An overflow crowd of publishers and agencies from across the U.S. overwhelmed the first annual Centro Local Media Publishers' Summit Tuesday and Wednesday in Chicago. Some in attendance spoke to the unexpectedly large turnout as testament to the surge of momentum local media publishers are realizing in the current marketplace.

Centro invited approximately 180 publishers to hear panelists from leading agencies and others speak about their views on the future of local digital media.  More than 220 publishers from across the U.S. descended on Chicago Tuesday for the two-day event, including more than 30 last minute attendees. These included executives from newspaper, TV, radio, alternative weekly and business publications.

"There really has been a great deal of innovation from among these local publishers," said Charleen Stewart, director, retail advertising for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). "What publishers are learning is that they have to group their innovations and products that scale so that they make it easier for buyers, resulting in the ability to compete with the portals. Advertisers are realizing that nobody can reach local audiences better than local newspaper media. Centro has been a very important instrument of change for them, and their hosting of this conference is a gift to the industry."

Panelists at the Centro Local Media Publishers Summit included Ken Doctor of Content Bridges, who is also a senior analyst covering the newspaper industry for Outsell; Stacy Boone of Target; Jeff Hughes of GM Plan Works; Matt Wood from Avenue A | Razorfish; and roughly a dozen others from the buy side, each discussing what they would like to see in the coming from branded local media publishers.

"What everyone in this meeting is hearing synchs with what we've been saying for years now – all these different publishers need to put aside whatever competitive differences they may have individually and align to find out how they can better monetize their traffic," said Matt Wood, manager, media development for Avenue A | Razorfish. "The fact is that local publishers' content is some of the best content on the web, and there are so many studies now that demonstrate that the audience is there. Hats off to Centro for bringing together this forum! They're developing a pretty compelling solution. And the turnout here today clearly demonstrates how vital this is to local publishers."

"The strength of the local industry and what they're doing to improve their offerings to national advertisers and gain ground back against the portals and networks is inspiring," said Shawn Riegsecker, Centro's CEO and host of the Summit. "The local online segment has been somewhat of a sleeping giant and one of our goals has been to help mobilize the segment as a strong and cohesive unit.  After witnessing the last two days, I think it’s clear local publishers have awakened and are poised to move the entire industry."

Disclaimer:  Mark Naples has a continuing service relationship with Centro.