paidContent.org - Politico Ad Network Gets A Boost From Reuters

Politico's fledgling newspaper-distribution program is getting a boost from Reuters, which will supplement the political news site's content with its own articles, the NYT reports. The 60 newspapers, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Denver Post, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, that have signed up to receive articles from the Politico Network will be able to choose up to 10 articles and 10 photos to run in print or on the web. There are also about 100 seats in Politico's ad net. The network's members allow Politico to sell ads on member sites that run Politico and Reuters content. Politico is sharing the revenue with the newspapers that run the ads, which are limited to the web and doesn't cover ads that appear around the stories in print.

The deal comes as the wire service wars are heating up, which has been fueled by cash-strapped newspapers who find themselves cutting their own reporting staffs and considering alternatives to the Associated Press. For example, CNN has been reaching out to newspapers as it tries to get its wire service off the ground, while a handful of papers have said they plan to cancel their AP membership. In the meantime, Politico is trying to build a stable readership off the surge in traffic from this past election season. In November, Politico had 1.7 million uniques compared to the 486,000 the year before. By inserting its stories into local papers' sites, alongside Reuters, it should be able to continue capturing readers whose interest in politics may wane as the national campaigns fade into memory.

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