Content providers want to help community papers

Mar 13, 2017

If your newspaper is looking for some extra content, there are companies out there ready and willing to help, but there is a cost involved—sometimes.

 

By Stanley Schwartz
Managing Editor | Publishers’ Auxiliary

If your newspaper is looking for some extra content, there are companies out there ready and willing to help, but there is a cost involved—sometimes.

Surveys were sent to numerous syndicate companies. Of the ones that responded, nearly half, 46.6 percent, offer paid content. Some, 20 percent, offer their content at no cost without sponsorships or advertising and about the same number offer free content with sponsorships and advertising.

Some of the companies offer their items for free, but require space for a national sponsor.

Of the ones that do offer paid content, the majority, 55.5 percent, offer monthly rates. The others, 44.4 percent, offer pricing by item or through monthly or other periodic payments.

And these companies offer the full gamut of content from automotive to pets.

When asked what sets their service apart from other content providers, these companies did not hesitate to answer:

• Pro Football Weekly has been covering the NFL for 50 years! Partners have access to free content ready for print and online with ad spots to gain revenue. PFW produces five short videos each week covering analysis, injury updates, fantasy football and more. All videos are available for partners’ websites. PFW has a national audience, including our Pro Football Weekly TV Show, reaching 42 million homes weekly throughout the season. In addition, three national magazines are produced annually, including the NFL Draft Guide, NFL Preview and Fantasy Football Guide, which are sold at retail outlets across the country. Profootballweekly.com is averaging more than 1 million page views each month. —Shaw Media

• We allow local content creators to generate revenue from creating content. It also provides access to local and regional content not typical in national exchanges. —TownNews.com

• Pay-per-piece, customized collections, adult coloring books, We-Create-It. —LSA

• We cater to the newspaper sales team. —Newspaper Toolbox

• Original content, knowledgeable journalists, personalized service. —Content That Works

• We are the only social media tool made specifically for media. —Social News Desk

• Our in-depth coverage of all topics and fast seasonal updates sets us apart. —North American Precis Syndicate

• Our brands are among the most recognizable in the entertainment and newspaper industries, including TV Guide Magazine and TV Weekly. Because of our stature in the industry, we have ongoing access to the top stars and personalities in television entertainment and provide weekly interviews with top stars. Through our syndication program, we also allow newspapers to advertise our products at deep discounts from newsstand prices. We also provide advertisements for NTVB Media publications to run in the print edition of newspapers. And we offer widgets that newspapers can embed in their websites to help people find shows of interest and to set reminders for them. —NTVB Media

• Full-color page and spread formats, content widgets, high-resolution graphics, “concierge” service. (We’ll find requested content for editors.) —Family Features

• Metro’s editorial feature content is the perfect resource for news media companies that need ongoing access to professionally written articles for print and online use, including specialty publications, native advertising and social media engagement. We go way beyond individual features in our editorial library by offering fully templated print and digital themed sections that include complete spec ad content for immediate presentation and ad sales to related advertisers. Additionally, we have an entire creative library of images, ads and cover designs for full creative and production support, as well as sales ideas, success stories and training tools to help ad sales teams prosper. —Metro Creative Graphics

• Our content has appeal across all demographics. Readers are hooked and return weekly for the next edition. But most of all, our content is actually interesting. —Facts Weekly

• Breadth and depth for the best price around. —King Features Weekly Service

• Pre-designed special sections and weekly lifestyle pages at great prices. —More Content Now/GateHouse Media

• Our data is interactive and generates additional page views, etc., for the client. —TinBu LLC

• Thirty-plus years, AP Style compliant, free, all formats. —NewsUSA

Although the survey completed by National Newspaper Association member papers showed that few of the respondents use syndicated content online, these companies offering content are keen to have newspapers create more robust online offerings.

They were asked what online offerings they had that would be useful to community newspapers:

• Partners can drive traffic to their website through high-quality NFL content. —Shaw Media

• Our products are specifically geared towards community newspaper publishers and allow them to provide a robust suite of online services to their users. —TownNews.com

• Digital advertising support, editorial content and special sections for blogs; ability to cross-promote with campaigns spanning both print and digital. —LSA

• Our online offerings can save time, and allow newspapers to reach their readers who are online already. —Newspaper Toolbox

• They generate revenue and are local, local, local because of easy local submission. —Content That Works

• They can generate revenue by selling sponsored social media posts to their advertisers. —Social News Desk

• Our content easily fill special sections and supplement advertising for home improvement, health, personal finance, recipes, real estate, car care, and more. —North American Precis Syndicate

• Our offerings provide editorial guidance to community newspapers’ audiences that help people to enjoy TV, the most prevalent leisure-time activity, to its fullest. —NTVB Media

• Save time, money and resources by using syndicated content, sell adjacent advertising to drive revenue, easy to customize/localize articles, use feeds and widgets to build out your website. —Family Features

• Subscribers to Metro can use and publish any of our content for their print, online, mobile, native and social efforts. We also provide a vast selection of web and mobile spec ads, in the most popular sizes, as well as the mobile responsive e-sections previously noted. —Metro Creative Graphics

• We can help make your websites more robust, with relevant content to your readers and advertisers. Our sections, too, make great e-edition bonuses for digital subscribers. —More Content Now/GateHouse Media

• We provide local content. —TinBu LLC

• We pitch local advertisers with articles on products they sell. —NewsUSA

To see all the answers from these content providers, go here.

stan@nna.org