CNN, FT unveil online-ad deal to challenge Google

CNN International, the Financial Times, the Guardian and Reuters formed an alliance allowing advertisers to buy ad space directly from the media companies, challenging Google Inc, Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp's control over digital advertising.

Dubbed the Pangaea Alliance, the pact pools the publishers' online audience of about 110 million readers, and lets advertisers buy space across their websites using technology called programmatic advertising, according to a statement from the companies on Wednesday. It will begin operating in a test phase in April with ad-technology company Rubicon Project Inc.

The online display-advertising market is worth an estimated $70 billion, according to researcher ZenithOptimedia, and largely controlled by the technology giants who serve up ad space through online platforms. Martin Sorrell, the chief executive officer of WPP Plc, said at a conference on Tuesday he expects to spend as much as £4 billion ($5.9 billion) on advertising through Google alone in 2015.

"Pangaea will give advertisers one single programmatic solution for driving influence at scale," Tim Gentry, global revenue director at Guardian News & Media, said in the statement.

Rubicon Project, based in Los Angeles, operates the ad industry's largest real-time trading platform to buy and sell digital ads, according to its website. The platform powers about 6 billion trades a day.

Rubicon Project was founded in 2007 and its largest owners include venture-capital firm Clearstone Venture Partners and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Customers include eBay Inc, Virgin Media Inc and Time Inc.