New York Daily News Joins Yahoo's Classified Ad NetworkNew York Daily News Joins Yahoo's Classified Ad Network

The New York Daily News, the nation's fifth largest newspaper, said Friday it has joined Yahoo's classified advertising network of newspapers, becoming the latest publisher to partner with others in trying to grab a bigger slice of the online ad market.

The Daily News becomes the largest newspaper to join Yahoo's Newspaper Consortium, launched in November of 2006. The Internet portal distributes its HotJobs recruitment listings through its partners' local listings, which also are distributed through the consortium's network. Yahoo hopes to eventually expand the deal to broaden the type of advertising distributed.

The Daily News also said it would use Yahoo's online advertising tools to distribute targeted display ads through the portal's network. "Our partnership with Yahoo will allow us to provide additional opportunities to our advertisers, to job seekers, and to all of our users," Marc Kramer, chief executive of the Daily News, said in a statement.

Newspaper companies have been banding together to create nationwide online advertising networks. Faced with declining ad revenue in print, newspapers have been scurrying online where advertisers are spending an increasing amount of dollars.

Job site CareerBuilder.com, for example, is owned by Gannett, Tribune, McClatchy, and Microsoft. Last week, Tribune and Gannett told the Reuters news agency that they were working on a joint venture to expand the Tribune's Metromix local entertainment site, which offers listings, bar and restaurant reviews, and other content. If completed, the partnership would expand Metromix's format into more U.S. markets.

Yahoo's Newspaper Consortium has tripled in size since its launch to include 21 newspaper companies, which represent almost 400 newspapers. Other partners include Cox Newspapers, Hearst Newspapers, MediaNews Group, and The E.W. Scripps Co.