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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

2月 2012
27-29
SNPA, Inland Press Association, Local Media Association, and Texas Press Association.
Key Executives Mega-Conference
San Antonio, TX
3月 2012
13-15
American Cable Association
ACA’s 19th Annual Summit
Washington, D.C., DC
4月 2012
13
National Association of Broadcasters
NABShow
Las Vegas, NV

Net Essentials

Site Specific: Seven Days
Video Series Turns Moneymaker For VT Site
NetNewsCheck, Feb 13, 2012, 5:56 AM EST
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. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: Capitol Hill Seattle Blog
Tech Upstart Backs Into Hyperlocal Coverage
NetNewsCheck, Feb 6, 2012, 6:57 AM EST
Capitol Hill Seattle Blog founder Justin Carder wasn’t planning on building a media business when he launched his Seattle-based hyperlocal site in 2006, but the blog quickly picked up a healthy stable of display ads — despite Carder’s disdain of ad salespeople. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: Examiner
CBS Local Deal Opens Doors For Pureplay
NetNewsCheck, Jan 23, 2012, 6:50 AM EST
Examiner.com, the Clarity Digital Group-owned local-content network, has opened up new audiences with a recent deal to provide its vetted user-created content on niche topics to CBS Local. The deal also creates new revenue streams for the network, adding to what is already drawn from display ands and sponsored content. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: ARLNow
Va. Site Capitalizes On Comments, Curios
NetNewsCheck, Jan 16, 2012, 6:04 AM EST
Using comments as a measure of audience engagement, local news site ARLNow, started by former TV man Scott Brodbeck, is much more in tune with its Arlington, Va., audience than the area's two sites from AOL's Patch hyperlocal network. ARLNow regularly logs dozens of comments for each of its stories. Now the site, which covers everything from community news to local curiosities — inluding a rapper who takes on topics such as incandescent light bulbs — is looking to grow within the next year. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: The Tucson Sentinel
Az. Nonprofit Stands Guard Over Local News
NetNewsCheck, Jan 9, 2012, 6:23 AM EST
Dylan Smith, founder and editor of Internet pureplay the Tucson Sentinel, has his own boots on the ground covering topics relevant to his audience, such as border issues and the environment. Despite its small revenue stream, the Arizona nonprofit sees itself as better suited to survive the news industry's turbulent transition to the digital world than the area's bigger traditional newspapers. Full Story | Comments (1)
Site Specific: Newport Now
R.I. Pureplay Flips Trend With Legacy Buy
NetNewsCheck, Dec 19, 2011, 6:38 AM EST
In Rhode Island's tony tourist town, Tom Shevlin, the founder of local news site Newport Now, turned the usual digital story on its ear by buying the town's print weekly after leaving the paper to start the site. The union has been a success so far, earning nearly half a million dollars in annual revenue. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: Noozhawk
News Pureplay Aims High In Santa Barbara
NetNewsCheck, Dec 4, 2011, 6:08 PM EST
Noozhawk might not be the sexiest name for a local news site, but when it comes to Santa Barbara, Calif., the ad-supported site, launched by a local newspaper veteran, lives up to the name, digging deep into the city's civic landscape. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: The Batavian
Color, Comments Drive Upstate NY News Site
NetNewsCheck, Nov 28, 2011, 7:35 AM EST
In the small New York community of Batavia, local news site The Batavian — which started life as an experiment for Gatehouse, but has since gone independent — has thrived on a mix of breaking news, photography and display advertisements. Full Story | Comments (1)
Site Specific: Berkeleyside
Berkeley Pureplay Scratches A Niche
NetNewsCheck, Nov 21, 2011, 6:59 AM EST
In Berkeley, Calif. — known for its strong liberal streak — Berkeleyside, created by three veteran journalists, has carved out an online space by finding a formula to covering every aspect of the Bay Area community and engaging its readers. [Updated] Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific
Road Traffic Drives Web Traffic at WTOP.com
NetNewsCheck, Nov 7, 2011, 6:20 AM EST
For WTOP.com, the website for Washington, D.C.’s 24-hour headline news radio station, helping the region's drivers navigate around traffic snarls has boosted site visits. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: Gothamist
A New York Pureplay That’s Pure Confidence
NetNewsCheck, Oct 17, 2011, 7:26 AM EDT
New York City's Gothamist is thriving with an average 2.5 million unique visitors each month reading its eclectic brand of voice-forward reporting and aggregation geared to the young and well-heeled. Its success has allowed it to spin off sister sites across the country and around the globe. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: Sacramento Press
News Pureplay Spawns Agency, Ad Network
NetNewsCheck, Oct 10, 2011, 6:58 AM EDT
Sacramento Press didn't stop at creating its content management system or digital media service, it started its own digital ad agency, the Sacramento Local Online Digital Ad Network, which connects 63 area sites ranging from blogs to the local PBS and NPR sites for coordinated digital ad buys. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: The New Haven Independent
Hard News, Events Drive Independent
NetNewsCheck, Sep 19, 2011, 7:13 AM EDT
In Connecticut, The New Haven Independent caters to an audience that is more in tune with hard news, the news site is sponsoring discussions that stem from its content, bringing newsmakers together in public forums with a live audience. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: The Bay Citizen
Bay Citizen Blazes Local Nonprofit News Trail
NetNewsCheck, Sep 6, 2011, 6:52 AM EDT
Nonprofit news site The Bay Citizen got a jump start to success early in its life with a unique content relationship with The New York Times that provides two pages of local news for the newspaper's Northern California edition. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: Baristanet
A Hip, Well-Heeled Hyperlocal Approach In NJ
NetNewsCheck, Aug 22, 2011, 6:39 AM EDT
Baristanet -- launched in 2004 with a $6,000 investment by novelist and former New York Times columnist -- is bringing a coffeehouse, DIY-style of hyperlocal news to its audience of affluent, educated, largely female readers in New Jersey. Full Story | Add comment
Site Specific: MinnPost
Political Focus Powers Nonprofit News Brand
NetNewsCheck, Aug 8, 2011, 7:22 AM EDT
In Minnesota's Twin Cities, MinnPost, launched in 2007, has built a news brand -- and a loyal following -- around political coverage and commentary. The nonprofit news site is now working on finding a sustainable buisiness model. Full Story | Add comment

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The Market

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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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