Belo's KING Seattle and the Seattle Times newspaper are working side by side on a local online advertising network.
The beLOCAL Ad Network aggregates local media and pairs the content with advertisers. The venture "provides an opportunity for local web publishers to leverage the media sales teams of these two organizations," said Belo in a statement.
"We have such a rich diversity of communities in Western Washington and each community blog has their own news stories, events, reviews and forums and that's just the tip of the iceberg," said KING Seattle President/General Manager Ray Heacox. "We believe this partnership we have with The Seattle Times will help these online community news sites to grow and increase their viability."
Belo is pushing the beLOCAL network at its stations.
"This new partnership combines the power of The Seattle Times and KING 5 sales forces to help contribute to the viability of the great variety of local community blogs," said Alan Fisco, Seattle Times Company VP of sales and marketing. "The Seattle Times already has strong content-sharing partnerships with many of these independent sites. Our new sales network will only make those partnerships stronger."
