This Should Not Slip Through the Radar – Community Newspaper Chains Have Teamed Up To Offer National Advertising Network, Something National Advertisers Have Always Craved

“Right now, our segment of the newspaper industry is somewhat fragmented and complicated to buy. The network will remove that barrier and open up a new option for national advertisers looking for an alternative to metro newspapers,” said Susan Karol, executive director of Suburban Newspapers of America.

“Individual community newspapers have not always been able to attract national advertisers on their own, as these advertisers are typically looking for broader reach. Being part of a vast network will enable these newspapers and their web sites to receive national ad placements that they might not have gotten on their own,” Karol said.

Newspaper broker Larry Grimes, who concentrates on community newspaper sales, agrees. “This is a strong step forward in helping make it easier for national advertisers to place ads as a network, rather than selected market buy. It may also set the stage for the establishment of a national online buy allowing the papers to be positioned similarly to the Googles and Yahoos of the world. And it allows the newspapers to be positioned as a national entity rather than on their own when comparing readership and online visits to the broad numbers posted by the online search giants,” he told ftm in an email exchange.

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And he believes this can be a really big deal for weekly newspapers. “This is a bold step forward for weekly newspaper publisher American Community Newspapers (ACN) as it placed the chain’s papers on a completely level playing field with the dailies – something many weeklies have always deserved due to their strong household penetration. And it positions ACN and its daily partner weekly newspapers in the unique position to capture national ads they have never been considered for before,” Grimes said.

SNA, which represents more than 2000 daily and weekly suburban and community newspapers, says that it hopes more of its members will join the network, with an invitation extended to June 30. As the network now stands if offers national advertisers access to such chains as GatehHouse Media, Schurz Communications, and the Sun-Times Media Group.

Advertisers have been increasingly looking at community newspapers over the past years but advertising agencies have not been keen to go to the effort of placing ads one-by-one. A network approach seems the “not rocket science” solution.

“Media buyers have been telling us for years that our industry (community newspapers) is difficult to buy,” said Nancy Lane, SNA president. “Now we are removing that barrier. This alliance marks the first time that the community newspaper industry has collaborated on a project of this significance. We are thrilled to be able to offer national advertisers a simple way to reach their target customers in communities across North America and to aid community newspapers in gaining national advertising in their products.”

The network will concentrate of getting national ad placements from such sectors as travel, telecommunications, automotive, financial, insurance, politics and the like, and not just for print but also their online sites.

Jack Robb, vice president for sales and marketing for Community Newspaper Holdings (CNH), believes his group of 94 daily newspapers and 50 non-dailies will really benefit. “This is a significant breakthrough when you consider that community and suburban newspaper markets have some of the best demographics in the country. It is not unexpected, however, because they represent the growth segment of our industry. National and regional advertisers want to reach readers of local papers that are built on proprietary community news content – and now they have a simple way to do that.”

It’s an example of how as the woes of the big metropolitan newspaper continue with falling circulations that advertisers are looking for new means of reaching the local readership.

Just last month Joanna O’Connell, Senior Media Planner with Avenue A/Razorfish (representing industry giants such as Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Ford and Disney) told attendees at SNA’s interactive conference that national advertisers are looking for standardization with pricing, sizes and video opportunities. She strongly recommended that online publishers partner with an advertising network to open up targeting opportunities that smaller sites cannot provide on their own.

"We are excited about the formation of this network," said Kirk Davis, president of GateHouse Media New England. "There's considerable interest from national advertisers in using community newspapers to reach consumers. This network will provide the scale, affordability and flexibility they need." According to the Q1 report by Nielsen Monitor-Plus, local newspaper advertising was down 6.6% over the same period last year, so this SNA initiative does not come any too soon.

And with metropolitan newspapers such as Tribune’s, for instance, reporting an 8.2% drop in its Q1 national advertising the big question is whether the SNA initiative is going to hit those metropolitan newspapers even harder. If nothing else it’s a wakeup call to those metropolitan newspaper chains to really get their national advertising act together. It’s not just the internet they need fear.