Venture capitalists, scrappy entrepreneurs and legacy media giants have all made forays into the hyperlocal media world. None have figured it out.
A quick definition: hyperlocal journalism is the dedicated online coverage of the stories of a particular neighborhood, postal code or interest group in a certain area. It covers the areas deemed too small for typical mass media and makes its money from sales of highly targeted online ads. Examples run the gamut from basic neighborhood blogs started by locals to Patch, which was funded by a Google executive.
Seattle is currently a hyperlocal hotbed. According to Justin Carder, the VP of business development at Instivate:
At last count, there were more than 40 independent, online-only news sites operating in Seattle, not to mention the other 40 or so corporate, big-media plays active in the area. The players range from a publicly traded broadcasting company with hundreds of employees to a three-person news start-up (ours) called Instivate to a community-focused hobby site operated by a well-off banker with an itch to better his neighborhood through civic journalism. (From Will Hyperlocal Ever Scale article on Paid Content)
As one who has some interest in the subject (I recently graduated from journalism school) I’ve been reading about how hyperlocal was going to save journalism since 2007. This excellent Fast Company article on the subject mentions hyperlocal as a trend going back to 2004 and its US$100 billion dollar potential. Five years later, where are these prospective billions? Small to medium businesses with a local focus have been extremely slow to shift their advertising budgets online. These hyperlocal news companies have jumped into a pool with no water in it.
Another big problem is that hyperlocal doesn’t scale. After a long, rainy night tracking the police helicopter, Carder finds more value in selling other hyperlocal start-ups the technology his company is building than the heave and fro of daily reporting.
So what does this have to do with the X-File
s? Only nine years ago, the executive producer of the X-Files, Chris Carter, released the first season of the show on DVD to much resistance. Common wisdom held that putting a TV show on DVD would steal money and viewers from the main product. “Common wisdom” was obviously bunkum and selling TV shows on DVD is now a multi-billion dollar business.
So what will be the “X-Files Moment” for hyperlocal journalism? How will a multi-billion dollar industry spring up, unbidden? What will be the event/product/success that precipitates widespread change in how local advertising dollars are spent? The first step will be the development of a frictionless, easy-to-use self-serve advertising platform. The self serve part is necessary because of the relatively small amount of money coming in and expense of a sales staff. However, it won’t be easy — even with a seamless hyperlocal advertising platform. Start-ups will have to create real value for local advertisers. That could take a lot more time and convincing. I want to believe that hyperlocal journalism can do this, but they haven’t found the baby alien skeleton. Yet.
Tags: advertising, hyperlocal, journalism
Fun comparison. I feel a little like Mulder sometimes as I continue to crack at the local thing on capitolhillseattle.com
re: self-serve, we just launched http://instiads.com — you want to try it out here?
I am alternately bemused and annoyed at pieces like this which conclude “nobody has figured it out.” Why are you dismissing the success some of us have found? We have an extremely healthy, profitable, growing (traffic and revenue) business with two fulltime staffers, and we’re our community’s #1 news source. There are others on the same path in our city and other cities who also are successful and growing. What “baby alien skeleton” are you looking for? To keep the X-Files metaphor going – I believe. Our community believes. So do dozens if not hundreds nationwide. Our advertisers believe.
Do those of you who dismiss us do so believing that only a replicable template that can be made plug-and-play for a gazillion communities will be considered success? This business defies templatization. THAT is your X-Files moment – strange but true. Our communities each have their own personality. Their successful neighborhood news sites have their own personalities. Those who truly serve their community – relentlessly and thoroughly, through editorial/advertising/more, will win, and are winning already.
Tracy – The baby alien skeleton would be generating what VC’s call scale and that potential $100 billion in advertising revenues that Fast Company mentioned… and it totally was to keep the X-Files metaphor going.
I didn’t mention a plug n play replicable template because obviously the entrepreneurs running these websites need to put the shoe leather in, much as you have done, to gain credibility.
Not to diminish your achievements because I can’t imagine the challenges of running a full-time hyperlocal website but do you believe the technology is there to truly take advantage of the coverage your provide? How much time is spent selling vs reporting?
These are honest questions. I really want to know.
Justin – Thanks for dropping by. Will check out Instiads.
We haven’t had to make a cold call in a long time – so the actual “selling” is more like dealing with inquiries and talking/meeting with/assisting prospective and existing clients. While business development is my husband’s main accountability, he also participates in content generation – lots of photography, in particular (from breaking-news incidents to construction sites, while I stay in ‘the office’ and keep writing/reporting without breaking away to go get a photo of something that can’t be found, oh, say, on Google Street View). And since we have become increasingly able to pay for freelance reporting and photography (as the last stairstep to hiring actual employees!) that has increased our editorial oomph as well. We produce a huge amount of content each day (averaging 12 items) as well as maintaining a detailed event calendar and also keeping watch on our community features (including our well-used forums).
Regarding the technology to take advantage of our coverage – I’m an editorial person far more than a techie (though I was a Web early adopter in the ’90s and evangelist in my TV newsroom way back when as well) so not entirely sure what you mean. We are boring old WordPress users and it does everything we and our community collaborators (the people formerly known as “the audience” who now get the chance to be so much more!!!!) need it to do.
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