The Yahoo Newspaper Consortium is seeing new ad dollars coming in, primarily for its behavioral targeted campaigns, which accounts for 90 percent of its business, per Yahoo VP Lem Lloyd. Lloyd oversees the program for Exec VP Hilary Schneider. (Both were featured this weekend in a glowing report in The New York Times, complete with picture).
Lloyd says that newspapers selling Yahoo solutions are seeing a “share shift. They’re taking money from broadcast and outdoor (advertising). Lots of local advertisers are opening up traditional ad spending budgets” and seeking alternatives.
Local advertisers have typically bought certain GRPs (gross rating points) on TV, or outdoor. But with sales down and costs up, “they’re rethinking that,” says Lloyd. “They’re open to a story that combines the local newspaper and Yahoo together.” The consortium offer can “match the audience reach of broadcasters, coupled with “the premium targeting that behavioral campaigns offer.” All for a significant discount.
At this point, most of Lloyd’s assessment is anecdotal and hasn’t been internally quantified. But the word on the street is highly positive – at least, on Yahoo’s street. “Advertisers would be predisposed to say it isn’t working, to get a better deal,” says Lloyd. “But they say: ‘Hey, we sold a lot more cars.’”
He sees more evidence via the high click through rates. Generally speaking, the average click through rate is .34. “But we’re seeing ‘multiples’ of that.”
At the newspaper level, of course, the tallies can definitely be quantified. Among the 50 newspapers that are actively selling the program, “more than ten newspapers have sold more than $1 million. Several sold more than $2 million.” Interestingly, Lloyd says the size of the newspaper in not necessarily an indicator as to how to well the campaign will do.
“We saw a 69,000 circulation paper get $1.8 million in one week,” says Lloyd. “Another paper with a circulation of 33,000 got $350,000. It is more about sales leadership.”
The New York Times photo of Lloyd with Exec VP Hilary Schneider