness" out of the process for copanies that are new to online advertising.
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