Beginning with the flagship Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, Media General’s newspapers and other local media brands will partner with the online daily deal pioneer Groupon to provide exclusive deals and provide a locally branded platform, the company said Monday.
The Groupon platform will launch this week in Richmond, and will be in six additional markets by the end of the year. The Times-Dispatch deal site is called the “Richmond Daily Deal.”
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/shopping-deals/richmond-daily-deal/
Media General has been busy in the transaction space for some time. Its biggest paper, the Tampa Tribune, since this June has had its own version of a daily deal that targets local restaurants, retailers, services and events. The Tampa program shares revenues with advertisers based on consumer redemptions of an offer. Media General also owns Dealtaker.com, a coupon and shopping website, which it says partners with over 2,000 retailers and features discounts on 15 million products and services from national retailers. Media General is compensated as a percentage of actual sales transactions.
“Media General has achieved success over the past few years connecting buyers and sellers with deals and coupons in the digital world and sharing revenues based on a transaction. We are pleased to add Groupon-powered deals to our portfolio of new digital advertising services,” Media General President and CEO Marshall N. Morton said in a statement. “For Media General, offering deeply discounted buying opportunities is another way to attract audience to our local media websites and create a new revenue stream.”
With the Groupon platform, consumers are alerted to deals by an opt-in email alert or through social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The deals require a minimum number of participants to become active, encourages consumers to share the promotion with others through social media, further heightening awareness of the advertiser’s offer.
In the Media General partnership, the Richmond Website and others will get an exclusive daily deal from Groupon, with Groupon salespeople negotiating the deal with local advertisers and Groupon providing the creative for each day’s deal. Media General will handle the email alerts.
Groupon also provides daily deals and discounts under its own name in more than 200 markets around the world.
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