• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

New National Advertising Network Will Link 1,550 Newspaper Websites From Coast to Coast

Posted on: Monday, 1 May 2006, 18:00 CDT

DotConnect Media combines TownNews.com and ZWire to create a multimedia footprint and connect the dots between national and local, traditional and online

A new national advertising network has been launched with the capacity to provide direct-wired access to more than 1,550 newspaper online sites.

DotConnect Media, an expansion of the former PowerOne Media advertising network by Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE:LEE), uses a network of 1,100 daily and weekly newspapers hosted by its subsidiary TownNews, combined with 450 newspapers formerly hosted by ZWire. TownNews acquired ZWire from PowerOne Media in March.

"This expanded network fills what has been, until now, a significant void," said Gregory P. Schermer, Lee Enterprises vice president for interactive media. "Dot Connect Media is the largest network of its kind in the country and, for the first time, provides a truly national footprint that gives advertisers immediate access to the power of the local marketplace in any scale - nationally, regionally or one market at a time."

DotConnect Media also connects advertisers through existing traditional relationships in virtually every U.S. market in any combination anywhere in the country.

David Teitler, president of DotConnect Media, said the key advantages of the newly expanded 1,550-newspaper network are speed, efficiency and coverage. "We have built active business relationships with nearly every locally based media organization in the country and what we've gained now is the ability to connect many more dots much more quickly, which translates into powerful efficiency for advertisers."

He added: "This is especially true in helping advertisers reach the great expanse of small and midsize markets, through rapidly growing newspaper online sites. Because of little standardization or economies of scale, aggregating these markets in any scalable fashion has been a barrier for national advertisers. Hosting allows us to be the virtual printing press for online newspapers so they can function together as a single site in close to real time."

Another aspect of DotConnect Media's capabilities is to connect the dots between online and newsprint for advertisers. Teitler adds, "The synergies between online and newsprint worlds are significant. Online and newsprint newspapers are the same medium with different delivery systems. Spurred on by the growing ubiquity of broadband, newspapers can, for the first time, incorporate sight, sound and motion into their capabilities. DotConnect Media is as much as a media consultancy as we are a buying service for advertisers."

DotConnect Media has offices in New York City and Albany, New York. For more information about DotConnect Media, please visit www.dotconnectmedia.com.

Lee Enterprises owns 83 percent of TownNews. Lee is a premier publisher of newspapers in midsize markets, with 52 dailies and a joint interest in six others, a rapidly growing online business and more than 300 weekly newspapers and specialty publications in 23 states. Lee's newspapers have circulation of 1.7 million daily and 1.9 million Sunday, reaching more than four million readers daily, and its online sites reach more than two million users. Lee's newspapers include such diverse markets as Napa, Calif.; Bloomington, Ill.; Billings, Mont.; Escondido, Calif.; Madison, Wis.; and St. Louis, Mo. Lee is based in Davenport, Iowa, and its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEE. For more information about Lee Enterprises, please visit www.lee.net.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category