• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, October 23, 2012

The Arizona Republic, a Gannett newspaper, has partnered with Demand Media to create a new Travel Channel hosted on the newspaper’s Web site, AZCentral.com.

The new travel channel draws regional travel information from Demand Media’s “Content Channels” and integrates it with the newspaper’s existing online travel coverage.
 
The Demand Media travel content includes a variety of “evergreen” text, image-focused and video features on local travel destinations and tourist attractions, as well as travel tips and entertainment.

All content is compatible with desktop and mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, and is optimized for sharing across major social networks. Demand’s travel content is already being used by the Web site of Gannett’s national flagship, USA Today.
 
In conjunction with The Arizona Republic partnership, Demand Media also announced that it plans to have over 25 Content Channels focused on a range of topics up and running by the end of the year, including healthy living, automotive, financial, sports and recreation.
 
Gannett also recently announced the acquisition of Rovion, which enables advertisers to create and manage rich media ads through a self-service online platform. Rovion, previously owned by Local Corp., encourages local advertisers to execute online campaigns by simplifying the complex technical issues involved in online ad creation -- for example, by eliminating the cumbersome coding process.

Its main product, Ad Composer, will complement Gannett’s PointRoll business by expanding its mobile and self-service ad offerings, which will be available to all Gannett divisions, including broadcast stations and newspapers with extensive local advertising operations.