How ARLNow Succeeds in a Market Packed With Competitors
“Print media types may hear ‘quality’ and think ‘in-depth, investigative reporting’ — but that’s not necessarily what I mean,” says ARLNow founder Scott Brodbeck. “At the moment, I believe that breadth is more important than depth in local. But too much or too little of each can hurt. Striking a good balance in terms of shorter and longer articles, and publishing those articles at semi-regular intervals throughout the day, encourages repeat readership.”
There’s a ‘Metropolitan Revolution,’ but Where’s Hyperlocal?
Community news sites don’t always have to invest in major staffing and other resources to enhance their editorial. In three recent cases, public and nonprofit agencies and other bodies supplied virtually all the information that would generate engagement-producing stories – the kind advertisers are supposed to like. All it would take is labor-efficient curating and copying and pasting…
Nextdoor: Where Privacy Is a Double-Edged Sword
Nextdoor has some issues to sort out in whether and how much neighbors want to be walled in from adjacent, or even non-adjacent, communities. In researching this story, I signed up for the service and discovered firsthand its power of engagement — but found its walls dampened the enthusiasm it had engendered in me, and I wondered if the latter will impact the potential of the former to make good on the company’s $100 million valuation…
Gannett’s Acquisition of Belo’s TV Stations Puts Focus on Hyperlocal Push
Gannett brags that its acquisition of Belo’s TV stations creates a broadcast “super group.” But perhaps the biggest implication about the merger is not its “super”-ness, but what it will mean in the hyperlocal digital space where both companies, especially Gannett, are trying to build a post-broadcast future…
For Hyperlocal Marketers, Data Sweeps Are Part of Doing Business
Marketers operate under many constraints dictated by good business and societal mores, not to mention various federal and state laws against criminal and civil misconduct. But the explosion of public data needs to be sorted out. It’s up to society, government, business and individuals everywhere to take the discussion to better and new policies and, where necessary, laws…
‘Indies’ and Sustainability: One Destination, Different Paths
In this final column on the subject of sustainability in independent news sites, two editor entrepreneurs, David Askins, of the Ann Arbor (Mich.) Chronicle, and Denise Civiletti, of the RiverheadLocal on Long Island, talk about what they’re doing to keep their sites healthy long-term. A third entrepreneur, Ben Ilfeld, the CEO of AdGlue, talks about why innovation is so important to success…
‘Indie’ Hyperlocals Share Their Secrets to Sustainability
“Content remains king. So long as you don’t lose sight of that, much of the rest falls into place,” said Sheepshead Bites editor and publisher Ned Berke. “But, content doesn’t pay the bills, so we’re always looking at ways to improve the services we offer to merchant partners and other revenue opportunities…”
Deseret VP: How Disruption Can Drive Digital Media Companies
Deseret Digital Media is often mentioned in conversations about companies doing disruptive things in local media. Eric Bright, the company’s VP for eCommerce, will be appearing on a panel next week in San Francisco at Street Fight Summit West, so we took the opportunity to catch up with him recently and find out more about the mechanics of disrupting the local space…
LION President: ‘Indie’ Readership, Revenues ‘Reaching New Heights’
“There’s no ‘proven model’ other than the precept that local news works when it is just that,” said LION president Dylan Smith. “Every community is different; attempting to cover every town and city by ticking a few boxes in a top-down plan is foolhardy at best, and insulting to local readers at worst – as well as being a great way to lose millions of dollars.”
10 Months After Furor, Hyperlocal News Service Journatic Presses On
In the spring of 2012, Journatic, the for-hire community news shop, was a hot property in the hyperlocal industry. But less than three months later, following a report on “This American Life” about Journatic’s practices, Tribune and several other publishers suspended all work by the local news company. Tribune has resumed some use of Journatic’s work since, and I recently went to the company’s new VP of media services, Hanke Gratteau, to find out more about how the service was faring…
Employees’ Overtime Suit Forces Daily Voice to Seek Bankruptcy Protection
Daily Voice, the recently scaled-down regional network of 41 community news sites, filed for and won Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. The move gives the company relief from an expensive class-action suit by two former reporters who said they and other Daily Voice staff worked overtime consistently but were never paid for the extra hours…
In Counting Actual People, Hyperlocals’ Smaller Traffic Numbers Can Be Big
With local merchants looking at more and more digital marketing options in their search for customers, community news sites have to be aggressive in selling themselves to potential advertisers (and raising revenue that will pay for editorial and other improvements). How can they make the most of their traffic numbers, which are much lower than those at most commerce-based sites?
Do Community News Sites Really Need to Become ‘Digital Agencies’?
For answers, I went to Julie Brooks, CEO of eCape.com, who went into and then out of, an ambitious program of agency-like marketing services; Mike Orren, president of the new marketing service firm Speakeasy, which he co-founded with the Dallas Morning News; and Carll Tucker, CEO of Daily Voice, who is considering expansion of marketing services it offers.
Howard Owens on What It Takes to Sustain a Hyperlocal News Site
“If there’s any clear message, it’s what I’ve been saying for the past four or five years: Starting and running a local news site is hard work,” says the Batavian editor and publisher. “You need a good model, a solid plan, the ability to work long hours and handle multiple disciplines and stick with it for years and years with no promise of ever striking it rich. If you can do that, you’re on the right track.”
Report: Online Ad Revenue to Hit $24.3B in 2013
In looking at the categories of ad revenue, Borrell found that displays ads, which have taken a lot of heat in the industry for their supposed increasing irrelevance,, remain the dominant choice of businesses. But targeted display has moved ahead of run-of-site display, and targeted’s rate of growth is far higher…
The ‘New News Ecology’ Needs to Be Nourished With Sustainable Revenue
The grand, this-is-where-we’re-going commitment at the Journalism That Matters meeting held last week in Denver was encouraging. Local journalism needs this re-invention of what it does and how it relates to a newly empowered public that is outgrowing its old role as a passive consumer of news. I hope, though, that JTM members will also make “investigating new economic models” an important part of the new news ecology they’re creating.
How Partnerships Can Help Hyperlocal Sites Expand Their Reach
There’s a saying that’s echoing more insistently today in hyperlocal publishing: “Don’t compete – collaborate.” Editor and publisher Susan Mernit puts that saying into practice at Oakland Local, partnering with other media and non-profits to juice content, build visibility, and generate revenue…
Do ‘Walk-Through’ Ads Have the Zip That’s Missing in Hyperlocal Publishing?
The new “AdSweeps” are being offered by U.K. ad exchange Addiply transform 2D photographs into the 3D-like experiences shown in the above examples. The aim is not to objectify users as statistical constructs of demographic or psychographic data points, but to appeal to the universal sense of curiosity…