Members of the Old Media, particularly, newspapers are banding together to target online advertising. This is perhaps born out of a realization of the increasing role of Web 2.0 in the advertising world or perhaps because of decreasing sales and ad exposures.

QuadrantONE was conceptualized and joined by four companies—Tribune, Gannett, Hearst, and The New York Times. This company is based in Chicago and will initially employ less than twenty people. Ad space will be sold in local papers such as the LA Times, Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle and Des Moines Register among others. If the paper is not local, it will not be included in the deal. As such, big league names such as USA Today, International Herald Tribune, and New York Times are excluded from this deal. 

The newspaper companies will still control the management and the sales of advertisements although the advertisements will feature ad buys. Perhaps we are seeing a showdown between the Old Media and the New. Apparently, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo among others are now targeting mainstream media sites for their advertisements and the Old media guys are being threatened by this move.  With quadrantONE, 50 million unique visitors are expected monthly.

Tags: Web 2.0No Comments