The adget in action

As print subscriptions dwindle, an ad product — targeted at struggling local papers — has appeared on the market to help drive transitions to the web.

Adget is a cost-per-action ad format available to newspapers via NewspaperDirect's SmartEdition, a technology for digital news editions.

Adget supports audio and video and also offers a "click to transact" button. For example, a local restaurant could accept reservations, or a car dealer could invite test drive sign-ups at a time and location convenient to the reader.

SmartEdition brings a sense of tangibility to the online paper, a cross between a text reader (a la Adobe Acrobat) and an online newspaper.

Though it hasn't caught on in the US, CanWest Mediaworks, Canada's largest newspaper publisher, is on board with both SmartEdition and Adget.

In total, NewspaperDirect works with 590 papers in 75 countries.