Yahoo expands newspaper ad partners with McClatchy

New York, Apr 17: Yahoo Inc. said on Monday it has expanded an online advertising partnership with US newspapers including McClatchy Co, while two of the largest publishers opted to stay out of the deal.

Newspapers hope the partnership will allow them to gain more revenue from their Internet advertising because it reaches a wider audience through a network of newspaper sites that also includes Belo Corp, EW Scripps Co, Journal Register Co and Lee Enterprises.

The deal does not include Tribune Co. and Gannett Co, which publish some of the largest newspapers in the country, including the Los Angeles Times and USA Today.

Yahoo would get a stronger foothold in the market for local Internet advertising and create closer ties with the newspaper industry to fend off heightened competition by Web search leader Google Inc.

Newspapers are anxious to capitalize on Internet opportunities as their paid print circulation declines and advertising sales slow because of competition from other media, primarily television and the Internet.

''You have to think where we were prior to the creation of the consortium,'' Belo Chief Executive Robert Decherd told Reuters in an interview. ''We had 12 companies, more or less pursuing the same kinds of objectives, each with its own strategy and each with its own technology.'' The Yahoo partnership, formed in November, consists of more than 264 newspapers in 44 states, including the Miami Herald and Hearst Corp.'s San Francisco Chronicle. It will use Yahoo's technology for graphical advertising across the related newspaper Internet sites.

Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

The expanded agreement also integrates Yahoo's paid search technology on the Web sites, which together cite more than 50 million users on a monthly basis.

''Our members recognize this plan delivers significant benefits to our advertisers and readers, starting almost at once,'' McClatchy Chief Executive Gary Pruitt said in a statement. ''We expect other newspaper companies will be joining in the near future.'' Yahoo's network of Web sites will be able to tap the newspaper consortium for local news, sports, finance and other information to place online.

GANNETT, TRIBUNE STICK TOGETHER

The Tribune and Gannett said they would continue working with each other on a network of their own, which until recently included McClatchy.

Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune own stakes in online jobs site Careerbuilder.com and local search forum Topix.com.

Gannett's and Tribune's Web sites had about 37 million unique monthly visitors in March, Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell said.

''Gannett continues to talk with multiple parties about an ad network and how it should be constituted, focusing on issues of governance, context and exclusivity,'' Connell said. ''These are issues that we believe have not been satisfactorily resolved in the agreements currently under discussion.'' The companies want a network that allows all sites ''to participate on an equal footing regardless of ad serving technology and independent of other deals, partnerships or networks,'' Tribune spokesman Gary Weitman.

All of the papers in the Yahoo consortium will use Yahoo's technology exclusively to deliver ads on their sites. For some, that means ending relationships with other current partners, Belo's Decherd said.

Yahoo shares rose 14 cents to 31.55 dollars in early afternoon trading on the Nasdaq stock market. McClatchy fell 7 cents to 31.39 dollars on the New York Stock Exchange.

REUTERS