Patch and Profitability

Share this:

Deep-ish into a story about AOL’s growth this week. The Wall Street Journal tucked this tasty nugget of information: AOL is spending about $160 million a year on Patch, which equates to about $150,000 to run each individual Patch site annually, according to an analyst’s estimate. 

It begs the obvious question of whether AOL will–or even can–make a profit from this enterprise…

Case Study: Connecticut Pub Casts a Wide Net With Patch Ads

Share this:

Like many entrepreneurs, Daneen Grabe, owner of Little Pub restaurant, has little time to research all the advertising platforms that are available in her town of Ridgefield, Conn. She now spends most of her marketing budget on ads in six local Patch sites, in the hopes of attracting some of the hyperlocal news network’s most plugged-in readers. Here’s why.

Patch Pitch: 855-Town Gorilla Doles Out Daily Deals

Share this:

Patch certainly reports the news, but it also seems that often Patch is the news. This is one of those weeks. And not simply because one of their interns recently saved a pedestrian, and covered it. The hyperlocal news destination that AOL’s betting a bunch on (closing in on $200 million invested thus far) announced last week that it had crossed a milestone of one million articles published. It’s also rolling out a shiny new daily deals product in over 800 of its communities…

Stretching the Definition of ‘Local’ With Patch-HuffPo

Share this:

Some of the AOL hyperlocal network’s programming has turned toward the model followed by The Huffington Post and various (successful) content “farms” that draw readers in with off-topic sex appeal then deliver them off-site (thanks for the clicks and ad views)…

Patch Partners With Geomentum to Attract Big Brands

Share this:

It’s widely known that AOL’s Patch network has been hemorrhaging money at a rapid clip — and that ad sales across its network of over 800 hyperlocal sites aren’t yet where they would need to be to ultimately make the company viable. But a new partnership with the country’s largest hyperlocal ad agency, Geomentum, could potentially turn into a major boost.

Street Fight Daily: 06.15.11

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.

According to a Rice University study, most businesses don’t feel any loyalty toward a particular daily deal site, and over the next few years daily deal sites will likely “have to settle for lower shares of revenues from businesses compared to their current levels, and it will be harder and more expensive for them to find viable candidates to fill their pipelines of daily deals.” (PaidContent)…

Groupon Inc. Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis’ venture firm is an investor in rival LivingSocial and has ties to its board, a relationship that could pose a conflict, according to corporate-governance experts. (Bloomberg)…

Revolution’s Savage: Finally, Innovation for the $150B Local Pot

Share this:

Tige Savage has worked closely with AOL founder Steve Case for years, co-founding Revolution with him and now heading up its venture investments, including being the first investor in LivingSocial, the daily deals company. As Groupon aims toward an IPO exit and deals, location and hyperlocal startups continue to pick up funding, Savage discusses what makes it an attractive market for investors, how these companies are expected to evolve, and the changes finally taking place in local advertising…

Memo From Patch EIC: More Articles = More UVs

Share this:

In an email to regional editors last week obtained by Street Fight, Brian Farnham, the editor-in-chief of AOL’s Patch network of hyperlocal sites, suggested that the sites should increase unique visitors by upping post production, and touted an experiment at 14 Florida sites where increased posting resulted in more uniques. …

HuffPo Harnesses Patch Hyperlocals for Bin Laden News

Share this:

In the months since AOL bought The Huffington Post, the company’s execs have talked a number of times about plans to incorporate coverage from Patch’s network of hyperlocal sites into HuffPo’s national report. Arianna Huffington herself recently said she expects Patch will be a key element of HuffPo’s coverage of the 2012 presidential election, and Patch local reports from California were recently used in stories about the Japanese tsunami. But last night we really saw that collaboration in action, as HuffPo drew on Patch’s network to flesh out out its coverage with hyperlocal reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden…