Tribune, Gannett, Hearst and The New York Times Join Forces to Create QuadrantOne

Implications: Four big newspaper players have created a new company to sell online advertising to national advertisers.  QuadrantOne will have dedicated inventory on 175 newspaper and TV web sites, reaching 50 million unique users in 27 of the top 30 markets.

Analysis: The launch of QuadrantOne this April will give advertisers a new way to reach the “premium” users of quality local news sites.  

The idea makes sense.  

QuadrantOne offers advertisers a one-stop shopping option to place ads on newspaper and TV websites around the country.

Importantly, advertisers will be guaranteed premium inventory on the branded new sites, something The Wall Street Journal noted wasn’t guaranteed through the Yahoo newspaper partnership.  (I didn’t link to that article as it’s behind the subscription wall!)

“National” newspapers like NYT and USA Today are not included, but it seems that the QuadrantOne will let advertisers cherry-pick from some high-quality sites including Tribune’s ChicagoTribune, NYT’s Boston Globe and Hearst’s San Francisco Chronicle.

And another good sign: Interim CEO Dana Hayes tells Mediaweek that: “quadrantONE’s technology partner, which he would not identify, would let advertisers buy based on content, context and behavioral targeting.”

So what’s wrong with this picture?

Maybe nothing.  But as of now, QuadrantOne’s bare bones website at www.quadrantone.com isn’t likely to impress potential advertisers.  

And it could be taken as a bad sign that all 175 of these local players have “premium, above-the-fold” inventory they can throw into the pot.  This fact alone indicates that -- on both the local and the corporate level -- the four companies involved have not done a good enough job selling their “premium” online inventory against the likes of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL.

But looking at the bright side…

As a stand-alone entity, QuadrantOne, if done right, should boost online revenues to the four partner companies.  This will be especially good news to the smaller sites that aren’t currently monetizing their online eyeballs as well as they could be.

QuadrantOne could also serve as a breeding ground for the online sales talent that these four newspaper companies desperately need going forward.

Because right now, recruiting good online sales talent remains a major challenge for newspapers.