At a time when advertisements typically shouldn't be hard to come by - with political party spends likely increasing in the lead up to the upcoming General Elections in India - three key newspaper groups have inked a partnership to sell advertising together. HT Media, The Anand Bazaar Patrika Group and The Hindu are combining inventory for six newspapers: Hindustan Times, Hindustan, Anand Bazaar Patrika, The Telegraph, and The Hindu, both in Hindi and Tamil. Arun Ananth, former CEO of The Hindu and now a member of the senior leadership team at HT Media, told MediaNama that this is a collaboration, and not a formal joint venture, which would otherwise need a separate legal entity to be created. A few notes from our discussion with Ananth: - Inventory available: This is not a remnant inventory deal, but rather based on inventory available with each publication on a particular date. Ananth points out that inventory for a newspaper can always be created. - Operationalizing this partnership: The sales team for each publication will offer advertisers and agencies inventory from the other publications, in a bid to offer them a wider reach. It's a single window clearance for the agency, and the complexity of figuring out which ad unit is available with which publication will be dealt with later. "They will speak with one person who will represent all three, and we will decide whether we want to go with a OneIndia plan or individual publications," Ananth told MediaNama. - Defining rates:…
