Marketing Pilgrim

It’s a twist when one of the top newspapers in the country buys an online lead generation firm, but that’s what The Washington Post did. They acquired CourseAdvisor, a company that matches students with university programs. Basically the company does online lead generation for the education industry. The price was undisclosed.

The Washington Post already invested in CourseAdvisor in 2006. Here’s the tie-in though. The Washington Post also owns Kaplan, a company that preps college students on entrance exams for college and graduate schools. CourseAdvisor is based in Wakefield, Mass. and was founded in 2004.

Newspapers have had a tough time as circulation and profits continue to fall. Their second-quarter earnings this August dropped to $68.8 million for the quarter. But total revenue was up to $1 billion from $969 million. The Post however owns other media companies including Newsweek magazine and the online magazine Slate.

Education is a growing industry, and is up 23 percent to $503 million in the second quarter, from $409 million a year ago.

The Washington Business Journal reports that CourseAdvisor will act as an independent subsidiary of The Washington Post Co.