Is the future of local media hyperlocal?

Is the future of local media
hyperlocal?
@markwoodward
head of newspaper websites
Johnston Press

Johnston Press – Life is Local
But is it hyperlocal?

Falkirk

Falkirk Herald
Peterborough

PUBLISH Falkirk Edinburgh
241NEWSPAPERS
Belfast
PUBLISH
Leeds
211 NEWS WEBSITES Dublin

Peterborough
EMPLOY OVER
5,000 PEOPLE
Portsmouth
EMPLOY OVER
2,000 JOURNOS

209 of
these

One of
these

Is the future of local media hyperlocal?

‘What I do know is that the next generation of
these leaders will be something involving
mobile, local and social…’

Eric Schmidt, CEO Google, 2011

Define hyperlocal
“Hyperlocal refers to a burgeoning number of
news websites that cover a geographically
smaller area than local, regional, or national
media. ”
Josh Halliday, SR2 Blog 2009

“Hyperlocal news is not about journalism in big
cities. It is about neighbourhoods, hamlets,
villages, towns and small cities.”
Robert Washburn, Canadian academic

Is this hyperlocal?

http://www.midsussextimes.co.uk/news/local/
early_customers_find_boots_closed_1_35652
03

Hyperlocal?
• TV region - BBC
• City – The Guardian
• Postcode – SR2
• Town – Easington Hewer
• Parish council
• 15-mile radius
• By interest – northeastgolfers, wearboxing
• Device – postcode gazette, nOtice

There is no consistent definition

• Local boundaries are not clearly defined and vary
according to:

– Individual perception
– Location
– Size of population
– e.g. regional boundaries can be considered
MY national in Scotland, Wales and Ireland
COMMUNITY
MY LOCAL AREA • As a result, definitions of community vs local vs
regional media differ by individual
MY REGION
MY NATION
UK
Source: Ofcom qualitative research 2006
10

Common Characteristics
1. More localised – both in terms of geography and types of content - than more
mainstream media outlets such as commercial radio, TV regional news, BBC
regions, or regional and local newspapers.

2. Often seeks to fill gaps - geographical, special interest or demographic – audiences
hyper-local producers see as unserved, or under-served, by mainstream media.

3. Diverse sources of funding (if any). Including: advertising, subscriptions, grants
from public and private funding bodies and in-kind funding from volunteers.

4. The value and role of community media goes beyond the provision of content,
with specific value often seen in the social capital generated by it’s production.

5. May be single issue-based, or too small for commercial operators to merit ROI.

Typology Conclusions
• No single definition; comes in many different shapes and sizes including:

– Professional - e.g. http://ventnorblog.com/

– Citizen run/produced – http://parwich.org/

– Hybrid – such as those produced by professional journalists/academics e.g.
http://bournvillevillage.com/

– Aggregator/Automated e.g. http://planetbalham.org.uk/

• Their purposes can also vary widely.

• Therefore there is no such thing as a typical hyper-local site.
Each one varies in tone, quality and ambition.

Drivers to hyperlocal
• Ubiquity of information
• Lower barriers to publishing
– Lowering costs of storage
– Technology
– Super broadband/3G/wifi hotspots
• Mobile growth
• Advertising £ towards mobile
• Long tail economics
• More you know about an individual the more you
can meet their needs

Top 5 hyperlocal issues to watch

1. Finding a proven business model
“To open a shop is easy, to keep it open is an art.”

Chinese Proverb

Context: key business challenges
For small scale hyper-local operations, like many listed earlier, key challenges include:

1. Discoverability.

2. Audience perceptions of quality.

3. Lack of single / group editorial vision and voice.

4. Funding – very few commercially viable.

5. Inconsistent coverage i.e. there isn’t one everywhere.

6. Most hyper-local content is online – so 30% of the population are immediately
disenfranchised.

Big business doesn’t necessarily find it any easier…

1.1 - Closure of
The Guardian has announced the closure of local news websites (Leeds, Cardiff, and Edinburgh).

“As an experiment in covering local communities in a new way, it has been successful and
enlightening. Unfortunately, while the blogs have found engaged local readerships and
had good editorial impact, the project is not sustainable in its present form.”

Meg Pickard, head of digital engagement
Source: http://bit.ly/hbtSJy

“Despite years of talk, hyperbole and failed experiments in “hyperlocal” journalism,
which has been championed by many including the Guardian Local staff, there remain
few concrete examples of formalised such efforts becoming commercially sustainable. …

GNM’s decision may be one more indication that there
is no future for industrialised “hyperlocal” journalism.”

PaidContent’s Robert Andrews
Source: http://bit.ly/fmUxl5

1.2 – Expansion of AOL’s

AOL expanding its Patch US local news network to 837 sites across more than 20 states.
Part of editorial expansion following February’s $315m acquisition of the Huffington Post.
Source: http://reut.rs/mvtyZf

Patch sites have also introduced blogging for the first time, with each Editor being tasked
with recruiting 10 bloggers from their community as part of integration into Huff Po. That’s
8,000 bloggers. Editor in chief Brian Farnham, gave them a week to achieve this target.
Source : http://onforb.es/eP2pbA

Meanwhile, Paid Content estimated the cost of Patch at $30m per quarter.
Source: http://bit.ly/g4IA9a

Patch claims their websites costs 1/25 of the cost of a daily newspaper in the same town.
Source: http://bit.ly/ow3zWZ

1.3 - Lessons from TBD in the US
“Hyperlocals like TBD: More hype than hope” ( http://bit.ly/h7Camr )
said failure caused by:

1. Small audiences;
2. Big expenses;
3. Small revenues; and
4. Big losses.

Rick Edmonds’ –
Six business lessons from TBD’s
early demise:

1. Branding,
2. Effective Ad Sales,
3. Filling an existing need,
4. “Pedigree does not equal strategy”,
5. “Building out big is a risk” and
6. “Fail Fast”.

1.4 Sky going local
• Tyne and Wear
• Web and mobile only
• 13 journos
• No advertising
• Brand
expectations?

2. Advertising
"Advertising is on its deathbed and it will not survive long,
having contracted a fatal case of new technology.“

Roland T. Rust and Richard W. Oliver - The Death of Advertising

2.1 – Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
Old models switch to digital

“The digital marketplace is already twice the size of the total print market and some ten times
larger than the segments of the print market Yell traditionally addressed.”
CEO, Mike Pocock

Source: http://bit.ly/lhuKLE

New models emerge
Hyper-local media buying agency Oxbury Media, has built up an ad network of 10,000
sub local newspaper publications and sites representing a 10m+ audience.
Offers to “broker advertising, by postcode, region or even village” in print and online.

2.2 – Rise of hyper-local advertising
In the US, local advertising is predicted to be the fastest growing ad sector

• BIA/Kelsey forecasts U.S. Local Digital Ad Revenues to nearly double to $42.5B by 2015.

• Up from $21.7B in 2010.

• Digital media forecast to represent 23.6
percent of all US local advertising by 2015.

• Local Search Advertising Revenues to reach
$8.2 Billion by 2015.

• By 2015, 30 percent of search volume will
be local in nature.

Sources: http://bit.ly/ijQb0I and http://bit.ly/hVPtgC

2.3 – Huge excitement over local deals

11845
h
l ttp://www
http://www

But not everyone thinks there’s potential:
“Hyperlocal audience is hypersmall audience”
• Heading from an article covering new research by Borrell Associates, a consulting firm
that tracks local advertising in the US.

• In its report, “How Unique is Unique?: Gauging the (Actual) Size of Local Web Traffic,”
Borrell surveyed 16 local websites and found overall that:

– 30% of a local website’s visitors don’t live in the market,
– 20% of page views are delivered to “fly-by” users who won’t come back for a year, if ever,

and

– the average unique visitor count overstates the number of local users by a factor of five,
meaning a site that sells local advertisers on a half-million monthly uniques is in
the end probably only delivering 100,000 local users.

Cited at: http://bit.ly/gWErpH

3. Location, Location, Location
“I like to drink to suit my location.”

Tom “What’s New Pussycat” Jones

3.1 - Location Meets Advertising
Location Based Advertising
• Predicted value $1.8bn by 2015, up from est. $43m in 2010
(ABI Research Sept 10).

• Uses a mix of GPS, Wi-Fi, and /or Cell-ID depending on the product or service, the
region, the consumers, and the location accuracy required.

• Targets users with relevant local information, and ads for local businesses.

• Google, says such ads already get 8% more clickthroughs than basic mobile ads.

Already live in the UK
• O2 customers signed up to O2 More receive messages pushed
from Starbucks and L'Oreal, regardless of handset or contract,
when they pass through locations pertinent to the companies.

• Service is opt in. Launched 15/10/10.
• No more than one message a day.

3.2 - Location Meets News
• In May Google announced the launch of a new U.S English edition feature for mobiles
called "News near you".

• The service works for Android or iPhone users, who
– once they have registered their location – can use a
default menu to tailor own news feed.
Read more: http://bit.ly/kf2eGU

Search Engine Land notes:
“Google isn’t the first to offer local news like this.
Bing’s iPhone app also has a section for local news under
the “News” tab, and CNN’s iPhone app also offers local news
(and weather) via the “My CNN” tab.”

Source: http://selnd.com/mEkDwr

Example created for someone
in Topeka, Kansas

3.3 - Location meets Social
Localmind is an iPhone app that allows users to send questions and receive answers from
fellow users about what is going on—right now—at a given location.

You check in with services like Foursquare, Gowalla, or Facebook Places you become
available to be sent a question about that location.

The service announced at the O’Reilly Where 2.0 conference that they would soon be
available on Android. They’ve also created an API.
Source: http://bit.ly/iVgLYY

Members of the Localmind community, can earn
karma points when they answer questions, or
check in, eventually moving up the ranks from being
a “Newbie” though to the highest level, (Level 4)
where you become a “Localmind Legend”.

Or a combination of the above
Information and entertainment services, accessed through mobile networks which
harness the ability to identify the geographical position of the device/user.

Characteristics
• Share your location – and status - with friends.
• Discover businesses and services near you.
• Rate aforementioned businesses and services.
• See if your friends are nearby, or invite them to join you.
• Rewards / incentives to share e.g. badges, discounts etc.

Best known examples: Foursquare and Facebook Places.
Others, often US only: Gowalla, SCVNGR, Whrrl, Loopt and Brightkite

Facebook through Facebook Deals and Facebook Places merges the advertising and social.
Director of Local, Emily White said:
“We're building a product that is social from the ground up. All of these deals are things you
want to do with friends, so no teeth whitening, but yes to river rafting.”
Source: http://reut.rs/gMmpvl

4. Democracy 2.0
"Technology is a queer thing.
It brings you great gifts with one hand and stabs you in the back with the other.”

English physicist and novelist, C.P. Snow

Does politics have an
image problem?

1. Falling turnout

2. Declining trust

3. New Scandals

4. Declining party memberships

Can the hyper- 5. Voter apathy, especially amongst the young.

local web help?

4.1 - Government encouraging interaction
“Council meetings have long been open to interested members of the public and recognised
journalists, and with the growth of online film, social media and hyper-local online news
they should equally be open to ‘Citizen Journalists’ and filming by mainstream media.

Bloggers, tweeters, residents with their own websites and users of
Facebook and YouTube are increasingly a part of the modern world,
blurring the lines between professional journalists and the public.”

Local Government Minister Bob Neill in a letter to local authority leaders
Source: http://bit.ly/ektNLF

"Opening the door to new media costs nothing
and will help improve public scrutiny.

The greater powers and freedoms that we are
giving local councils must be accompanied by
stronger local accountability.”
Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles

4.2 – Interaction by Elected Officials
Engagement by Elected Officials
East Dulwich Liberal Democrat Councillor James Barber won the award for online councillor
of the year from the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU).

He has published more than 1,300 posts and his thread on the East Dulwich Forum viewed
over 40,000 times.

“Formby First” started May
2007, by Sean Brady, a Parish
Councillor.

Formby, is a small seaside
town in Merseyside.

4.3 – Examples of Web 2 interaction
TweetyHall is an online aggregator for Councillors who tweet.

It’s primary aim is to encourage “participation and open conversations, promoting better
and more transparent communication between voters and elected representatives.”

Grassroots Reporting
• SE1 website carries AudioBoos of Southwark council meetings

• Ventnor Blog who have been live-blogging Isle of Wight proceedings since 2007.

• Inside the M60 tweets from Council and Executive meetings of Manchester City Council.

5. Data 2.0
"The goal is to transform data into information, and information into insight.”

Carly Fiorina, former Chair of Hewlett-Packard

5.1 – Open Data and Accountability
Government transparency agenda includes a commitment to make public all Council
Expenditure over £500, salaries of Public Servants earning £150,000+ and organograms.

CLG are encouraging financially literate citizens to act as ‘Armchair Auditors’
scrutinising Council expenditure in a similar manner to the way that the Guardian asked
people to help them review MP’s expenses.

Adrian Short’s
Website for the
Royal Borough
Of Windsor &
Maidenhead

5.2 – Using Data to Understand Services
Bournville News took public information but presented it in a useful way for residents, byt
producing a map of Birmingham City Council gritting routes in Bournville.

“I thought the potential grit shortage
might mean that some roads would stop
getting gritted should the cold spell
continue and knowing which roads were
meant to be gritted would be useful
knowledge.

‘Will my road get gritted?’ is an easy
question to answer since the City Council
has a alphabetical list of all the roads that
are gritted in order of priority.”

(With thanks to Dave Harte for this.)

5.3 – Using Data for Civic Action

• Residents group set up site with
help from Talk about Local and
the Council.
• Detailed discussion about traffic
data following this repeat
accident.

(Thanks to Will Perrin for sharing
this example and images)

Putting this all in context…

Hyperlocal is being shaped by –
and is part of - wider media and
technological changes …

Wider trends include:
1. More choice – more media outlets and sources than ever before

2. Personalisation tools like paper.li or Trove

3. Filters - from who you follow on Twitter, through to Google Alerts or dashboard
services like Netvibes

4. Social News – stories shared by your social network friends, or via email

5. Social Search and Social Q&A like Quora or Gootip

6. Social Bookmarking like Delicious or Digg

7. Declining trust in journalism and traditional media

8. Online communities so we can talk about, debate, question, and meet people who
think about the world in similar or different ways.

“When we change the way we
communicate, we change society.”
Clay Shirky

Is the future of local media hyperlocal?
It’s not either, or – it’s both

It’s where you live,
And where you work
And where you used to live
And your hobby

local – regional – national - international

Ones to watch
• Village Soup
• Main Street Connect
• The Alternative Press

Hyperlocal news profitable?
Online only
• The Alternative Press – New Jersey
– Cash flow positive year one
– Profitable year two
– Margin 25%
– Portal to 14 towns
– 50,000 uniques a month
– Employs freelance writers
– Teamed up with local university
• Main Street Connect - Connecticut
– 10 sites – soon to be 41
– $1m turnover first year – ‘annual visibility package’
– One journo and one salesperson per 20,000 popn
– $250 cpm
– 60 FTE editorial
– Break even in 12 months, repays investment in 24 months

Hyperlocal news profitable?
Print and online
• Village Soup - Maine
– Single cms
– 21% revenue from online
– Integrates content from pro and ugc
– Franchise (7 sites)
– Started life online only and now got print versions
– Easy self-serve admin for advertisers
– Content aimed at 25,000. ads aimed at 150,000

Thanks for listening.
And thanks to @mrdamian76.

Any questions?

Is the future of local media hyperlocal?

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Is the future of local media hyperlocal? (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Is the future of local media hyperlocal?

Editor's Notes