Should newspaper publishers pool more resources?

Rival newspaper publishers are in talks to consolidate their advertising sales operations according to a recent report in Campaign.

Making it easier to negotiate and buy advertising space across a wide range of national and regional titles is just one way “traditional” publishers might be able to compete against Google and Facebook’s rising dominance in advertising markets.

Currently, there are at least eight major newspaper sales houses at present (News UK, Mail Brands, Guardian News & Media, Telegraph Media Group, Trinity Mirror, Northern & Shell, ESI Media and The Financial Times). Include other regional newspaper publishers and magazine groups into the mix and the prospect of buying space across multiple titles because incredibly complicated.

Combining newspaper sales operations could follow models adopted by commercial television companies which have consolidated their advertising teams down to just three units.

According to Campaign, Trinity Mirror is just one publisher reaching out to other newspaper groups in the hope of consolidating their ad teams, recently speaking with Telegraph Media Group, News UK and others.

But could advertising sales just be the tip of the iceberg?

What other business operations could be consolidated or outsourced to make publishers leaner, meaner, cost cutting machines while maintaining a competitive edge?

Back office operations like finance, payroll, procurement, IT, etc. etc. could all present opportunities for consolidation without impacting on the quality, style or voice of a publication.

In business, the most successful companies very often just focus on what they do best and outsource the rest to more appropriate experts. This suggests that a newspaper should stop making cuts to their editorial teams and look to other areas of their business to make savings.

However, as Campaign reports, UK news brands are not intrinsically collaborative, citing the fact that News UK, MailOnline and The Guardian chose to go head-to-head and host rival parties on the same night at the recent Cannes Lions international advertising festival.

Is the newspaper industry stronger together or will pride lead to their continued decline?