February 11, 2008

Reuters to sell Guardian.co.uk advertising in US

The Guardian has signed a deal with global news agency Reuters to market and sell advertising for its website in America.

Guardian.co.uk, which late last week rebranded itself from Guardian Unlimited, will be sold to US-based business professionals alongside Reuters.com and other news sites and blogs as part of the recently launched Reuters Affiliate Network.

The network is a series of editorially independent sites covering a variety of topics which are promoted on Reuters.com. Reuters sells advertising on their behalf and also advertises on the sites through a revenue-sharing agreement – and for advertising purposes all web traffic is counted towards Reuters’ overall total.

The Guardian launched Guardian America last year with eight permanent staff based in Washington, DC.

Guardian.co.uk is the UK’s leading newspaper website, with 16m unique users in December – down from a peak of 18m in October last year – and around a third of those are American. Other British national newspaper websites, notably Mail Online, also have large American audiences, but some editors questioned their ability to make money from this foreign online readership.

Adam Freeman, commercial director of Guardian News and Media, said: ‘We are excited to be entering into this deal with Reutersâ€¦Through Reuters’ sales team, advertisers can more effectively reach our growing and discerning audience, and our US users will be served with more relevant advertising.”

Chris Ahearn, president of Reuters Media, said: ‘By adding the Guardian to Reuters’ sales portfolio, we are continuing our efforts to provide a range of options for advertisers to access our growing audience of affluent business professionals.”