Tag: Gannett

How Gannett Increased Their Programmatic Ad eCPMs By 15%

Tim Wolfe, VP of Revenue Operations for Gannett recently talked about Gannett’s success in using Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers First Look product which was announced last year but only made available to all DoubleClick for Publishers clients in April.

“Gannett has historically and traditionally been a newspaper business. We like to think of ourselves as a full-fledged media company at this point,” stated Wolfe. “What’s unique about Gannett is that we have a national to local reach. We’ve got over 90 local markets across the country as well as our flagship brand USA Today.”

Wolfe added, “Some of the challenges we face selling our audiences programmatically is that we have had a lot of demand for a very specific subset of our audience. Gannett leverages DoubleClick for Publishers First Look across the network to increase yield by allowing some of our preferred advertisers and preferred relationships to engage with the top 1% of our audiences.”

“Once we started to understand the impact across that 1% we’ve really started to evaluate what our pricing strategy was and needed to be,” said Wolfe. “We at Gannett are pulling in all of the data from all of our different sources into a centralized data depository. From there we’re making the decisions around what pricing we want to set.”

Wolfe added details:

As part of the transparency that the Google Ad Exchange provides us we’re able to look into the Open Exchange details as well as the Private Exchange details and better understand who’s winning with high frequency across our audiences. We want to monazite all of our inventory and all of our audiences to the greatest extent that we can. Introducing First Look as well as Enhanced Dynamic Allocation and a lot of the other products and suites that Google has offered us has been tremendously helpful.

First Look has been a great compliment to our monetization and to our ad stat. Since implementing First Look we’ve seen a 15% lift in eCPM’s of our programmatic channel vehicle. As we look to the next 5 years we anticipate programatic to be a driver and a leader of monetization across the entire digital ecosystem including desktop, mobile and video.

June 13, 2016
USA Today Founder Al Neuharth Dies

Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today and former chairman of Gannett died on Friday, reportedly after falling. He died in his home in Cocoa Beach, Florida at the age of 89.

USA Today has compiled a round-up of reactions to his death. Among these are comments from Gannett CEO Gracia Martore, Tom Brokaw and Larry King.

Martore said, “This is a great loss for all of us. Al was many things — a journalist, a leader, a serial entrepreneur, and a pioneer in advancing opportunities for women and minorities. But above all, he was an innovator with a unique sense of the public taste. The single greatest marker of those qualities is USA TODAY — built, as he said, to be a reader’s newspaper. That principle continues to guide our journalism today. I will miss his counsel, and I will miss the man. But as with all great people, what Al built will live on.”

“To the end of his life, he was a contrarian in how he tweaked the journalistic establishment, dressed in his flamboyant wardrobe,” said Brokaw. “Al often said (his early failure with a South Dakota sports newspaper) was a humbling and instructive experience, which he didn’t forget as he moved up the executive chain at Gannett and became a newspaper baron. It was a wonderful American life, from a poor family on the Great Plains to the infantry in World War II to the heights of American journalism.”

Read the article for the rest.

Neuharth was from South Dakota, where he co-founded a local sports newspaper early in his career. The paper went bankrupt within a year, but after that, he went on to the Miami Herald, climbed the ranks, and eventually went to the Detroit Free Press before later buying Gannett. He founded USA Today in 1982.

Image: USA Today

April 22, 2013
Dish Network Avoids Losing Gannett Channels

While terms were not disclosed, Dish Network and Gannett were able to reach an agreement to keep Dish from losing Gannett channels, including ABC, CBS and NBC-affiliated stations in 19 cities. The two companies had a deal in place that expired at midnight on Sunday, but the two were able to reach an agreement on Monday.

Dish Network issued the following statement regarding the situation: “We can confirm that DISH Network and Gannett have reached a long-term agreement regarding DISH Network’s continued retransmission of Gannett’s Stations.”

Gannett issues a similar statement, simply saying, “Gannett and DISH Network have reached an agreement regarding DISH Network’s continued retransmission of Gannett stations.”

The Wall Street Journal reports:

While TV networks and distributors frequently bicker over affiliate fees, the negotiations between Gannett and Dish were complicated by Auto Hop, a feature that Dish introduced in May on its latest digital video recorder. The feature, which makes it easier for Dish subscribers to skip commercials, has sparked protest from broadcasters worried that the service will make their content less valuable to advertisers.

Gannett said it had sought a “fair, market-based deal” with increased rates to help offset lost advertising revenue because of Auto Hop. Dish, meanwhile, said Gannett had asked for a 300% rate increase, even though its own offer was “more than 200% above current rates,” and in line with its “closest direct competitor.”

Losing Gannett channels could have been devastating for Dish Network, who has already upset a number of subscribers by losing AMC, which airs such popular shows as Breaking Bad, Mad Men and The Walking Dead, which is getting ready to begin its highly anticipated third season.

AMC, meanwhile, is taking every chance it can to remind fans that Dish does not carry AMC, suggesting that they change providers ahead of the upcoming Walking Dead season. AMC is even going so far as to offer the first episode of the season for free in an online stream for Dish Network customers.

October 9, 2012
Gannett Print Revenue Down, Digital Up

Gannett, publisher of USA Today and a number of other newspapers, reported its Q4 earnings today, missing analysts’ estimates.

The company’s publishing segment operating revenue was down 5.3% year-over-year to $1.01 billion for the quarter. Ad revenues were $670.7 million in the quarter compared to $722.3 million in the fourth quarter last year.

Digital revenues in the Publishing segment, however, were up 6.9% in the quarter.

Here’s the part of the report that pertains to Gannett’s digital business:

Digital segment operating revenues were 9.4 percent higher in the quarter and totaled $181.5 million due primarily to strong revenue growth at CareerBuilder. Digital Segment operating expenses increased 10.6 percent to $142.8 million reflecting significantly higher sales incentive and bonus costs associated with higher revenue levels for CareerBuilder. Due to substantially higher year-over-year revenue as the quarter progressed, a significant number of sales personnel exceeded their annual sales goals very late in the quarter, and were therefore entitled to incremental commissions and bonuses. There were also incremental costs for new initiatives and new product development by PointRoll and ShopLocal. These incremental costs for CareerBuilder, PointRoll and ShopLocal together totaled approximately $9 million for the quarter. Digital segment operating income was 5.3 percent higher on a reported basis and was up 2.5 percent on a non-GAAP basis. Operating cash flow was $46.6 million, an increase of 3.2 percent.

Digital revenues company-wide, including the Digital segment and all digital revenues generated by the other business segments, totaled $290.3 million, an increase of 6.5 percent. Digital revenues for the 2011 fiscal year were up 10.1 percent and totaled $1.1 billion, about 21 percent of total operating revenues. At the end of the quarter, Gannett had about 120 domestic web sites affiliated with its local publishing and television markets, USA TODAY, Gannett Government Media and Gannett Healthcare Group.

USATODAY.com is one of the most popular newspaper sites on the Web and the USA TODAY app is now a top news app with more than 11 million downloads including those across iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows. In December, Gannett’s consolidated domestic Internet audience share was 50.8 million unique visitors reaching 23.0 percent of the Internet audience, according to Comscore Media Metrix. Newsquest is also an Internet leader in the UK where its network of web sites attracted 66.3 million monthly page impressions from approximately 8.7 million unique users in December 2011. CareerBuilder’s unique visitors in the fourth quarter averaged 21.2 million.

January 30, 2012
Yahoo-Gannett Partnership: New Opportunities for Local Advertisers

Local advertising is about to change in several markets as a result of the extended partnership between Yahoo and Gannett. The companies have been partners for a little over a year but recently decided to extend their partnership to include all 81 Gannett print publications in the U.S. except for USA Today and all 19 of the company’s broadcast stations.

The local advertising market is growing as the value of digital increases for local businesses. Lem Lloyd, the VP of North America Channel Sales at Yahoo, told us that because local advertisers are trying to make their ad dollars work smarter for them, they are shifting their spend from traditional advertising to digital.

“Their audiences are already online spending most of their time online, and they’re trying to match their ad spend with the amount of time that folks are spending now on the Web,” he said.

Through the expanded partnership, local advertisers will have more digital opportunities. They will be able to take advantage of Yahoo’s targeting capabilities as well as the company’s large inventory.

“If you’re a local business in one of Gannett’s markets… when you talk with your sales rep at the station, now they’ll be able to offer you access to all the 100s of 1,000,000s of users that are on Yahoo,” said Lloyd.

As local advertisers, how can you see this partnership benefiting your business? Let us know.

For Yahoo, the extended partnership will bring in advertisers that would not have previously been possible. This means that Yahoo’s reach will expand even further while also bringing in more revenue for the company.

“It’s a fabulous opportunity for us to get more demand from these 1,000s and 1,000,000s of local businesses across the United States,” Lloyd pointed out.

He went on to say that the companies hoped their expanded agreement would have the same success that their previous one has had. Yahoo is also excited to see what opportunities their new advertisers will bring.

“We hope to see lots of new types of advertisers on Yahoo that we weren’t seeing before,” said Lloyd.

The companies are expecting this expansion to be fully integrated into all of Gannett’s broadcast markets by February 2012.

September 6, 2011
Yahoo and Gannett Expand Local Ad Partnership

Yahoo and Gannett are expanding upon their already successful local advertising partnership. The expansion will be pushed to all 19 of Gannett Broadcasting Division markets by February.

Local advertisers will have access to Yahoo inventory and targeting capabilities.

“The agreement further brings together Gannett’s powerful local media organization brands, sales solutions, and leading digital platforms with Yahoo’s market leading reach and display advertising leadership,” a spokesperson tells WebProNews.

“We’re focused on delivering strong results for our customers through unique marketing ideas and solutions,” said Dave Lougee, president of Gannett Broadcasting. “Gannett’s local advertising partnership with Yahoo! provides dynamic targeting based on geography, demographics, behaviors and interests, which enhances our ability to drive those results. Based on the success we have had to date in nine of our markets, we are expanding the Gannett Broadcasting and Yahoo! partnership to all 19 of our markets by early next year.”

“Yahoo! is committed to making sure local businesses reach high-quality target audiences,” said Lem Lloyd, Yahoo!’s vice president of North America channel sales. “By expanding our relationship with Gannett, we’re reinforcing our commitment to extend Yahoo!’s local offering, providing advertisers access to the technology and scale they need to effectively reach these audiences.”

In addition to nine of Gannett’s Broadcasting Division markets, all 81 of Gannett’s local publishing organizations offer Yahoo advertising. The publisher says its local media organizations typically reach 80% or more of the total digital audience in each of the markets that offer the Yahoo advertising partnership.

August 31, 2011
Yahoo And Gannett In Local Advertising Deal

Yahoo and Gannett have entered into a local advertising partnership under which all of Gannett’s 81 newspaper sites and seven of its broadcast sites will sell Yahoo advertising.

The partnership expands Yahoo’s Newspaper Consortium which includes more than 800 newspapers and has sold more than 40,000 local ad campaigns.

"Local advertising continues to be an important area of focus for us, and Yahoo is committed to helping local businesses reach high quality target audiences," said Hilary Schneider, executive vice president, Yahoo Americas.

"This partnership significantly expands our local offering and gives advertisers the technology and scale they need to reach online consumers."

As part of the deal, Gannett may also provide local content on Yahoo sites in the U. S., including the Yahoo homepage. A phased rollout will begin this quarter and will stretch into 2011.

"This partnership builds on the strength of Gannett’s growing digital business and powerful local brands," says Gracia Martore, president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Gannett.

"Working with Yahoo will allow us to offer targeted advertising messages with unmatched local audience reach."

Gannett’s properties include CareerBuilder, USA Today, and more than 80 local MomsLikeMe sites.

July 16, 2010