The UK’s national newspapers are to unite to form an organisation aiming to increase their sector’s share of advertising revenue. All the national newspaper groups with the exception of the Financial Times, which has so far declined to join, are to form and fund the Newspaper Marketing Agency to market advertising space in the national press, with operations due to begin early next year.
The organisation will be independent from the Newspaper Publisher’s Association and will be funded by the groups through a Stakeholder’s Council chaired by Associated Newspaper’s Bert Hardy.
A board of eight will include members from outside the newspaper industry and will be headed by News International’s Richard Webb as non executive chairman. The board is still looking to appoint a chief executive, and a working party including Webb, Hardy and Trinity Mirror’s Mark Haysom is to draw up a shortlist of candidates.
