NAA Says Behavioral Advertising Can Help Revive Flagging Revenues

The Newspaper Association of America is touting online behavioral targeting as a partial fix for the industry's revenue woes. "Targeted advertising shows significant promise for newspapers seeking new ways to support local journalism," the organization writes in comments filed with the Federal Trade Commission. The comments were filed in advance of this week's FTC public workshops about media, "From Town Crier to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age." Sophia Cope, legislative counsel at the NAA, adds that members of Yahoo's newspaper consortium have benefited from the company's online ad-targeting capabilities. "Based on preliminary results, it looks like targeted advertising will be one of the solutions that helps newspapers get back some of their revenue," she says. The NAA says that Yahoo's newspaper consortium has generated at least $50 million since last year. The initiative involves Yahoo powering behavioral targeting for some newspapers' Web sites, among other features.