How TAPinto sells local ads across 90 news sites
Mike Shapiro developed a range of ad products and all sorts of unique incentives that allow his network operators to collaborate on selling sponsorships.
Talk to just about anyone who works in local newspapers, and they’ll tell you it’s getting more and more difficult to convince local businesses to buy ads. Not only are these businesses able to build their own audiences on social media and email, but they also have access to super targeted ad products offered by platforms like Google and Facebook.
But Mike Shapiro hasn’t been daunted by the challenge of selling local ads. He’s the founder of TAPinto, a network of over 90 news websites spread out mostly in New Jersey. Over the past decade, he’s developed a range of ad products and all sorts of unique incentives that allow his network operators to collaborate on selling sponsorships.
In our interview, Mike walked me through every aspect of his advertising ecosystem including:
All the different ad products he offers
Why they’re superior to Google and Facebook
How his operators collaborate on selling sponsorships
Why every ad unit has a flat rate regardless of the site’s audience size
Watch our discussion in the interview embedded below: