Gannett Tests Hyperlocal Model In Tampa

There’s plenty of experimentation going on with Web content in Tampa, Fla., which is a brutally competitive battlefield for old media and new media alike.

The market is one of 10 where Gannett Co. is launching dozens of hyperlocal Web sites, a bold and risky initiative. But there’s other activity in the No. 14-ranked DMA. TampaBay.com, the site for the St. Petersburg Times, will undergo a dramatic “reimagining” and redesign this year. And Media General is operating a “converged” site, TBO.com, for its newspaper and TV station in Tampa.

Research and consulting firm Borrell Associates is projecting that Tampa this year will rack up $202.87 million in local ad revenue, a 22% increase from last year’s $166.2 million.

In the next five years, from 2010 to 2015, Tampa’s local online ad revenue will rise 30.3%, to an estimated $294.2 million, according to Borrell.

The players in Tampa can’t afford to sit on their laurels. There are aggressive competitors in town.

Tampa-St. Petersburg has broadcast and print outlets owned by several major media players. They include not only Gannett and Media General but E.W. Scripps Co.; Fox Broadcasting; and Bay News 9, a regional cable network owned by Bright House Communications Networks; and AOL’s Patch.com.

Patch has sites in Tampa-area towns including Brandon, Dunedin, Bradenton, Sarasota and one planned for New Tampa -- an area that includes part of the city and a portion of unincorporated Hillsborough County.

Those rivals and their Web sites are all jockeying for a share of Tampa’s local online-ad market, which like most of the SunshineState is still struggling to rebound from the recession.

“You’ve got to scrap: It’s a pretty hard fight here,” said David Francois, director of new media at Scripps’ WFTS-TV site, ABCActionNews.com.

Tampa’s projected five-year online ad growth rate is a little lower than other markets, according to Borrell vice president of research Larry Shaw. Tampa is an unusual market in several respects, including its low Internet penetration, Shaw said.

“You’ve got a lot Hispanic influence in St. Petersburg and Tampa, just because of its proximity to Miami and Orlando,” Shaw said. “You’ve got a lot of tourism in this market, which makes it different than a lot of other markets. You’ve also got a lot of retirees in this market, so one of the things that has a tendency of doing is driving down the percentage of [those with] Internet access.”

Only 67% of the market has Internet access, versus markets where it can run as high as 76%, according to Shaw.

One reason for that is Tampa’s large retiree population. The market skews older demographically. The average age in Tampa is 42, older than the national average of 36.8 as reported by the 2010 U.S. Census. Some 17% of its population is 70 and older, Shaw said, and close to half its population is 50 or older.

Last fall, Gannett’s TV station division, Gannett Broadcasting, in partnership with DataSphere Technologies rolled out 40 community-focused Web sites in Tampa, where the broadcaster owns WTSP-TV. Those hyperlocal sites, branded as “In Your Community,” were integrated into WTSP’s existing Web site.

The initiative is part of a plan Gannett announced last summer to launch hyperlocal sites featuring neighborhood news and user-generated content in 10 DMAs where the broadcaster owns TV stations.

“It has just been a great way to connect with local communities and to provide content not only for them but with them -- and them for us as well,” WTSP president and general manager Ken Tonning said. “It’s a win-win, especially with the challenges we have today of reaching people with news and information that is relevant to them, where they live.”

DataSphere handles ad sales for Gannett’s hyperlocal sites, which are viewed as a growth medium because they provide smaller local businesses with an affordable, highly targeted ad platform.

“The neighborhood sites, just like neighborhood newspapers, are area where I’d expect to see a lot of expansion, especially in the online environment,” Shaw said. “It’s the one untapped area right now for online that we’re seeing.”

The goal for WTSP’s 40 “In Your Neighborhood” sites is to have at least four new posts on each of them per day, which is a rather daunting mandate.

“The biggest challenge is to make sure that we have that vibrant content on the local sites,” Tonning said. “Otherwise, people will go to it, they’ll become disenchanted and it goes away.”

Rather than hire additional reporters to provide copy for the hyperlocal sites, WTSP hired two full-time staffers who are tasked with forging ties with local media and community organizations.

“They’ll go out in the communities,” Tonning said. “They’ll meet with local radio stations. They’ll meet with local newspapers. It’s amazing that once these folks learn about the ‘In Your Neighborhood’ Web sites, they are very proactive and enthused about posting news and information to it.”