A consortium of eight media and publishing companies today announced the formation of a joint venture in connection with the launch of a common online shopping platform aimed at people looking for online deals and helping advertisers reach consumers making purchasing decisions.
Eight companies - Advance Digital, A. H. Belo Corporation, Cox Media Group, Gannett Co., Inc., Hearst Corporation, MediaNews Group, The McClatchy Company, and The Washington Post Co. ? formed a joint venture that has acquired Find n Save, a search engine focused on discount offers made by merchants in cities across the U.S.
The venture acquired Find n Save as part of its purchase of Travidia, an online shopping service. Financial terms of that deal weren't disclosed.
"This initiative among the country's leading media companies and publishing brands provides advertisers a unique opportunity to reach consumers through a simplified and standardized advertising platform. Advertisers can target audiences across participating local newspaper markets through digital display ads or with digital circulars," said Tippie, who, as managing partner at Maroon Partners, LLC, served as consultant to the effort. "By leveraging the existing expertise of Travidia, we are able to offer our local and national clients a consistent, easy-to-deploy advertising solution."
With today's announcement, advertisers can reach 19 of the top 50 local markets, and the new company plans to add another 21 of the top 50 local markets within the next four weeks. Find n Save affiliation is available to any local daily newspaper in the United States. By the end of 2012, Find n Save will be in place at an estimated 250 newspapers. By the end of 2013, an estimated 400 newspapers are expected to be Find n Save affiliates.
Discussions also are under way with several other media companies that have expressed interest in joining this new venture.
The Find n Save platform is tailored to local audiences, offering digital coupons, daily deals, digital circulars, and other advertising products designed and managed by the local affiliate for maximum impact. Specialized Find n Save solutions such as "Search Boost," "Advertiser Landing Pages" and "Featured Offers" will also help advertising clients connect with local shoppers.
Find n Save specializes in showcasing discounts offered by advertisers within local markets. For example, by typing "pizza" into a search field, users will receive a list of nearby Italian restaurants and the deals they're offering.
The search engine makes money from the advertisers in its database. Other ads can be placed by companies looking to connect with people whose search engine requests have signaled their interest in certain products and services.
The participating newspapers will share in the revenue and contribute daily deals covering their markets to Find n Save's index.
Find n Save is tapping into the coupon craze that helped turn Groupon's daily-deal service into a hot commodity. The 3-year-old company already has a $15 billion market value.