Yahoo! Considers Classifieds Deal with Newspaper Co.’s
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Written By Reprise Media | July 14, 2006 | Share This
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Hearst Newspapers and MediaNews Group, representing a “loose consortium” of print news outfits (they make the funny folded-over papers with the ink on them), are leading discussions with Yahoo! about the possibility of a partnership involving “online classifieds, local news, and content packages based on general themes, like travel,” reports BusinessWeek.
The papers would help build a network centered on Yahoo!’s HotJobs site. HotJobs would benefit from more traffic, and the papers hope to “guarantee better distribution” in a “more search-centric world,” according one executive engaged in the talks. It could also lead to the papers sharing a slice of revenue earned from “ads sold around search results of their content.”
Yahoo! isn’t the only web entity in the papers’ sights, though; the coalition is also talking to Monster.com and CareerBuilder, which already has old media connections by virtue of its ownership: Gannett, Tribune and Knight-Ridder founded the site.
Going after the money in online classifieds seems to be a short term goal for the papers, described by the executive quoted before as “quick cash;” the long-term game involves monetizing the news. One newspaper rep even brought up the possible eventuality of micropayments for certain web newspaper content, a revenue model that has, in the past, met with a success rate very close to “zero.” Still, the willingness on the part of papers to discuss partnerships with an engine (rather than fuming about “stolen” content in search results) is a definite step forward.
Topics: Yahoo! |