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NNA partnership could generate new revenue for your newspaper's web site
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COLUMBIA, MO-The National Newspaper Association has partnered with DotConnect Media, the national advertising division of TownNews.com, to help meet the needs of member newspapers to earn more revenue from online advertising.
This network will allow newspapers to realize revenue immediately with no up-front cost.
By being part of a nationwide network, each participating newspaper benefits from the sales efforts of DCM, the numerous press associations that have partnered with DotConnect and every other newspaper in the network. All of these "feet on the street" are encouraging national and regional advertisers to use this network of web sites to reach target markets.
Participating newspapers allocate anywhere from 10 percent to 100 percent of their unsold inventory to the network. DotConnect's remnant program guarantees revenue to all participating newspapers.
Whenever a "full price" ad is not sold, DotConnect fills the spot with a remnant ad. Although the rate is lower, it guarantees revenue to the participating newspapers.
There is no initial up-front cost to participate in the network. Newspapers are encouraged to offer the three standard sizes recommended by the Internet Advertising Bureau on their sites.
The sizes (in pixels) are 728 x 90, 300 x 250 and 160 x 600. Many newspapers already offer one or more of these sizes. A participating newspaper will not need to offer all three. However, advertisers will request specific sizes and only those papers with the requested size available will receive the advertising. A newspaper's web site does not have to be hosted by TownNews; any newspaper with a web site can participate.
DotConnect Media is owned by TownNews, a subsidiary of Iowa-based Lee Enterprises. With this partnership, NNA and DCM will attempt to sell national advertising onto each participating newspaper's web site with a percentage of the revenue going to the newspaper, a percentage to DCM and a percentage to NNA. This network of newspaper web sites across the country will provide advertisers with high traffic surrounded by local content combined with an ease of purchase that rivals Google and Yahoo!
Only a national network of newspaper web sites can provide that.
For more information, contact Brian Steffens at briansteffens@nna.org or 573-882-4021.
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Gannett cuts dividend by 90%
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Gannett Co., Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend
McLEAN, VA - Gannett Co., Inc.'s (NYSE: GCI) Board of Directors today
declared a quarterly dividend of 4 cents per share, payable on April 1, 2009
to shareholders of record as of the close of business March 6, 2009. This is
a reduction from the first quarter dividend rate of 40 cents per share.
"Today's action by the Board is another prudent response to the
full-fledged recessions in the U.S. and UK and the continuing difficulties in
the credit markets", said Craig A. Dubow, chairman, president and chief
executive officer.
"The reallocation of more than $325 million of free cash flow annually
to pay down debt will further strengthen our balance sheet, provide us with
even more financial flexibility and position us well to continue to seize opportunities
for growth. This dividend represents the 163rd consecutive dividend paid by
the company since 1967."
Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company
that publishes 85 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation's
largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 900 non-daily
publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett
subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom's second largest regional newspaper
company. Newsquest publishes 17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly
newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a network of award-winning
Web sites. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in the United States
and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers
including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.
For media inquiries, contact:
Tara Connell
Vice President of Corporate Communications
(703) 854-6049
tjconnel@gannett.com
For investor inquiries, contact:
Jeffrey Heinz
Director, Investor Relations
(703) 854-6917
jheinz@gannett.com
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Facebook Unveils Revamped Classifieds With Oodle
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by Mark Walsh, Yesterday, 2:38 PM
Facebook has relaunched classified listings through a partnership with Oodle to power the social network's Marketplace feature. The revamped service aims to make classifieds conversational by incorporating the design and functionality of Facebook profile pages into the system.
That means users can post listings in Marketplace as they would status updates, opting to sell, "sell for a cause" (with profits going to charity), give away or ask for something. People are also prompted to say why they are selling something in order to spark a dialogue about the listing, with comments posted on an item's "wall." The listings then show up in friends' news feeds.
Facebook hired Oodle three months ago to run its classified section after the initial version of Marketplace unveiled in May 2007 failed to catch on with members. In an interview with the blog Inside Facebook, Oodle CEO and founder Craig Donato explained that the latest incarnation is tailored to the site.
"We designed the classifieds experience around the way conversation happens in Facebook," he said. "In addition, we have a lot of infrastructure we've been building for the last four years designed to maintain quality control, do fraud and spam detection, auto-categorization of listings, and so on." Oodle also powers classifieds on MySpace and AOL, among hundreds of other sites.
Like Oodle, Facebook Marketplace is free--supported by contextual ads and sponsored listings--and includes no payment system at present. Like Craigslist, which Marketplace will compete with, people will complete transactions offline. And while the service is focused on merchandise to start, an Oodle spokesperson said Wednesday that other categories would be rolled out this spring such as real estate and employment.
In a post on the Facebook's company blog Wednesday, Donato highlighted the "sell for a cause" feature that allows users to donate proceeds from items to the million participating charities in the nonprofit Network for Good. (The organization is also behind Facebook's Causes application introduced last year.)
When someone donates an item to sell for a cause such as UNICEF or the Sierra Club, that fact is promoted in the listing. Since it doesn't handle transactions, Oodle sends the seller an email to enter the payment information and make the donation later.
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Cheers,
Craig McMullin
AFCP
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