A new national newspaper network has been set up by Gannett, Tribune, New York Times Co. and Hearst Newspapers, representing 37 of the Top 40 U.S. Markets.
The network, Quadrant One, will compete (or extend) McClatchy’s RealCities; The NAA’s National Newspaper Network; Centro, which is independently run and includes a wide range of local media; and Yahoo!, which trickles down its display advertisers to its consortium members.
Smaller papers link up via the Suburban Newspaper Network and TownNews’ Dot Connect Media. Other efforts include BlackBox Media, a boutique agency working with a number of mid-tier papers.
QuadrantOne, has apparently been in the works for a year. While its reach is impressive, two of the owners’ premier titles —Gannett’s USA Today and The New York Times’ flagship – are both excluded. As “national” titles, they’d presumably compete for the same advertising.
Mostly, the effort seems like an extension of Tribune’s titles, which has been selling as a national buy for some time. Two executive leaders – Interim CEO Dana Hayes and VP of Sales Donna Stokley – are longtime veterans of Tribune.
BlackBox Media’s David Teitler, a longtime national ad exec for newspapers, is supportive of the national network concept. Media is still too hard to buy. But he is concerned that there aren’t other types of local media companies involved beyond newspapers – “a silo within a silo.”
He also wonders if “there is a strategic objective in place beyond ‘smiling and dialing’ to sell into top agencies. What is the strategic objective in the next three to five years?
“Is it to provide proof that local online media helps marketers achieve their brand and commerce goals better than other media options?” he continues. “What is the inflection point between brand and commerce that local online media can do better than anyone else?”
Peter, small and community papers have spent a lot of time and effort trying to get a similar effort going. They have been sponsoring — extremely liberally, in my opinion — a group called “Paper Chain” for at least 5 years…probably more. Almost all the regional community newspapers associations have participated, as well as the national associations (such as AFCP and IFPA).
The AFCP (Association of Free Community Newspapers) mentions current efforts in this article.
For a group so well-sponsored, you’d expect to see some impressive results. But I haven’t seen a lot. Maybe that’s because I’m sitting on the sidelines. But the Paper Chain website has a rather unfinished quality. You’d think they’d manage to at least include a phone number or email address on their contact page.