How Santa Barbara’s Noozhawk Zeroes In on News and Profits
In the increasingly tough world of community journalism — where both readers and advertisers can be fickle and local advertising markets like Santa Barbara are crowded with competitors — Noozhawk succeeds because it’s not in the news business, but “the business of news.” Here, founder Bill Macfadyen explains what that means…
How Seattle’s South King Media Grew From Hobby Into Profitable Mini-Net
Southend was long dominated by “legacy” Robinson Newspapers, which last year was forced to consolidate its Southend print weeklies into one subscription product because of what it called “market forces,” but kept its individual community websites. Meanwhile, Scoot Schafer’s independent “pure-play” South King Media is profitable and growing. Street Fight caught up with Schaefer recently to talk about the different elements involved in successful hyperlocal publishing projects…
From Ad Biz to Hyperlocal: Duo Takes Flyer in Fayetteville, Profitably
Today’s digital community news publisher-editors are increasingly likely not to have had experience working for traditional journalism outlets. But that hasn’t prevented them from making their mark — even when they’re competing against platforms that have strong print resources. That’s the case for Todd Gill and Dustin Bartholomew, co-founders of the seven-year-old independent Fayetteville (Ark.) Flyer. In this Q & A, Gill tells how he and Bartholomew achieved success in a market with a major print and digital daily newspaper…
Daily Voice Expands Into Roger Ailes’ Territory
The Daily Voice has expanded to Putnam County in the Lower Hudson Valley, creating the regional corporate network’s 42nd site in the affluent suburban New York-Connecticut market. Tucker said Putnam Daily Voice’ was launched “with zero expansion” of staff, which includes eight reporters covering a number of communities in the New York-Connecticut suburbs…
How Community Involvement Can Pay Off for Local Publishers
Commuter traffic tie-ups and convenience store holdups can’t be the heart of a community news product. “Duty” coverage is still part of many sites’ content menu, but, by itself, it can’t build a solid relationship with community. The trick is to empower users “to take action to improve their communities”…
Surge Seen in Online Political Ads, But Which Sites Will Be Winners?
Digital platforms traditionally haven’t gotten too much in the way of political ad spending, but new projections from Borrell Associates show online outlets making a big leap this year amid the midterms, going from $14.1 million in 2010 to $211.2 million in 2014. But it’s not clear how much community news sites — many of which cover campaign news diligently — will benefit from these gains…
With Acquisitions, Brooklyn’s Corner Media Grows Into a Regional Cluster
Publisher Liena Zagare’s independent Corner Media network in Brooklyn has added three established community news sites in the borough to grow into a cluster of seven sites in a market of 1 million people. Street Fight recently caught up with Zagare to learn more about what her two acquisitions will mean for their neighborhoods and her company…
An Ex-Patcher Competes in Tim Armstrong’s Town
Leslie Yager, who in three years rose from freelance writer for Aol’s Patch to the local editor of the network’s Norwalk and Wilton sites, was terminated in January as part of the company’s sale to Hale Global. She turned around and, days later, launched her own news site which is already a strong competitor in her former boss’s town…
Despite Many New Local News Sites, ‘Media Deserts’ Are a Stubborn Reality
More than 120 newspapers have shut down in the U.S. since 2008. Surviving papers have been forced to cut their local news budgets in the implosion of old media ad revenue. Hundreds of digital community news sites have been launched in the meantime, but journalist and educator Dr. Michelle Ferrier from the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University says that millions of Americans have ended up in a “media desert.”
Up Close and Personal: Ex-Patcher Tells How He Went Independent
Michael Dinan was senior regional editor for Patch in suburban Connecticut when he — along with hundreds of other editorial staffers — was terminated in January as part of Aol’s deal to sell most of the community news network to Hale Global. After the blow fell, he turned around and set up the independent site New Canaanite within days — and expanded it to a collaborative network in suburban Connecticut shortly thereafter…
Native Ad Revenue May Be One Click Away With ‘Selfies’
Community news publishers everywhere are searching hard for new revenue. But who knew that dollars might be staring them virtually in the face? Broadstreet, which provides ad services to news publishers, is offering a new ad unit called the “Selfie” — short, self-generated messages that businesses and anybody else can place in the middle of an article to catch the eye of searching users. Broadstreet co-founder Kenny Katzgrau says the Selfie aims to lure businesses that want to get their message out, but are resistant to buying more expensive display ads…
Texas ‘Indie’ Pure Play Is Hog-Tying ‘Legacy’ Competitor
Tired of his four-hour commute between Dallas and San Angelo, Dallas Morning News ad salesman Joe Hyde applied to the San Angelo Standard-Times in 2009. He never heard back. Today, Hyde is the founder-publisher of San Angelo Live, an independent “pure play” that — in its eight months of existence — is already surpassing his Scripps competitor in key traffic metrics, and, since last month, operating in the black…
How Training Has Helped Some Community Publishers Thrive
“Getting money from local businesses is a street fight,” says Rusty Coats. “The options and alternatives seem to grow exponentially every day, and many businesses live in a fog of not knowing what to do. … That’s why I applaud these community news entrepreneurs and what they’re trying to accomplish. They are mission-driven and determined to build sustainable businesses by serving their communities.”
‘Baltimore Fishbowl’: One Story Behind ‘Optimistic’ New Revenue Numbers
A majority of independent community news sites are doing fine building revenue, according to Michele McLellan, author of Michele’s List, which tracks about 200 entrepreneurial community news sites around the country. To get at the “why” behind the numbers, I went to the founder of one of the best performing sites in the survey, three-year-old Baltimore Fishbowl…
Brady on Thunderdome: The Glue at the Core Was Never Able to Dry
“The local digital news solution is probably going to come from new players rather than legacy ones,” says outgoing Digital First Media editor-in-chief Jim Brady. “It’s extremely hard to try and create that next-generation local news product while you’re dealing with the rapid decline of your core business. … Somewhere in that broad swath of experimentation are all the pieces for a successful model. It’s just a matter of time until someone finds the right mix.”
Locable’s Aim: To Help Sites Build Community as a Brand
Locable is a network of 50 local and hyperlocal websites that shows its “partners” how to build community around their brand. It does this through an approach it calls “Main Street for the 21st Century.” In this recent Q & A with Street Fight, the company’s co-founder and CEO Brian Ostrovsky talks about what this approach means, and how community sites can position themselves for success…
Niche Site CHARLIE Goes Big With Underwriter Le Creuset
After an initial stint doing publicity in the movie industry in Los Angeles, Caroline Nuttall migrated to Charleston, S.C., and fell “head over heels” for its “beauty and progressive culture.” She expressed her passion for the city by creating the local digital magazine CHARLIE, whose words, images and design capture the many faceted, old-new richness of her publication’s namesake. Here Nuttall tells Street Fight how she navigated CHARLIE to new revenue streams, including an underwriting partnership with national cookware maker Le Creuset.
The New Patch: One Site’s ‘Entrepreneurial’ Editor on the First 60 Days
Patch, under its new owner Hale Global, is experimenting with new approaches for structuring and operating hyperlocal news sites, which, in general, have a reputation for losing money. One experiment is creating entrepreneurial editor-publishers for sites in the strongest markets. Sixty days into the experiment, longtime reporter Susan Petroni, explains her new dual role at the Framingham, Mass., Patch…
Attention and Timing Are the New ‘Clicks,’ Chartbeat Says
The analytics firm digs deep into how users behave at their computer, smartphone, and tablet. Then it flows the data points (including visitor frequency, top pages, referrers, and traffic sources) to the client’s dashboard, where editors, in real time, can see how their users are behaving and take steps to increase traffic and engagement…