NAA buys national ad group

By: Lucia Moses and Joe Nicholson The Newspaper Association of America (naa) approved the purchase, through a subsidiary, of the assets of the Complete Newspaper Network (cnn), the national newspaper advertising placement and processing arm of the California Newspaper Publishers Association (cnpa).
The deal, which was approved by the cnpa and naa boards, is expected to close Oct. 1. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Started in 1992 as a regional California network, cnn enables advertisers to buy space in a number of newspapers with one transaction, saving them the hassle of dealing with many individual papers.
cnn places national and retail ads in about 2,000 daily and weekly newspapers around the United States. It has grown to an annual billing level of $300 million, director Sharla Trillo says.
Since January, cnn has done processing work for the Newspaper National Network, a national ad sales affiliate of the naa that sells ads in categories whose advertisers aren't traditional newspaper ad buyers.
Upon completion of the deal, cnn will become part of the Newspaper Industry Communications Center (nicc), a for-profit subsidiary of the naa that is a $5 million clearinghouse for advertising data. naa plans to begin test-running the operation next month.
nicc was planned in response to advertisers' complaints that multimarket advertising is cumbersome and time-consuming. It is being designed to make it easier and less expensive for advertisers and ad agencies to carry out multimarket newspaper ad buys by electronically linking all parties involved in the buys.
nicc is not designed to replace existing service providers and will not negotiate rates. Rather, it seeks to streamline the existing ad-buying process. nicc will be available to all newspapers, not merely naa's members.
The sale of cnn includes its staff of 46 and the director. An naa spokeswoman says naa president and ceo John F. Sturm regards the staff as the organization's "greatest asset." She says he believes the purchase will create a more efficient system. cnn will remain in Sacramento, where it is based.
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