Lee Enterprises, The E.W. Scripps Company, The McClatchy Company, Tribune Company and Other Publishers Select Centro to Power Digital Extension Solutions

Centro’s Technology Boosts Digital Ad Revenue for Publishers in 160 Markets;

Publishers Can Offer Desktop, Mobile, Video, Social and Search Ad Capabilities to Capture Local Ad Spend

CHICAGO, IL – Aug. 13, 2014 –Centro (centro.net), a provider of unified, enterprise-class software for digital advertising, today announced the expansion of partnerships with Emmis Communication, Lee Enterprises, Metro, Morris Publishing Group, The E.W. Scripps Company, The McClatchy Company, Tribune Company and other publishers to empower more of their local news sites with digital extension solutions. Centro’s digital extension capabilities are now being used by publishers in 160 markets in North America.

Local publishers and broadcasters have been the authority for local advertising and hyper-local audiences. However, the increased competition for local ad budgets has made it difficult for content producers with local sales teams to grow revenue. To demonstrate expertise and reach in every major channel beyond owned and operated properties, sophisticated publishers are re-orienting sales strategies and offering digital extension capabilities. Opportunities in local online/interactive/digital advertising will grow, according to analyst firm Borrell Associates, to $69.8 billion by 2016, which will be half of all local advertising expenditures.

“Local publishers who see the digital media opportunity as merely selling their own traffic are getting marginalized,” said Gordon Borrell, CEO of advertising research firm Borrell Associates. “These media properties possess a powerful level of expertise and trust that advertisers value. Offering digital audience extension positions them as the ‘go-to company’ for digital marketing. That leads to the Holy Grail -- the ability to capture 100% of an advertisers’ local ad spend. This is possible only if publishers deliver programs that can reach local audiences across a myriad of platforms.”

“Partnering with Centro has made our highly accelerated digital growth sustainable and scalable,” said Rory Foster, director of digital media, Emmis Communications. “As we develop digital product offerings, we have found Centro to be an incredible ally and excellent resource for both national and local market services.”

Centro offers software and services that streamline the buying, operations and finance for digital advertising. It created digital extension solutions in 2010 to empower publishers with technology to execute a wide variety of campaigns on any site, across every channel, to reach any audience. Digital extension solutions offer publishers:

• A white-label demand-side platform (DSP) enabling publishers to run programmatic campaigns with in-house teams
• A suite of managed services for pre-sales support, media planning, ad operations, optimization, reporting, and billing
• Access to inventory on the Centro Brand Exchange, a private exchange of select news and information sites that reach audiences consuming news media
• Technology to maximize value of first party data and make it actionable
• Comprehensive sales training covering multiple disciplines including ad operations, sales management, packaging and strategy to increase digital IQ of sales and ad operations teams

“Centro created digital extension solutions to help publishers attract more ad dollars by offering a full arsenal of ad products that leverage first-party data. The opportunity is great because both small businesses and national brands compete to reach local customers,” said Katie Risch, SVP of publisher development at Centro. “Publishers are in a prime position to guide media spend because they have been a trusted local partner for marketers for an extended period of time, and they have valuable audience data.”

About Centro

Centro (centro.net) provides unified, cloud-based software to simplify digital media operations. Our media management platform streamlines and scales ad buys across all channels, accessing both guaranteed and biddable inventory, to achieve any campaign objective. Our holistic approach gives marketers a single system of record to fulfill their research, planning, buying, optimization and reporting needs. Since 2001, Centro has successfully planned and executed more than 100,000 national and local campaigns across all digital display platforms and ad format types. Headquartered in Chicago with 33 offices in North America, Centro’s success and commitment to culture has led to many accolades, including #1 on Crain’s Best Places to Work in Chicago in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Contact:
Anthony Loredo
anthony.loredo@centro.net
646-462-4888