A regional publisher’s plan to outsource its national sales operation will benefit “the industry as a whole,” according to its chief executive.
Newsquest has announced it is in consultation with staff about plans to transfer its national sales function to Mediaforce.
All 28 of the company’s national media sales employees will transfer under TUPE regulations, should the plan go ahead.
Chris White-Smith, managing director for the division, will be leading the project and if implemented, will join the Mediaforce management team.
Henry Faure Walker, Newsquest chief executive, said: “If implemented, this proposal opens up increased revenue opportunities and greater efficiencies by integrating our existing agency sales talent into the largest regional media sales house in the UK.
“We believe this move will not only benefit Newsquest but also the industry as a whole, by creating a more joined up national sales proposition for agencies and national brands to buy regional media across the UK.”
Malcolm Denmark, chairman and chief executive at Mediaforce said: “We are delighted to have been selected to potentially add Newsquest’s first class portfolio to our national sales armoury, and look forward to consulting with Chris and his team to bring the transfer to a positive conclusion in the weeks ahead.”
The company also boasts Johnston Press, Local World, Archant, DC Thomson among its client base.
In November more than 20 regional newspaper publishers, including Newsquest, teamed up to to create the combined 1XL digital advertising platform to enable advertisements to be sold across 800 local websites.
Sign up for our free daily email bulletin
Follow HTFP on Twitter
Got a story? Email the Editor at
A strategically sound move by Henry, nice to see the new CEO applying common sense, whilst recognising the wider industry benefits of a more collaborative strategy. Good luck to Chris and his excellent team if this comes off.
Report this comment
…and then there were two. Interesting times ahead!
Report this comment
My guess is 2015 is crunch time for digital advertising. They have been pecking away at it for years, yet papers still produce most of the income.
If they don’t crack it soon some tough decisions on jobs might need to be made.
Report this comment
Digitalthirst, I really wish people like you would stop banging on about ‘papers producing most of the income’. There is no ‘crunch time’ for digital advertising. It is the future of the business and publishers of all sizes are trying to reinvent themselves to still be profitable in the future. Leave it just to print and, whatever the percentage of revenue it makes now, you’re guaranteed to all be out of a job much sooner.
I could point you to numerous advertising analysis and studies but here’s just one you should read http://ow.ly/GZFn5 Remember, it’s about investing the future health of the business. If you get on board, you might just have a job in a few years.
Report this comment
You might wish otherwise, Oliver, but the brutal fact remains that print does still produce most of the revenue. And provides 90-plus per cent of the copy for digital, written by reporters whose salaries, such as they are, are funded by profits from print. I read the (obscure American) article you suggested, whose optimism about the digital future is by no means as unqualified as you imply. Now, in the interests of balance, readers might want to have a squint at this one:
http://www.myneworleans.com/New-Orleans-Magazine/October-2013/The-Times-Picayune-Fiasco-A-Year-Later/
which, to me, reads uncannily like the story we’re all too drearily familiar with on this side of the pond: greedy proprietors using digital as an excuse for chronic underinvestment in a still profitable print product and cheerily throwing the baby out with the bathwater, along with their most experienced and dedicated staff. And I still want to know what happens to digital revenues when everyone starts installing adblocking software like I have, and all that insufferable, lurid, blinking tat disappears from the page at a stroke.
Report this comment