U.S. publisher Gannett Co., Inc. will launch a network that links its news, information and local sites, aiming to provide a new avenue for advertisers to reach customers, IndyStar.com reported. The Gannett Digital Media Network expects the reach of its 100 combined online communities to extend to an estimated 25 million people.

A company press release called the media network unique in its "combination of national reach and true local engagement," emphasising the fact that "local sites rank highest for trust in advertising" while the company's national sites "skew higher on metrics such as education and household income," making them an appealing demographic for advertisers.

Josh Resnik, the network's vice-president and general manager said the network "gives marketers access to diverse and attractive audience segments through our unparalleled combination of national and local media sites."

The network will also provide rich media advertising through Gannett's PointRoll technology as well as social media options using Gannett's social media platform Ripple6, making it "easy for marketers to engage with users" Resnik said.

The launch of the new network seems to echo the company's intentions when it announced the ContentOne initiative in New York at the 36th Annual Global Media and Communications Conference in December. Based on the Web start-up model, Gannett CEO Craig Dubow said at the time that ContentOne would help develop and gather information more efficiently across the company's properties, viewing content as a company-wide product.