Yahoo + Newspapers
Read about Yahoo’s discussions with Newspapers, an industry reeling from the invasion of new media. The most important dimension to watch in this set of dialogs is Local, whether that is Local News, Local Search, Local Services, Local Networking … The newspapers have a good handle on the Local dimension, much more so than Yahoo or Google, both of which came from a Universal Internet point-of-view.
Needless to say, however, we exist at Locations and Places, and operate within the framework of Local in our day-to-day lives. This is the primary driver behind the $20 Billion Yellow Pages industry, that now, both Google and Yahoo are trying to tap into.
Considering all this, working out deals with the Newspapers to syndicate local content, join hands on services like classifieds, and enhance the advertising monetization on both sides - makes a hell of a lot of sense.
[...] I have been reviewing the newspaper industry in a fair bit of detail over the last few months. Last July, I noted Yahoo’s discussions with newspapers around the Local offerings. [...]