A Gannett memo published by Jim Hopkins explains that ContentOne is designed to "create additional readership, circulation sales and advertising sales activity by capitalizing on one of the most historic Inaugural events of our time, the Inauguration of the United States’ first African-American President, Barak [sic] Obama."

 

The digital side of this will come courtesy of a new microsite.  USA Today should supply it with a great deal of national content, and national advertising should feature prominently, too.  Then, local brands will be able to put in some regional content and advertising and present it to their readers as relevant.

Gannett expects the whole thing to be big.  Huge, really.  Even as the memo talks about a potential for 50 million uniques in one month, Hopkins writes, "Gannett’s combined unique visitors across all its properties in September was just half that number: 25.4 million, according to the third-quarter earnings statement."

So we’ll see what happens, bearing in mind that any success here would be a fantastic sign for the overall ad industry.  And a hat tip goes to David Kaplan.