Newspapers, Yahoo deal biggest yet
Cory Bergman November 20th, 2006
After listening in on the conference call, it’s clear this partnership between Yahoo and seven newspaper companies is bigger than first reported. Called a “deep strategic partnership” with “major commitments” over multiple years, the deal involves unprecedented collaboration between traditional media and a portal. The motivation for Yahoo is clear: “We believe the local segment is largely untapped,” said Yahoo CEO Terry Semel. The ability for Yahoo to expand its advertising (search, graphical and classifieds) into the local market is a huge boost. Not to mention, the value of pulling in more branded local content. The motivation for newspapers: expose newspaper content, classifieds and advertising to a larger, younger audience — and dramatically speed up product development with Yahoo technology.
“The world is changing rapidly,” said William Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews, when asked why he’s partnering with Yahoo. “We think going it alone will just take too long, and we think we can get there much faster doing it this way.” This is a key admission. Local media companies have been struggling online, especially in technology and local search (35 percent of all searches are local), and technology heavyweights as well as hundreds of startups are making a serious run at local. Can local media companies, standing on their own, succeed without a major partner? The newspaper consortium above chose to partner with one of the heavyweights. It will be interesting how this will put pressure on local TV sites to speed new products to market, expand distribution and get scale in advertising. (Disclosure: I work for a Belo TV station.)
6 Comments Add your own
1. Jay Small | November 20th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
Cory, you know I love Lost Remote, but I had to chuckle at the likely outcome of your mixed metaphor:
If it’s “sink or swim” time and we’re going with “one of the heavyweights,” won’t that make swimming really hard?
2. Cory | November 20th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Good point, fixed, thank you.
What does anyone think about this landmark deal?
3. thedetroitchannel | November 20th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
the thought of a local paper teaming with a local tv station under the brandname.com of the tv station leaves one to wonder.
4. Jay Small | November 20th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
Where does that thought come from, thedetroitchannel?
5. Rob | November 21st, 2006 at 1:06 am
For Belo, it makes sense to find a way to further extend their reach online and this sounds like a heck of a deal for DMN and I assume - though it doesn’t say it - ProJo and P-E, among other Belo-owned papers.
However, my question is why were the television properties kept out of the deal on Belo’s end? What they lack in local text-based content they make up for in video on demand.
Not that I mind Belo’s TV stations not being part of the deal (Disclosure: I used to work for a Belo TV station.), but it just doesn’t make sense to cut in only a fraction of your online content platforms in on such a wide-ranging deal.
Sure its an intriguing deal that may prove to be a solution for shrinking subscriptions and a fall-off in the classified market at DMN, but what’s the upside revenue-wise for Belo in Seattle?
6. Liey | January 18th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Wow, thanks for the excellent information!
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