A collection of 40 U.S. newspapers has developed a new mobile-ad platform in hopes of replacing lost print ad revenue. It looks and acts quite like print ad circulars, which continue to be a major profit source for newspapers and an important way for small businesses to market to local customers.The newspaper group, which includes publications like The Boston Globe ^[1] and The Philadelphia Inquire ^[2]r, named the new app iCircular. Each publication will have its own branded iCircular and embed the app in its mobile site. The digital ads appear stacked on top of each other, or customers can view it from afar as an old-fashioned print circular.

Obviously, newspapers badly need to replace the ads that departed for the web. But it will take months, maybe longer, for us to see if consumers want to look at ads this way. Also, if iCircular featured a mobile-printing option to print out coupons, bargain hunters might become heavy users. iCircular seems like the thing to replace the broadsheet sales fliers of yesterday, but its future remains uncertain.

Read more at Poynter ^[3].