CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2008 ― Four of the country’s leading media companies today announced the creation of quadrantONE, a new online sales organization focused on premium advertisers seeking high-quality audiences and national reach. Investors in the new network include Tribune Company, Gannett Co., Inc., Hearst Corporation and The New York Times Company.
“By aggregating the online audiences of quadrantONE’s participating media companies, large national advertisers can immediately access tens of millions of unique visitors in the country’s top markets,” said Dana Hayes, Interim CEO, quadrantONE, and senior vice president for sales of Tribune Interactive. “Each participating company has agreed to dedicate advertising inventory to quadrantONE, so the network can offer customized online campaigns on a highly competitive basis. Imagine placing the same ad across hundreds of local Web sites on the same day with one buy—that’s the power of this network.”
The network has a reach of nearly 50 million monthly unique visitors [Source: Nielsen Online, Dec. 2007] and covers 27 out of the top 30 markets. quadrantONE will, for the first time, offer advertisers the capability to consistently deliver their brands and messages on a national scale through advertising with the well-established and trusted online newspaper and broadcasting sites of the participating media companies.
“For the first time, the media industry will be able to compete effectively for advertising dollars currently going to the national portals and others,” said Jack Williams, president of Gannett Digital Ventures. “quadrantONE’s audience is of the highest quality. By networking our Web sites, we have delivered – in one stroke – the reach and scope desired by national advertisers.”
The network will cover the nation’s top markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, Detroit, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Cincinnati, Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Orlando, San Antonio, Sarasota, Ft. Lauderdale, San Jose and Albany, N.Y. A full list of participating Web sites is available at www.quadrantONE.com.
Chris Boothe, president/chief activation officer at Starcom USA, said: “When faced with a growing number of fragmented ad media options, particularly on the Web, advertisers are looking for new opportunities and innovative models providing a valuable, measurable consumer experience. quadrantONE steps up to the challenge of the new media future, and on behalf of our advertisers, we appreciate that it provides hyperlocalized opportunities for brand impact that resonate with targeted audiences.”
Starcom handles media planning and buying for some of the world’s biggest brands.
“With the rapid expansion of online inventory, advertisers we talk with are seeking trusted alternatives,” added Steven Ainsley, publisher of The Boston Globe. “Guaranteed placements within quality branded environments, coupled with the ease of a one-order, one-invoice approach to a national buy, makes for a very competitive proposition.”
Lincoln Millstein, senior vice president for digital media at Hearst Newspapers, said, “We now have the ability to offer advertisers the aggregated inventory of our prized content categories such as health, business news, technology, sports, personal finance and auto news. That’s never been possible before.”
In addition to the four owner companies, quadrantONE is open to any affiliate companies that wish to participate.
About Tribune Company
Tribune is America’s largest employee-owned media company, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. In publishing, Tribune’s leading daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.), The Sun (Baltimore), South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel and Hartford Courant. The company’s broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, Superstation WGN on national cable, Chicago’s WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Popular news and information Web sites complement Tribune’s print and broadcast properties and extend the company’s nationwide audience.
About Gannett Co., Inc.
Gannett (NYSE: GCI) 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 1,000 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 nearly 300 titles, including 18 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-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.
About Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) is one of the nation’s largest diversified media companies. Its major interests include ownership of 12 daily and 31 weekly newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle and Albany Times Union; as well as interests in an additional 47 daily and 38 non-daily newspapers owned by MediaNews Group which include the Denver Post and Salt Lake Tribune; nearly 200 magazines around the world, including Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine; 29 television stations through Hearst-Argyle Television (NYSE:HTV) which reach a combined 18% of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, The History Channel and ESPN; as well as business publishing, including a joint venture interest in Fitch Ratings; Internet businesses, television production, newspaper features distribution and real estate.
About The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2007 revenues of $3.2 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers, WQXR-FM and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.
