Gannett, Hearst, McClatchy, and Tribune Publishing announced Thursday they are forming a marketing consortium to target emerging digital platforms, according to
The Wall Street Journal.
Called Nucleus Marketing Solutions, the consortium will combine the reach of the four large newspaper chains with 168 million unique visitors on their digital platforms and offer access to 70 percent of consumers in the top 30 U.S. markets, said the Journal.
Seth Rogin, the former chief revenue officer at tech and entertainment news site Mashable, was named Nucleus's first chief executive. According to a
Gannett news release, Rogin "has experience in mission-based media and will bring his well-known digital expertise to launch Nucleus."
"My lifelong passion has been to support journalism that matters by helping brands connect with the most desirable audiences in environments of high integrity," said Rogin, who worked as The New York Times vice president of advertising from 2006 to 2013.
"I'm humbled by the opportunity and eager to bring startup drive to this important enterprise. No longer will advertisers have to choose between trust and scale. Nucleus can provide it all in one simple solution," said Rogin.
The consortium brings together brands of the some of the country's largest and best known newspapers. Gannett owns publications like USA Today and the Detroit Free Press, while Tribune publishing brings on board the Chicago Tribune. Hearst owns the Houston Chronicle and the San Francisco Chronicle. McClatchy owns newspapers like the Miami Herald and Kansas City Star.
"While the details and business point are not completely clear, this appears to be an industry answer to programmatic buying, which keeps growing in popularity with advertisers," according to the journalism nonprofit
Poynter institute. "The twist is that rather than just getting inventory, the buyer gets the quality of a local news audience."
"Nucleus Marketing could be a way to support native advertising, video and even virtual reality advertising – to date typically the domain of the largest newspaper companies like The New York Times or digital native sites like Vox and Buzzfeed."
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