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Associated Press teams with local papers to launch iCircular mobile ads

September 19, 2011 — 9:26am ET | By Jason Ankeny

With newspaper subscriber numbers and advertising revenues continuing to decline, global news agency the Associated Press is teaming with 32 newspaper groups and 20 retailer associates to introduce iCircular, a new mobile ad initiative intended to parallel the coupon circulars inserted into Sunday print editions.

Designed for insertion into a newspaper's mobile website or application, iCircular incorporates multiple merchandise and product offers into a single digital program. Consumers can use the application to search for special offers, compile a digital shopping list, share coupons with friends, access loyalty card programs and look up store information like hours of business and directions. The iCircular effort will launch in association with publications like The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe and The New York Daily News--retailers including Walmart, Target, Macy's, Kmart and Staples have also signed to participate.

The Wall Street Journal reports the iCircular concept first started taking shape about 18 months ago--retail advertisers are not paying to participate during the trial phase, which will run throughout the end of the year, and the Associated Press board of directors will not finalize the business model until it meets in October. Beyond generating ad revenues, iCircular will enable both newspapers and retailers to collect consumer data unavailable via traditional print marketing; the AP adds that consumers must opt in for tracking.

Roughly three quarters of American adults read newspaper inserts in a given month, according to a recent survey conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates Inc. In 2000, newspapers generated $5.2 billion via advertising circulars, corresponding to 9.2 percent of total newspaper ad revenues of $56.4 billion according to research firm Borrell Associates Inc.--in 2010, publishers again generated $5.2 billion from circulars, this time translating to 18 percent of total ad revenues of $29.7 billion.

Borrell Associates revenues from circulars will shrink in the years ahead as marketers continue to spread their spending across multiple channels and competition for ad dollars increases. "If the (advertising circulars) disappear out of newspapers, that could be the stomach punch of this decade," Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell tells the WSJ. "That is not good news. It has been the last glimmer of hope for the papers."

For more:
- read this Wall Street Journal article