The New York Times: You could argue that reading a newspaper online is much like reading one offline, but one thing is unmistakably missing from the Web: when you log on, an advertising circular does not fall into your lap.
Until now, that is. Gannett, one of the nation’s biggest newspaper publishers, said it would introduce a new service on its newspaper Web sites next month that displays banner ads that readers can expand into a virtual version of the weekly local circulars so familiar to offline newspaper readers.
Industry executives said the service, called PaperBoy, devised by a unit of Gannett called PointRoll, would give national advertisers a way to reach online readers in local markets with promotions tied to neighborhood stores.
Newspapers are trying to protecting their turf from Google, Yahoo and other Internet companies that have moved more aggressively to serve local information and ads to readers.
PointRoll was bought by Gannett earlier this year for roughly $100 million, a price that raised many eyebrows in the online community.