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  • Special Report: Apps

    The app genie is out of the bottle. Local news organizations have moved past the stage of merely having an app and are moving on to the tricky challenge of monetizing those apps, and to do that, they will have to build on the momentum of local mobile search, unlock the power of geolocation and push for better app metrics. Part one of a two-part series. Tomorrow: Part two of the special report will focus on content. More | Add comment

  • Digital DMA: WVBT Raises Ante In Norfolk Digital Battle

    In a market that spreads across 10 cities and has a heavy military presence, two newspapers rule the digital roost, but the area’s TV stations, which expect to see a 65% rise in online revenue by 2015, are trying out new ways to bring more visitors to their websites. Among them is LIN TV-owned WVBT, which has launched an online-only show about the local entertainment scene. More | Add comment

  • AppCheck: Cocktail Compass Pours A Round Of Revenue

    The Portland Mercury's Cocktail Compass barfinder app is not only helping users find nearby watering holes and drink specials but it's also helping the alt weekly use its extensive trove of bar listings to generate new revenue streams. More | Add comment

  • Site Specific: Classifieds, Video Help Seven Days Thrive

    Burlington, Vt.-based alt weekly Seven Days built a decent online following on the strength of its quirky, personality-driven video series "Stuck in Vermont," and has turned the site into a money maker primarily from display ads and classifieds. More | Add comment

  • Exec. Session: Alt Weeklies Tap Roots To Drive Web Rev

    Alternative newsweeklies may have gotten off to a slow start on the digital front, but according to Tim Keck, publisher of Seattle's The Stranger and Portland, Ore.'s Mercury, such newspapers can draw on their iconoclastic voice, strong local entertainment coverage and close relationships with local businesses, to take the online lead in their communities and build their online revenue. More | Comments (1)

  • Agile Alt Media Adapting to Digital Challenges

    Like all media entities, alternative newsweeklies have taken their hits over the past few years but now they are taking advantage of their flexibility and experimenting with social media, video and blogs in an effort to catch up in the digital world, and in some markets, challenge the local daily for dominance. More | Add comment

  • Online Metrics Take A Step Closer To Standardization

    Plagued by inconsistent measurement systems, the industry is seeking to standardize online audience measurements. The IAB, ANA and 4As are working on the Making Measurement Make Sense initiative that could hellp boost digital and cross-platform ad growth. More | Add comment

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Special Reports

  • Apps: The app genie is out of the bottle. Local news organizations have moved past the stage of merely having an app and are moving on to the tricky challenge of monetizing those apps, and to do that, they will have to build on the momentum of local mobile search, unlock the power of geolocation and push for better app metrics.
  • Daily Deals: Local media companies are turning to white-label platform providers so that they can build their own brand in the marketplace and potentially make more money.

Industry Calendar

February 2012
Mo
We
27-29
SNPA, Inland Press Association, Local Media Association, and Texas Press Association.
Key Executives Mega-Conference
San Antonio, TX
March 2012
Tu
Th
13-15
American Cable Association
ACA’s 19th Annual Summit
Washington, D.C., DC
April 2012
Fr
13
National Association of Broadcasters
NABShow
Las Vegas, NV

Net Essentials

AppCheck: Cocktail Compass
Happy Hour App Pours A Round Of Revenue
NetNewsCheck, Feb 14, 2012, 6:43 AM EST
The Portland Mercury's Cocktail Compass barfinder app is not only helping users find nearby watering holes and drink specials but it's also helping the alt weekly use its extensive trove of bar listings to generate new revenue streams. Full Story | Add comment
AppCheck: Chicago Sun-Times
App Aims To Corner Second City News
NetNewsCheck, Feb 7, 2012, 6:45 AM EST
In Chicago, daily newspaper the Sun-Times is making its mobile push with a content-heavy smartphone and tablet app powered by Inergize Digital's News Synergy. The app currently draws its revenue through exclusive sponsorship deals, but geotargeted display ads and deals could be on the horizon. Full Story | Add comment
AppCheck: Catalist
Twitter-Centric Ky Cager App Gets In Game
NetNewsCheck, Jan 24, 2012, 7:10 AM EST
In Kentucky, college basketball is king and the University of Kentucky Wildcats are an obsession. Into that environment steps a new narrowly focused free app from Schurz Communications: Catalist, which montors Twitter for all things Wildcats, gathering tweets from players, coaches and even recruits. Full Story | Comments (1)
AppCheck: Meporter
Enhanced UGC App Plays Up Mobile, Location
NetNewsCheck, Jan 17, 2012, 6:38 AM EST
Last year, Andy Leff turned a five-year-old hunch about user-generated content into Meporter. The app allows users to turn their phones into all the tools they need to create and publish news stories. Meporter also allows citizen journalists to use their phone's geolocation features to pinpoint where they are reporting from. Full Story | Add comment
AppCheck: KHOU for iPad
Social Embed Makes Houston News Stickier
NetNewsCheck, Jan 10, 2012, 6:47 AM EST
Belo's KHOU in Houston has embedded Facebook and Twitter features into its iPad news app, giving users a full mobile social media experience and enticing them to stay with the app much longer than the average three-minute visit. Full Story | Add comment
AppCheck: Hearst Newspapers
IPad Apps Make Room For Content, Visuals
NetNewsCheck, Jan 3, 2012, 6:20 AM EST
Hearst Newspapers, looking for a head start in the app world, has launched subscription-based iPad apps for its four major dailies — the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News and the Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union — built on company-created architecture that takes advantage of the Apple tablet's capacity for visuals and room for expanded content. Full Story | Add comment
AppCheck: News360
App Mines Social Sites To Customize News
NetNewsCheck, Dec 20, 2011, 6:52 AM EST
News360's free app mines users' Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus accounts to customize a news feed that's catered to their tastes. The company is eyeing an ad share plan with content providers as a potential revenue stream. Full Story | Add comment
AppCheck
Photos Go Social With Geotargeted Trover
NetNewsCheck, Dec 13, 2011, 6:44 AM EST
A free app for iPhone, Android and desktop uses geotargeting to let users share photos of places they come across in their travels and use other's images to explore neighborhoods. Trover also could be a potential platform for location-based deals. Full Story | Add comment
AppCheck: WRAL
WRAL App Wins With Simplicity, Interactivity
NetNewsCheck, Dec 6, 2011, 6:45 AM EST
Users of WRAL-TV (Raleigh, N.C.) pioneering news app can check the news, weather and sports, as well as submit photos, video and email. They can even click to call the newsroom with tips. The station, which launched its first app with Sprint in 2004 and its first iPhone app in 2008, recently added a premium option for its popular 'Behind Bars' vertical. Key to the app's success, WRAL says, is a simple interface and lots of interactivity. Full Story | Add comment
AppCheck: Hopstop
Tailored Routes, Geotracking Power Map App
NetNewsCheck, Nov 29, 2011, 7:05 AM EST
The two-year-old Hopstop, a free app that uses geotracking and data from nearly 500 transit agencies to help users find pedestrian and public transportation routes to navigate city streets, has built its revenue model on geotargeted display ads, coupons and deals. Full Story | Add comment
AppCheck: The Weather Channel
App Makes Weather More Visual, Social
NetNewsCheck, Nov 22, 2011, 8:46 AM EST
The Weather Channel is pushing the envelope with its new app, which uses geolocation to deliver up-to-date forecasts to users wherever they happen to be. The app also holds lessons for local stations looking to expand their weather franchises. Full Story | Add comment

Today's Top Stories

Classifieds

The Market

Symbol Last Change (%)
Nasdaq 2935.45 -13.12 (-0.44%)
NYSE 8102.76 -12.67 (-0.16%)
S&P 500 1358.46 -3.75 (-0.28%)
Updated 02/22 3:26p ET Quotes delayed at least 20 mins.
Source: Financial Content
Opinions
Features
Ideas
  • For Future Of News, Killer App Is Credibility

    Robert Hernandez, an assistant professor of professional practice in journalism at USC Annenberg: "With technology empowering everyone with the ability to create and to distribute, I predict — and wish — that in 2012 the new dominating factor will be Credibility. Actually, earned Credibility."

  • Layoffs, Cutbacks Lead To News Deserts

    Tom Stites: "Desertification is on the march, claiming more and more communities as newspapers continue to wither and few Web efforts manage to replace more than a fraction of the original reporting that newspapers have abandoned."

  • Moneyball: Fixing Newspaper Web Sales

    Mel Taylor: "Today's Newspaper industry is like that once great, but now struggling baseball team playing on a new, hyper-competitive field called the Internet. The veteran print team is stuck in a rut using the same, tired strategy that did serve them well for years, but no longer. Today, they get trounced by those with more money and muscle."

  • You Should Only Work This Hard If You Own The Business

    Howard Owens, digital media pioneer and author of HowardOwens.com, writes on Patch editors: "But here’s the thing about the work load for Patch editors: They’re not owners. They are expected to do all of the things they would have to do if they owned their own web sites, but merely in service of building wealth for AOL shareholders. Sure, work hard and keep your job is a nice benefit, and as a former corporate employee I think employees have an ethical obligation to help build shareholder value. That’s what they’re paid to do. ... However, if what we’re hearing is true about the Patch workload, I can only ask: Why are you doing it?"

  • The Metric For Missed Expectations

    Matthew Shanahan: "Here’s the problem: [Click-through rates don't] take into account audience engagement, not to mention the fact that other advertisers are competing for the click-through on the same page."

  • Debate Over Naming Commenters Rages On

    Eric Pfanner on real-name commenting policies: "The complications are enormous. Even self-contained Internet services like Facebook have had difficulty enforcing 'real name' systems. To achieve this on the borderless Internet would be impossible."

  • Communities Lose Out When Papers Close

    Author Ken Doctor on MediaNews Group's decision to consolidate its Bay Area newspapers: "It isn’t simply the sad loss of middle-class journalism jobs, as lamentable as that is, just as so many other good jobs that have disappeared in recent years. It’s a community loss, and points to the wider impact of news cuts on the society in which we live. That’s often forgotten as we focus too narrow on industry loss."

  • Why AOL Should Double Down On Patch

    Maxwell Wessel, member of Harvard Business School think tank Forum for Growth, on AOL's Patch: "Patch is AOL's last, best chance to build a growth engine. Investors shouldn't be calling for AOL to back off the business. They should be calling for AOL to double down ... by increasing commitment."

  • News Orgs Should Use Innovation As A Tool

    Frédéric Filloux: "News organizations ... should view innovation as their main weapon against direct competitors and emerging players such as tech startups."

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