Black, Latino Papers Ally With Service to Boost Sales

Hoping to capture a bigger slice of the newspaper advertising market, two of the largest advertising sales groups for black and Latino newspapers Tuesday announced a partnership with a newspaper sales and marketing service with a national reach.

Latino Print Network of Carlsbad, Calif., the biggest ad sales representative for the Latino print market, and Amalgamated Publishers Inc. of New York, the largest advertising sales representative for black papers, signed an agreement with the Newspaper National Network, which represents about 1,700 papers nationwide.

The partnership allows national advertisers to target the growing Latino and black markets through one-stop shopping at NNN, which operates under the auspices of the Newspaper Assn. of America and is funded by the 47 largest U.S. newspapers.

NNN will be the exclusive partner for national newspaper ad sales targeting ethnic markets in seven advertising categories: automotive, computers, cosmetics and toiletries, food, packaged household goods, drugs and remedies and liquor and beverages. No funds were exchanged in establishing the partnership, but commissions will be shared, officials said.

NNN President and General Manager Nicholas Cannistraro said ad agencies have increasingly asked NNN over the last few years if it could offer media buys in ethnic markets. Tuesday’s action links those advertisers with about 210 black and 120 Latino publications.

The Latino Print Network represents newspapers and publications with combined circulation of more than 6 million.

The Latino print industry has grown from 232 publications with a total circulation of 955,000 in 1970 to 515 newspapers with a circulation of 12.5 million. Circulation and revenue growth has outpaced growth in the number of publications.