UPDATED: Yahoo needed content so it went and got some. Today, the company added 150 daily U.S. newspaper sites to its inventory to push for businesses
and individuals in your neighborhood.
As part of the deal, publishers will use Yahoo’s technology platform
to sell online advertising. They will also adopt Yahoo’s search and
search advertising on the newspaper sites.
Publishers will also have the option to distribute content in areas,
such as Yahoo Search results, Yahoo News and other content verticals.
According to a statement, Yahoo will partner with a consortium of
newspaper sites to provide search, graphical and classified advertising.
Members of the newly formed consortium include Belo; Cox Newspapers;
Hearst Newspapers; Journal Register Company; Lee Enterprises;
MediaNews Group; and The E.W. Scripps Company.
Dailies include the San Francisco Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Houston Chronicle, Denver Post,
Rocky Mountain News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, San Jose Mercury-News,
New Haven Register and the Commercial Appeal (Memphis).
The first element of the partnership to be implemented will allow advertisers that list jobs in any of the consortium’s newspapers the to also post their jobs on Yahoo HotJobs and throughout the Yahoo network.
And that’s what makes the deal a big one for newspapers, Peter
Zollman, founding principal consulting company Classified Intelligence, told internetnews.com.
According to Zollman, the deal allows newspapers
to protect and expand recruitment advertising by allowing newspapers to up-sell their advertisers to Yahoo HotJobs at a premium.
Newspapers have successfully grown their online presence, but have not protected the classifieds revenues that once fueled their business.
Much of it has migrated to sites, such as Google, Craigslist, eBay and now Yahoo. Zollman said this deal could help the venerable newspaper industry
survive.
But Yahoo isn’t in this for charity. Yahoo benefits from the deal
because its gets new local sales forces to push their advertising
product in 38 states, Zollman said.
“It’s difficult for any dot-com to reach local advertisers without a
local sales force,” Zollman said.
And there’s evidence to support Zollman’s claim even on a Yahoo
rival’s homepage.
According to Google’s site, it has over 150 job openings in advertising sales across the country.
Perhaps Google recruiters should try placing an ad in a local paper.
There’s another 150 papers out there today that will help them get their ads on
the Internet, too.
