VentureBeat

Four major U.S. newspaper companies are teaming up to form quadrantONE, an effort to woo large online advertisers, the New York Times reports.

The Tribune Company, the Gannett Company, the Hearst Corporation and the New York Times Company will all be transferring a portion of their online ad space to quadrantONE, which will employ 17 staffers in Chicago.

The partnership should give advertisers a single entity to deal with when they want to place ads with local newspapers like Tribune’s Los Angeles Times, Gannett’s Des Moines Register, Hearst’s Houston Chronicle and the New York Times’ Boston Globe.

The partnership is limited to “local” papers, so it excludes national and international publications like USA Today, the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times itself.

It’s a tough time for the newspaper industry, with online growth contributing to virtually universal declines in circulation and ad revenue, which in turn lead to layoffs and shrinking newsrooms. (The New York Times, one of the last papers to hold off on cuts, announced yesterday that it will be eliminating 100 news jobs.) As more readers flock to their Web sites, newspapers have struggled to find new business models. And while it’s not clear if quadrantONE will take off, it’s encouraging to see the companies evolve.

The New York Times also notes that Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and others are approaching newspaper companies to sell premium ads on their sites, but Hearst digital media vice president Lincoln Millstein says, “We want to control our own destiny.”

On the other hand, Forrester Research analyst Shar VanBoskirk says newspapers need to partner with technology companies, not other newspapers.

Albie Hecht, a well-known producer for some Paramount’s successes (including Academy Award nominee Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie), has just gotten a whopping $9 million in a first round of financing for his new entertainment studio company.

Investors in New York’s WorldWide Biggies, as it is called, include NBC Universal, Hearst Corporation, Alan Patricof’s Greycroft LLC, Platform Equity and PrismVentureWorks.

It’s difficult to count the number of new video studios that have launched recently, with venture capital or other backing. We’ve mentioned the number of questionable ventures that have arisen lately; we’re now well into bubble territory. Beside venture investments, hedge funds and strategic investors (Hearst, NBC) are also stepping up the pace.

[Update: These fundings are happening almost daily: Okapi Venture Capital recently invested an undisclosed amount into www.MyDamnChannel.com, a newly launched video channel featuring comedian/political satirist Harry Shearer (“The Simpsons,” “This is Spinal Tap”), music producer Don Was (The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan), independent comic filmmaker David Wain (“Wet Hot American Summer,” “The Ten”); and Andy Milonakis (“The Andy Milonakis Show,” MTV). Its content is being syndicated to YouTube and will be embeddable in personal Web pages.]

NBC Universal will also partner with the company to provide advertising sales and production support, according to a company statement.

Here’s a snippet:

The studio specializes in creating innovative broadband experiences for kids, young adults and families, ranging from community games and webisode series, to a new breed of gaming called gametoons. The company has already produced such successful multi-platform projects as Nickelodeon’s ‘tween rock ‘n roll “mockumentary” mega-hit The Naked Brothers Band which features the top-rated Nickelodeon TV series, web shorts and podcasts. Worldwide Biggies has also created the place for the best dog videos on the web, WorldwideFido.com, and partnered with a leading celebrity news website to launch the innovative online game STARVSSTAR.com, where fantasy sports meets celebrity scandal, coming this August. A slate of webisode series is currently in development in partnership with media entities including iFilm and Spike TV.