Yahoo Newspaper Consortium Adds Five Members
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The possible sale of Yahoo’s HotJobs would be a huge blow for members of the Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Newspaper Consortium, as the alliance is the only source of help-wanted-ad revenue for nearly 200 papers. But that’s apparently not deterring papers from joining. The newspaper alliance announced five new members—Freedom Communications’ California flagship, The Orange County Register as well as The Gazette in Colorado Springs; the North Jersey Media Group’s The Record and Herald News; and The San Diego Union-Tribune. That gives the consortium 814 newspaper members, accounting for 51 percent of all Sunday circulation.
SEE ALSO: Interview: Andy Ellenthal, CEO Of quadrantONE, On The Alliance’s Move Beyond Newspapers
The Yahoo alliance has been one of the few bright spots for newspapers in recent months. A recent estimate by AdAge found that the two-and-a-half-year-old consortium sold $50 million in Yahoo ad inventory, with about “several million” dollars in sales being added each week. More after the jump
E.W. Scripps (NYSE: SSP), which list most newspapers has been struggling with online ad sales, has said that the consortium has contributed 30 percent to their online ad revenues in Q1, or roughly $800,000. Also, Cox Newspaper’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which, combined with Yahoo, cites comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) figures that indicate it has increased its online audience reach in its home city alone from 15 percent to 80 percent.
Still, with 592 newspapers in the consortium relying exclusively on HotJobs for help-wanted ads—an area that has been hit particularly hard as unemployment has approached 9 percent nationwide—many members have expressed some wariness about how this might affect the value of the consortium over time. Also, Yahoo has seen the rollout of its APT ad delivery and targeting system move more slowly than it would like. Currently, roughly 160 newspapers are now live on APT. During Yahoo’s Q1 earnings call in April, CEO Carol Bartz downplayed the delays in adding APT to its newspaper members, telling investors that there is no official “rollout” of the ad platform and that it is designed to be in a constant state of evolution. A Yahoo rep added that the APT integration plan is on track, with more newspapers signing on over the course of the year in order to accommodate the continuing growth in consortium membership.
@davidaKaplan
Jun 16, 2009 7:11 AM ET
Posted In: Advertising, E-Commerce, Classifieds Business, Media & Publishing, Newspapers, Companies, Yahoo
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