Local Papers Unload on Viewability Bad Actors and ‘Garbage Inventory’

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Ever since a 2014 Google study documented that 52 percent of ad impressions actually were not seen by users, viewability has been a front-burner issue for marketers and publishers alike. The digital platforms of local newspapers serve up billions of ad impressions monthly, putting these publishers right in the middle of the issue. To find out how they’re responding, Street Fight spoke with Tobias Bennett, the Local Media Consortium’s advertising expert.

How Gannett’s Cost-Cutting and Breakthrough Video Ads Helped Land Journal Media Group

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In less than six months, the newly constituted Journal Media Group did a 180-degree about-face, shifting from a strategy focused on acquisitions to being acquired by Gannett. The USA Today publisher brought two things that JMG couldn’t match: The proven ability to consistently wring substantial cost savings out of expansion and a digital ad strategy that holds the promise of making everybody — advertisers, audiences, and stockholders — happy.

Ad Blocking and iOS 9: How Bad It Could Get and What Publishers Can Do

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The impact of Apple’s decision to allow ad blocking apps on devices running the latest version of the company’s mobile operating system continues to reverberate across the advertising and publishing landscape. A recent report by web design and development agency 10up predicts potentially steep revenue losses for publishers. Both advertisers and publishers are closely monitoring user adoption of ad blocking apps and considering possible responses.

The Struggle to Save Local News Is Not Doomed

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The current state of local news in the technology-driven information age continues to be a hotly debated topic in industry circles. There’s more consensus around the grim prospects for local print media, and more debate about the outlook for independent local news sites. Understanding where the future lies for local news requires a thorough parsing of both positions.

How Hearst Newspapers Became the Leader in Its Peer Group

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Under president Mark E. Aldam, Hearst Newspapers is going full bore on digital, creating in-house digital marketing services and betting big on programmatic advertising. In our interview, Aldam explains how Hearst has become a top performer in the still financially challenged newspaper industry.

Locable Zeroes in on Marketing Solutions for Digitally Challenged Merchants

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There are 28 million small businesses in America, and Locable considers all of them candidates for its expanded “Main Street for the 21st Century” marketing services. Now Locable is reaching out to those millions of small businesses through its IMPACT Marketing Suite. We caught up with Locable founder and CEO Brian Ostrovsky to talk about his new initiative.

With 8 Sites in Brooklyn, ‘Indie’ Corner Media Reports Doubling of Ad Revenue

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Brooklyn is home to scores of fast-changing neighborhoods that are reshaping New York City’s largest borough. Seven of these neighborhoods are the turf of Corner Media Group, the independent mini-network that entrepreneur Liena Zagare has assembled over the past several years.

On 2nd Birthday, Fast-Growing ‘Indie’ San Angelo Live Clicks Its Spurs

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Joe Hyde, founder and publisher of San Angelo Live, is seeing his independent community news site in West Texas hit $60,000 in monthly ad revenue. And on its second anniversary, the site continues to attract more unique visitors than the site of its 131-year-old “legacy” competitor.

LION’s DeRienzo: Programmatic Ads Will Be Part of ‘Indie’ Future

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Matt DeRienzo, the interim executive director of the Local Independent Online News publishers ‘ association, is getting ready for what looks like a strong annual conference in Chicago this fall. We caught up with him to talk a bit about the state of “indie” local publishing.

‘Indie’ Times of San Diego Marches Northward With Twin Site in Metro L.A.

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Digital media vet Chris Jennewein left Patch after the Aol sale, and returned to San Diego to launch the independent Times of San Diego. He is now a direct competitor to the Union-Tribune, and has started a twin regional site called MyNewsLa.com.

Why Local News Sponsorships Are More Relevant than Ever

How the Local Media Consortium Is Leveraging Its Relationship With Google for Higher CPMs

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The Local Media Consortium is working to turn “digital dimes” back into the dollars. To see how the group is progressing, we recently spoke with Tobias Bennett, LMC’s “programmatic advertising champion.”

Revived Daily Voice Expands Into North Jersey With 22 New Sites

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Pushed to near death two-and-a-half years ago by heavy losses, regional community news network Daily Voice has resurrected itself, expanding in suburban Connecticut and New York State — and now the network is about to cross the Hudson River into northern New Jersey.

Click-to-Calls Are Clicking — And a Lot of the Sales Are Close to Home

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A new study from Marchex has put a dollar amount on the business generated when consumers tap on a click-to-call ad or search listing on their mobile device: more than $1 trillion each year.

As McClatchy Goes All In on Digital, Stock Price Sags Further

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In the past several weeks, McClatchy stock has hit record lows — falling from about $5 a year ago to around 80 cents per share now. Why is there such a mismatch between the smart steps the company is taking in digital and its financial performance?

A Deeper Look at ‘Michele’s List’ of Independent Local News Sites Reveals a Gloomier Picture

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After taking a second, closer look at “Michele’s List,” I’m more worried about independent community news sites. I was surprised to see that more than half of them generate only $50,000 or less in revenue, hardly enough to run a “Ramen-noodle”-type operation.

Technical.ly Finds Big Revenues in Niche Markets Along the Mid-Atlantic

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Growing quickly in five different cities along the Northeast Corridor, Technical.ly focuses its content and events on local tech startups and the personalities driving them. Its substantial revenues have put the company among the top “indie” hyperlocals.

2015 ‘Michele’s List’ Shows Strengths — And Weaknesses — of ‘Indie’ News Sites

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There are encouraging and even bullish numbers in the performance of independent community news sites as reported in the 2015 “Michele’s List” survey. But other numbers indicate that “indies” are having a difficult time generating enough revenue to ensure stability.

McClatchy Says It’s a ‘Digital’ Company, but More Work Still Remains

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There is no doubt that McClatchy is putting an enormous amount of energy and talent into digital — but will it be enough when print is shrinking so rapidly? Street fight spoke to the company’s VP of products, marketing and promotion, Christian Hendricks, about where McClatchy is in its digital evolution

Local News Sites Need More Than Funding — They Need Vision

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Community news vet Steven Waldman has produced “Report for America,” a brisk blueprint to save what he calls “civically important” news. But if publishers are really going to save local news, they should work on deepening their focus on the demographic shifts in their communities…

Washington Post’s Gazette Community Sites Were Stuck in a Print Past

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I was shocked to hear last week that Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post was closing its Gazette community news sites in suburban Maryland. But if I had been paying closer attention to the fast demographic and lifestyle changes in those suburbs, it might have seemed a little more obvious.