In January 2021, the Google News Initiative, in partnership with the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN), the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP), and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), kicked off the GNI Ad Transformation Lab: A six month program to help Black and Latino news publishers in the U.S. and Canada advance their advertising strategies and grow digital revenue. Twenty-eight different organizations participated in the program. Over the six-month period, each publisher received coaching to address their organization’s path for business growth, including improving digital publishing tools and advertising capabilities and developing new digital skill sets. Participating publishers were advised on better methods for digital content distribution, better optimization tactics, how to maximize their digital advertising and programmatic capabilities, and most importantly, how to act on these improvements to attract more advertisers and generate incremental revenue streams.

The participating publications of the GNI Ad Transformation Lab include: Afro-American Newspapers, Al Día en América, Blavity News, The Cincinnati Herald, The Dallas Examiner, El Latino, The Houston Defender, Houston Forward Times, Impacto Latino, La Mega Media Cleveland, La Noticia, La Opinion, The Los Angeles Sentinel, Michigan Chronicle, The Mississippi Link, Noti Bomba, Post News Group, Our Weekly Los Angeles Newspaper, The Philadelphia Tribune, Precinct Reporter, Prensa Arizona, QCity Metro, The Sacramento Observer, The Seattle Medium, Texas Metro News, The Tri-State Defender, Vida Newspaper and Westchester Hispano.

On June 22, 2021, E&P Publisher Mike Blinder hosted a panel discussion about the GNI Ad Transformation Lab at the Association of Alternative Newsmedia annual conference: 2021 BostAAN at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. This Episode of “E&P Reports” is a recording of that live panel discussion about the program’s work to help Black and Latino news publishers advance their advertising strategies and grow digital revenue.

Panelists include:

John Heaston, Publisher, Pioneer Publishing, Vice President of AAN, and a board alternate of the National Association of Hispanic Publications.

Todd Stauffer, Publisher , Jackson (MS) Free Press and Digital Specialist for the AAN GNI Ad Transformation Lab. 

Alvaro Gurdián, VP of Operations, La Noticia, Vice President of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Hispanic Publications. Treasurer of Local Independent Online News (LION). 

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis President/ CEO, National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA): The Black Press of America.  Board member of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO).

Dana Peck Director of Digital Solutions, AFRO American Newspaper.

Brian Taylor VP Publishing, Mega Media, Inc.