Gannett, McClatchy, Tribune prep ad network

Cory Bergman January 10th, 2007

The three newspaper/media companies are planning to create an an online advertising network called the “Open Network,” reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req). The move is likely in response to Yahoo’s recent deal to team up with seven other newspaper companies to gain scale. Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune (GMT, as they’re called) are likely to contribute 10 percent of their ad inventory to the Open Network in a bid to lure larger advertisers, but a source close to the matter says it’s still not a done deal. “Traditionally print newspaper companies have not worked well together to sell national ads in print,” says Jack Williams, president of Gannett Digital. “We intend to sell Internet advertising differently.” Meanwhile, Lincoln Millstein, SVP at Hearst Newspapers, said he hopes GMT will join the Yahoo consortium instead of striking out on their own. “We’re all struggling to get our fair share of national advertising revenues, and this partnership with Yahoo would go a long way toward achieving that goal,” he said. WSJ’s story does not answer the question whether Gannett and Tribune’s TV sites will be involved in the Open Network. (Full disclosure: I work for KING-TV, owned by Belo, which recently partnered with Yahoo for its newspaper sites.)