Still fighting the good fight

Local newspapers are looking to ad networks to maximize display ad sales, reports MediaPost.

Companies like MediaSpace have partnered with local newspapers to sell display ads. MediaSpace takes the papers' sites and organizes them into smaller networks, based on demographic or geographic similarities.

It also conducts cross-media ad sales, placing ads in print editions as well as online.

MediaSpace competes primarily with Centro, which has 3,000 newspaper partnerships to MediaSpace's 4,500.

Both companies enable advertisers to buy display inventory on multiple local newspaper sites. The method helps advertisers reach local audiences, and papers sell inventory that may otherwise have languished.