The Struggle to Save Local News Is Not Doomed
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.
Street Fight Daily: Expedia Buys Travelocity, Private Equity Eyes Digital First
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Expedia Buys Travelocity, Merging Two of the Web’s Biggest Travel Sites… Cerberus, Apollo Bidding for Digital First Media (Capital New York)… For Digital, SMBs Need Somebody—and Money—to Lean On (eMarketer)…
Street Fight Daily: FiveStars Raises $26M, Postal Service Eyes Grocery Delivery
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Fivestars Raises $26m to Build Up its Digital Loyalty Program (GigaOm)… Postal Service Seeks to Extend Grocery Deliveries (Wall Street Journal)… The Newsonomics of Auctioning Off Digital First’s Newspapers (Nieman Journalism Lab)…
Street Fight Daily: Square To Raise $100M, Digital First Mulls Sale of Papers
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Square to Raise $100 Million at a $6 Billion Valuation (New York Times)… Digital First Media Will Explore Sale of Papers (Poynter)… Apple Deal Sheds Light on McDonald’s Digital Transformation (Mashable)…
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.”
Street Fight Daily: Google Tracks Offline Purchases, Alibaba Buys Mapping Firm
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Tests a Way to Follow You to the Mall (Wall Street Journal)…. Alibaba to Acquire Chinese Mapping Firm as Buying Spree Continues (New York Times)… Digital First Names David J. Butler Its Editor-in-Chief (Poynter)…
Street Fight Daily: Just Eat Orders IPO, Lyft Raises $250M
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Just Eat Joins Parade of London Tech IPOs, with $2.44-Billion Market Cap (Wall Street Journal)… Lyft Raises $250 Million From Alibaba, Third Point and Others( New York Times)… Jim Brady will leave Digital First Media(Poynter)…
Street Fight Daily: Digital First’s Thunderdome Implodes, Mobile Payments Heats Up (Again)
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Newsonomics of Digital First Media’s Thunderdome Implosion (And Coming Sale) (Nieman Journalism Lab)… Tech Titans Are Vying to Be Your Pocketbook (New York Times)… TaskRabbit For Business Service Portal Quietly Disappears (TechCrunch)…
Buttry Sees Progress for Digital First’s ‘New Model’ for Community News
Steve Buttry, the digital transformation editor at Digital First Media, began his career in community newspapers more than 40 years ago in Columbus, Ohio – as a teenage carrier. In the years since, he’s been a reporter, editor, and teacher of journalists around the world. These days, Buttry’s job is to complete the “print-to-digital transformation” of two slimmed-down “legacy” news media companies, Journal Register and MediaNews Group. To find out how it’s going, I put these questions to him…
Street Fight Daily: PayPal Nabs Uber Deal, Facebook Revises SMB Count
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… PayPal Nabs Uber Partnership in Pursuit of Mobile Marketplaces (Bloomberg Businessweek)… Facebook Expands Its Definition Of Small Business Pages, Says It Now Has 25M Of Them (TechCrunch)… Digital First Media Will Add Paywalls At Most Of Its Daily Newspapers (GigaOm)…
Digital First Partners With PaperG For Digital Ads
Digital First Media has teamed up with PaperG to build custom multi-device advertising campaigns for both desktop and mobile. The partnership allows PaperG, which automates display advertising campaigns for small businesses, to provide Digital First Media’s network of nearly 1,000 sales representatives with a full-service platform ad solution for mobile and desktop…
Street Fight Daily: FTC Reviews Waze Deal, Twitter Developing Hyperlocal Ads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… Google Confirms Antitrust Review of Waze Deal(Wall Street Journal)… Twitter is Developing Geo-Targeted Ads for Retailers (AdAge)… Paton: ‘Bad CEOs and Worse Editors’ Are Trying To ‘Kill Our Future’()…
Survey ‘Paywalls’ May Not Be as Good as They Sound for Local Media
While surveys may be a good source of revenue, it’s not a long-term solution for local news sites:There is an inherent supply-and-demand issue — not very different from the one that arises with online display ads. As more and more publishers adopt Google Consumer Surveys, Google can begin dropping its publisher payout because it has enough supply…
Street Fight Daily: Gannett Paywall Pays Off, AOL Sunsets Hipster.com
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… The Case for Paywalls: Gannett Gains While Digital First Experiments (Poynter)… More Change At AOL: Photosharing App Hipster.com Is Shutting Down (TechCrunch)… PayPal Destroys Google Wallet, MasterCard, Square, and Visa in Digital Wallet Study (VentureBeat)…
Street Fight Daily: ‘Find My Friends’ on Facebook, DFM Considers Paywall
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Facebook Is Said to Create Mobile Location-Tracking App (Bloomberg)… Digital First Media is Working on Paywalls, Even Though It Really Doesn’t Want To (PaidContent)… Will “Stalking Apps” Be Stopped? (Time)…
Street FIght Daily: Shopkick Hits Profitability, Groupon Expands Reporting
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Shopkick Says It’s Now Profitable, With Its Shopping App Adding $200M In Sales For Target, Best Buy And Others In 2012 (TechCrunch)… Groupon Unveils Merchant Impact Report, a Free Service So Merchants Can Justify Their Deal Performance (The Next Web)… AOL’s Patch to Go From Lousy Local News Network to Even Worse Community Message Board network (PandoDaily)…
LMC Aims to ‘Think Completely Differently’ About Future of Local News
“The biggest challenges for the LMC and the local news industry are concerns around transparency, viewability, and fraud, which produce disconnects between buyer and seller,” says Local Media Consortium Board Chair Chris Loretto.