An Indication of Yahoo Paper Consortium Impact

Exactly how much ad revenue has been derived through Yahoo’s relationships with its growing newspaper consortium is unknown. But, the partnerships seem to be getting more solidified as Yahoo reveals a few results, and new members join the gang.

Yahoo added two Freedom Communications papers and two North Jersey Media Group papers to its list. It also finally signed up The San Diego Union-Tribune – that’s SignOnSanDiego.com. Last July, the company told me it was considering linking with Yahoo. The partnership includes 814 papers now, up from 176 at launch in November 2006.

A few numbers from Yahoo, according to today’s press release:
– Over 160 newspapers are live on Yahoo’s APT ad management platform. The system launched in September ’08 with Hearst’s San Francisco Chronicle and MediaNews Group’s San Jose Mercury News.

– Yahoo also said 288 paper sites have launched its search products – contextual ads, paid search, and Web search; in addition, 592 of the partners use Yahoo’s HotJobs exclusively for job ads.

– Yahoo also provided an anecdotal example of ad selling success in the release, noting that Indiana’s Evansville Courier “recently sold $1.1 million of Yahoo! targeted ads during a one-week sales blitz.”

Again, it’s tough to know exactly how well the consortium project is going, at least in terms of its positive impact on the publisher partners’ bottom lines. Still, the fact that it’s expanded so much through more than 2 years of turmoil at Yahoo says something.