Odessa American Newspaper Expands Internet Advertising Products

April 22, 2009 - PRLog -- ODESSA, TEXAS -- The Odessa American, a 27,000-circulation daily newspaper serving west Texas, has discovered a new way to distribute its content – and by proxy, its advertising – to its readership.  After a few months of sending out a daily Email Edition to over 6,000 email addresses, Sean Maggio, the American’s Interactive Manager, decided to up the ante and deliver his paper’s email updates twice a day: once in the morning, and once in the evening.

The Odessa American Email Edition is produced with the help of Verican, a San Francisco and Beijing, China-based Internet products company that serves the interactive needs of traditional newspapers.

Eric Buskirk, Verican’s CEO, first suggested the idea to the newspaper. “We’ve seen surveys that indicate readers who receive their newspaper’s email edition would like to see news updates more than once a day. We asked Sean if he’d be interested, and he agreed before we’d even finished our pitch!”

Maggio says it was a simple decision. “Working with Verican to send out our Email Edition is really easy. Sending it twice daily, seven days a week, requires no additional staff time because Verican’s designers do 100% of the work. The incremental cost compared to the opportunity is negligible. We keep doing what we’re doing – producing news and selling advertising – and the producers at Verican do the rest.”

With twice-daily Email Editions, the advertisers the American features in its Email Edition get in front of the eyeballs of 74% more readers than when it was sent only once a day. Click-throughs to the Odessa American website through its Email Edition have grown by almost 65%.

Buskirk, having worked online with newspapers since 2003, believes the twice-daily model is a new revenue opportunity for newspapers. “Many of our Email Edition newspapers have begun selling their Email Edition ad space as coupons. Readers are being trained to check the Email Edition every day to see which restaurant has a lunch deal, or which dry cleaner has a special offer. Coupon redemptions have seen a big increase this quarter due to the state of the economy. It’s advertising people really want.”

“With one edition going out in the morning, and one in the evening, advertisers can choose which edition will best reach their target markets – a lunch special would be ideal in the morning edition, and special events would find an audience in the evening edition.”

“It’s just like the old days, when many people subscribed to more than one newspaper – a morning and an evening edition. The demand is still there.”

An Email Edition with eight ads, sold for between $5 and $20 CPM, can command $.05 to $.10 per edition sent. A newspaper with 5,000 email subscribers could bring in revenue of $250 to $500 a day. That translates to $7,500 - $15,000 a month.

About The Odessa American
The Odessa American is a 27,000-circulation daily newspaper that serves Odessa, Texas, and surrounding Ector County. The newspaper is owned by Freedom Communications, Inc.

About Email Edition
The Email Edition is an email newsletter software service that helps local newspapers reach their communities on a regular basis, delivering news, calendar listings, classifieds and advertising.

For additional information, contact: Stephanie Parry
Verican, Inc.
+1 (415) 944-1153
sparry@verican.com
http://www.verican.com

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About Verican: Verican is a leading provider of network and advertising solutions to the newspaper industry. The Verican Network is built on a scalable "software as a service" (SaaS) business model, enabling newspapers to maximize the value of their online content with a series of integrated products including Email Edition, Classifieds Order Entry, Internet Yellow Pages, Network Classifieds, Recruitment and Community Personals.

Verican works with over 200 newspaper customers worldwide, including the U.S., the U.K., China, and Australia.