By: Karim Mostafa Papers Get National Distribution Channel
National content providers like MSNBC.com have always struggled for
more local content. Now the Seattle-based national news site has
partnered with hometown Pioneer Newspapers, the first of several local
content partnerships MSNBC.com expects to announce during the next
month.
MSNBC.com already has NBC affiliate TV stations as part of its local
affiliate program, but Pioneer Newspapers - with titles in
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Utah - is the first print
newspaper company to join the local affiliate program. The
Washington Post, which partnered with MSNBC.com in 1999, is
considered a national affiliate.
The deal stipulates that each of Pioneer's daily newspapers will post
three stories daily on a co-branded site. Its four weeklies were not
included in the deal. Pioneer's papers will have editorial control and
will post their own stories using XML protocol.
In return, MSNBC.com allows Pioneer's Web sites to use headlines that
link back to MSNBC. Also, advertising revenue generated from the co-
branded pages will be shared.
The partnership is not exclusive, which cinched the deal for David
Lord, Pioneer's president. 'By providing MSNBC with local stories each
day, our Web sites should gain additional traffic through the branded
link without undermining our basic franchise of providing all of the
news and information in our communities,' Lord says.
Pioneer Newspapers is still able to partner with other sites. Lord says
the company is willing to partner with other sites if it drives
traffic. Of its eight online newspapers, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's
site gets the most traffic with 7,000 unique users a day averaging
47,000 hits per day.
'We're adding distribution to local coverage since local exclusivity
hasn't worked for MSNBC,' says Uli Haller, MSNBC.com manager of the
local affiliate program. Haller says removing the exclusive nature of
broadcast affiliate contracts was necessary before approaching print
newspapers. 'The strategic change was more a result of what the Web has
become, than what it was,' Haller says.
Lord says that MSNBC.com is the only major online news operation to
approach Pioneer Newspapers so far. And yet Pioneer seems perfect for
this type of partnership. Its eight daily newspapers have an estimated
total print circulation of 92,000, with only its Mount Vernon, Wash.,
Skagit Valley Herald jumping above 20,000.
MSNBC.com is not alone in its efforts to partner with small local
content providers. CNN.com and Yahoo! have sought partnerships with
newspapers - with mixed success. Yahoo! recently partnered with
Knight Ridder papers and CNN.com is running several stories a day from
newspapers including The Philadelphia Inquirer, Detroit Free
Press, St. Paul Pioneer Press, and Las Vegas Review
Journal.
Haller says MSNBC.com's first goal is to cover the national map with
local content providers. Then the company will look at special interest
groups that fit in with its international strategy, particularly in
Spanish-speaking areas.
'We're in a number of discussions, some with major dailies,' Haller
says. The next few weeks and months will see several deals being
signed, Haller adds.
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