VIDEO: Making the Economics of Hyperlocal Publishing Work
The once-bright prospects for hyperlocal publishing have dimmed somewhat in recent months, leaving some of the most promising ventures shuttered, bankrupt, or scrambling to save face. During a conversation on stage at Street Fight Summit West in San Francisco earlier this month, Chris Tolles, chief executive of hyperlocal news aggregator Topix, and Sacramento Press co-founder and AdGlue CEO Ben Ilfeld discussed the future of Patch and the long-term sustainability of hyperlocal media at scale…
Topix CEO: Hyperlocal Companies Are ‘Staying the Course’
The hyperlocal news and community site has continued to chug along, with its user base growing and traffic spiking during the fall 2012 election season. We recently caught up with the company’s CEO Chris Tolles to talk about how the hyperlocal ecosystem is shaking out, how the shift to mobile is affecting publishers’ CPMs, and how Topix is engaging readers with a more moderated discussion…
Street Fight Daily: Groupon Bounces Back, Tablets Replace Registers
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Groupon’ Stock is Up 40% Since Andrew Mason’s Departure (TheNextWeb)… With Tablets, Businesses Ring Up at More Fanciful Cash Registers (New York Times)… Google Places For Business Gets Its Own iPhone App For Managing Listings (SearchEngineLand)…
Topix Expands Emphasis on Local Races in Runup to Election
With just a couple of weeks remaining until the election, hyperlocal news aggregator Topix is going all in — covering the smaller elections that don’t get national press or, for that matter, any press at all. In July, the company recruited David Marks from Politico to be editor-in-chief of its local politics coverage. Last week, the company launched a new offering that gives a granular look at local races. Street Fight recently caught up with Topix CEO Chris Tolles to talk about his site’s deepening focus on local politics…
Topix CEO: To Make Hyperlocal Publishing Profitable ‘Be a Monopoly’
Hyperlocal publishing can actually be a profitable endeavor. That was the main takeaway from a fireside chat with Business Insider contributing editor Owen Thomas and Topix CEO Chris Tolles at Street Fight Summit West on Tuesday. “We are profitable. It took a long, long time,” Tolles said. “Keeping costs down was a big part in that.”
Three Years After Its Launch, Foursquare Works to Become a Business
Three years ago this morning, Foursquare launched what one pundit called its “where-am-I-now app” at SXSW – the name did not stick. Since its launch, the location-based service has attracted over 20 million users and upwards of 750,000 merchants, has outflanked a company worth $94 billion in the location space, and crushed a competitor that was sold to said company for its parts…
Will the 2012 Election Be a Hyperlocal Breakthrough?
As we approach 2012, hyperlocal sites and networks around the country are gearing up to leverage their content and attract what promises to be a huge windfall of political advertising. At the recent Street Fight Summit in New York, we gathered four top executives who are already thinking deeply about the potential opportunity for hyperlocal in next year’s election cycle…
Street Fight Daily: 05.04.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.… E-commerce giant eBay said in February that it is eying deals that more closely link the online and brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Hyperlocal has become a common phrase for the company as it targets firms that can connect shoppers to local merchants. (The Street)…
AOL HuffPo is launching three new Patch sites geared towards Latino readership in Southern California by the end of the year. No decisions have apparently been made yet regarding which communities those sites will cover. (FishbowlLA)…
“People love getting advertising that is applicable to them, and 90% of every dollar is spent offline within 10 miles of the home,” says Topix CEO Chris Tolles. “Great hyperlocal advertising works to connect consumers to applicable business where they live.” (The Next Web)…