Scripps Partners with Yahoo! to Drive Consumers to Local Businesses

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Mar 31, 2011, 09:00 ET

CINCINNATI, March 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses in two major markets will soon benefit from the marketing muscle created by combining the strong local advertising solutions of The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) with the audience and display advertising leadership of Yahoo!

The collaboration adds Yahoo!'s display inventory to the portfolio of products sold by the advertising reps at Scripps television stations. As a result, local advertisers will benefit from expanded digital reach and increased behavioral targeting opportunities that can deliver more meaningful results based on the geography, demographics and interests of potential customers.

Detroit's WXYZ (www.wxyz.com) and Cleveland's WEWS (www.newsnet5.com), news leaders in their respective markets, are the first Scripps stations to participate in the program. The aggregate power of the stations' current Web assets and Yahoo! technology represents a compelling tool for local advertisers who want the unduplicated reach of 98 percent of the Detroit market (or 2,738,000 unique visitors in December 2010, according to comScore) or the Cleveland market (2,212,000 unique visitors).

In addition, the Scripps stations currently provide market-specific content to Yahoo! properties, including the Yahoo! homepage.

"WXYZ and WEWS have long been pioneers that know how to deliver large and engaged audiences," said Brian Lawlor, senior vice president of television, "but the partnership with Yahoo! takes the stations' commitment to the local businesses of Detroit and Cleveland to a significantly higher level. Marrying one of America's oldest media companies with one of the world's savviest new-media brands is great for both organizations, but the real winners are the businesses in Michigan and Ohio who have an effective new way to boost their revenues."

"Yahoo! is committed to ensuring local businesses reach high quality target audiences, and only Yahoo! offers all the elements needed for great advertising today: the science to understand and target an audience, the art to create lasting engagement with consumers through context, and the scale to reach the right person in the right setting in meaningful numbers," said Lem Lloyd, vice president North America Channel Sales and Small Business. "This partnership meaningfully expands our local offering and offers advertisers access to the technology and scale they need to effectively reach online consumers."

Scripps already partners with Yahoo! as a founding member of the Yahoo! Newspaper Consortium.

About Scripps

The E.W. Scripps Company is a diverse media enterprise with interests in television stations, newspapers, local news and information Web sites, and syndication of news features and comics. The company's portfolio of locally focused media properties includes: 10 TV stations (six ABC affiliates, three NBC affiliates and one independent); daily and community newspapers in 13 markets; the Washington, D.C.-based Scripps Media Center, home of the Scripps Howard News Service; and United Media, the syndicator of news features and comics. For a full listing of Scripps media companies and their associated Web sites, visit http://www.scripps.com/.

SOURCE The E.W. Scripps Company