News companies launch widgets

Posted by Ben Thalman on May 29, 2007 at 8:44 AM

The largest newspaper company in the US, Gannett, is beginning a strategy that may let it distribute its brand and content over the Internet – the launching of widgets. Widgets are small plug-in windows that users can add to web pages to keep track of various things, such as news, weather, prices, etc.

Gannett has launched a weather widget on eight of its websites, with the possibility of launching it and other widgets on its 100 sites if this first round proves successful. In addition to distributing its brand and content over the Internet, the move could open the door to advertising revenue.

Vice president of new media at Gannett’s broadcast division, Kerry Oslund, discussed the deployment of the technology: “The idea is to first gain critical mass with our own footprint and then offer a very attractive net revenue split with any affiliate that wants to place it on their site”.

Media General is working with NewsGator to create widgets to distribute news content as well. The widgets are to be launched in a couple weeks and are customizable with news headlines, photos, and video content. Users will be able to embed code to put their widgets into their sites.

Mr. Fenton, general manager of syndication services at NewsGator, discussed the appeal of widgets for news companies: “Widgets enable them to get their content out there, get their brand out there … across many different sites consistently but maintain editorial control and still get reporting on it just as they would anywhere on their site”.

Source: Red Herring