Newspaper To Auction Prime Space Online

In an interesting development State-side, the Boston Globe has started auctioning off the prime front half-page advertisement space in its Sunday recruitment section.

Bids for the space start at $15,000 and rise in increments of $500. The ratecard cost is $39,500. Clearly the paper believes it can bring in more revenue by this means. Agencies or advertisers can bid several weeks in advance. Any bid at ratecard takes the space. The auction ends at 5 p.m. on the Wednesday before each week.

A quick look at the site today shows that, with about 11 hours to go until close, the current leading bid is only at the opening $15,000 price.

General manager of BostonWorks, Tim Murphy commented: “Newspapers have to start trying new models in order to compete. We need to start playing the media games instead of hoping that the good days will be back.”

Boston Globe: www.boston.com