Yahoo launches digital advertising platform for old media; rumoured to have revived AOL talks

Yahoo Inc. has launched an upgraded online advertising platform for publishers.

The system APT, was introduced by Yahoo's chief executive Jerry Yang, which is the much awaited digital advertising platform for publishers. He unveiled the platform at an Ad Week presentation in New York City.

Branding the technology as a game changer, Yang said that the technology attempts to streamline the process of buying display advertising online. He says the platform could help both Yahoo and the ailing newspaper industry make more from selling display ads.

This could well be the first step Yahoo has taken towards rewriting its fortunes, which is already under pressure to enhance revenue growth. Though it once dominated the search ad space, Yahoo is now second to Google Inc. in the search ad market. In the display ad market, competition has eaten into Yahoo's market share, with the emergence of popular social- networking sites such MySpace.

Newspaper publishers have seen their fortunes lose out to the increasing popularity of the internet, as more of their readers go online day-by-day, month-by-month. Consequently, the advertising dollars have followed the eyeballs online.

To make matters worse, print advertising industries such as auto manufacturing and real estate have suffered badly in the recent economic downturns, and have left some publishers fighting for survival as recession looms.

Against this backdrop, the success of APT could make or break the fortunes of the players involved.

Yahoo developed the platform aided by the Newspaper Consortium, a group of newspaper publishers who came together and joined with Yahoo in an effort to better monetize large audiences that their newspapers online.

However, marked by their absence from the group are some of the largest publishing chains in the US,who have some of the biggest chunks of online audiences, including Gannett Co. (GCI), Tribune Co. and New York Times Co. (NYT).

Reports suggest that a number of members of the consortium, including the MediaNews Group, E.W. Scripps Co. (SSP), McClatchy Co. (MNI), Hearst Corp., Media General Inc. (MEG) and A.H. Belo Corp. (AHC), are already using the platform.

Yahoo expects the technology to get several hundred newspapers aboard by the end of the year, and plans to open it up to other advertisers, publishers, networks and agencies in 2009. Company executives say Yahoo's own advertising would only be integrated into the system sometime next year.

Analysts are sceptical of the new platform, saying that its effect on Yahoo's revenues would only be visible in 2010, and though it was an important step for Yahoo, it may not be enough to revive Yahoo's fortunes.

In Talks with AOL

The Financial Times reported that Yahoo could be set to renew talks with Time Warner once again, about a possible buy-out, in a deal that would relocate AOL's Internet business along with some of its media assets over to Yahoo. The report said that no negotiations were in progress as of now.