New Hyperlocal Network Created via Community Paper Sites
30 June 2009via Peter Krasilovsky and the Local Media Blog
Kaesu, a provider of online services to free community papers, has received “more than $1 million” to jumpstart its efforts. The strategic investment, from Media Space Solutions, is geared to open up community paper inventory around the U.S. for Media Space’s national advertisers.
Kaesu, a four-year-old company with fewer than ten employees, has ties with over 100 community paper companies. It also has signed some local newspaper companies, including 45 titles from North Jersey Media. It generally charges a flat monthly fee for its services.
It is not the first time that a media company has tried to organize community papers into a hyperlocal network for national advertisers. The Web operations of at least one TV network has attempted to do the same thing. But community papers have generally been too ad hoc (and cheap) to effectively work with.
Kaesu President and CEO Pete Previte says the investment will help jumpstart Kaesu’s efforts in helping its papers out-hyperlocal the hyperlocal companies. “It is enough to get to the next step,” he says.
Moreover, efforts like this could represent a new era for the free community newspaper community. While the industry has had something of a downturn, he notes that it has been in a much healthier position than daily newspapers. Indeed, some papers have even seen revenues increase, despite the sour economy.
Posted via email from andyvogel’s posterous
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