Since when was it a good idea to hand over your key assets to one of your main rivals?
This is exactly what 176 newspapers in 38 US states are doing. As the New York Times reports:
“A consortium of seven newspaper chains representing 176 daily papers across the country is announcing a broad partnership with Yahoo to share content, advertising and technology, another sign that the wary newspaper business is increasingly willing to shake hands with the technology companies they once saw as a threat.”
The deal is great news for Yahoo. It gets its hands on unique content, local news. But what are the benefits for the consortium of seven newspaper chains involved in the deal? This is less clear.
Yahoo is going to make its provide services such as mapping and search to the newspapers’ websites and let them use its technology to help the papers sell online ads. And advertisers will be able to list in a participating newspaper, HotJobs and across the Yahoo network.
I am not the only one who thinks Yahoo has got the better end of the deal. Mindy McAdams is suitably scathing in her blog:
“Aggregating your content into a big bundle does not build audience. It just makes another big mess that the users can’t navigate efficiently.Giving away your local news. Oh, yeah, brilliant. The only unique thing you’re got, and you’re going to hand it over to people who know how to exploit it — and also cut you out of the equation.”
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