US news titans forge online advertising venture

AFP
18 February, 2008


Four of the biggest US news organizations, including the New York Times Company and Tribune Co, have teamed up to forge a new online advertising venture, the groups announced on Friday.

The new venture called quadrantONE is backed by the Times; Tribune Co., which publishes the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune; USA Today publisher Gannett and the Hearst Corporation, which owns the San Francisco Chronicle.

"By aggregating the online audiences of quadrantONE's participating media companies, large national advertisers can immediately access tens of millions of unique visitors in the country's top markets," quadrantONE's interim chief executive Dana Hayes said in a statement.

The venture hopes to entice "premium advertisers" seeking to reach a broad national audience of potential customers.

QuadrantONE's backers claim the new online network will have a reach of 50 million monthly unique visitors and that it will cover 27 out of 30 of the top markets including major cities and population areas.

Each participating media firm has agreed to dedicate advertising space to quadrantONE, so the forum can "offer customized online campaigns on a highly competitive basis."

"Imagine placing the same ad across hundreds of local Web sites on the same day with one buy, that's the power of this network," Hayes said.

The venture's backers said it would enable the media companies to compete on a national scale with giant online Internet portals such as Google and Yahoo in the competitive quest for lucrative advertising revenues.

The media firms own a stable of properties aside from their flagship publications spanning newspapers, the Internet, radio and television


Source: MyBroadband News

quadrantONE

From their website:

quadrantONE enters the marketplace with a new approach to selling premium online advertising to national brands. This well-funded online startup offers a cohesive national alliance of hundreds of local, credible Web sites. Backed by four of the nation's top media companies, quadrantONE offers exclusive ad inventory (home page, sports, business, entertainment, etc) on premium news and information sites across the nation's top local markets. For the first time, advertisers can consistently deliver their brand and message on a national scale in context with local relevancy in environments they know and that consumers trust.

Key Media Value:

• Total number of unique users: Close to 50 Million*

• Covers 27 of the top 30 DMA markets

• Offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago