Does hyperlocal news warrant reassessment? FRANK WHELAN
IF you were following a media column between 2010 and 2014, chances are you were sold on the great wonder of hyperlocal news. In an era when users were migrating to social media for their news needs, some publishers recognised there was far less competition in local news — and local communities took on a golden goose quality.
The examples of hyperlocal endeavours were many and investors proved keen.
Perhaps the highest profile attempt came in the shape of Patch.com. In 2009, AOL acquired hyperlocal news company Patch for an estimated $7m and announced it would invest a further $50m in establishing the Patch.com network. Patch, which started with three news websites at launch, quickly had more than 100 and was set to be the biggest employer of journalists in the US.
By 2013 things were different. AOL laid off around 400 people, 40pc of the Patch workforce, and looked to sell or close 500 sites from a network that had grown beyond 900. In 2014, after Patch had cost an estimated $300m in losses, AOL spun the company off and sold majority ownership to Hale Global. Patch’s story is not unique. Back in 2005 there was buzz around Backfence.com, a hyperlocal news outfit based in Virginia that managed to raise $3m in investment. The site disappeared in 2007. In 2014 Apparrazzi appeared, an app that promised to deliver a Twitter experience based around location rather than tweeters. With no editorial oversight, the app aimed to allow users to tell their own local stories. Today there is little or no trace left of Apparrazzi, though an app development company uses the name.
There are many other apps that have great technology behind them and create a buzz in tech papers, but fail to connect with users. Aggregated content is seen as a way to increase efficiencies, but often the result lacks the local quality that readers engage with.
In 2015, hyperlocal news site Hoodline, whose beat is San Francisco, raised $1.6m, only to be snapped up by fellow San Franciscan hyperlocal news company Ripple News. Ripple, whose news app allowed local news to ‘ripple’ greater distances based on reader engagement, had previously raised $4m in Series A funding. Though operating in the same market, the two brands’ approaches — Hoodline focusing on traditional editorial while Ripple was a machine-learning driven aggregator — were poles apart.
Today, the Ripple News brand has disappeared and all references and websites redirect towards Hoodline. The more editorially-focused brand won out, though evidence of the machine learning and data-driven Ripple influence can still be seen in the company’s commercial offering. So perhaps the key to hyperlocal is an old one: Content is king.
But is content all that’s required? Content is what journalists do best and you would expect the success stories to be many. Perhaps the secret sauce is a core editorial team augmented by technology. Patch had more journalists than anyone in the market and still made losses. In 2016, with a streamlined editorial team and data-driven insights, it began posting profits and planned to expand.
In 2016, Patch editor-in-chief, Warren St John said: “In January we will do more traffic with 70 full-time editors than AOL did with 700 for most of 2013.” St John went on to say: “If hyperlocal is going to happen, technology is going to play a huge role.”
Norwegian publishing company Amedia looked in part to hyperlocal news to deliver sought-after growth in digital subscriptions. The company had over 800,000 registered users in early 2017, nearly 20pc of Norwegians over the age of 15. In such a small market, not dissimilar in size to Ireland, it realised increasing engagement and paid subscriptions with its user base would be key.
Amedia owns 62 titles across Norway. With a suite of apps for local papers and one paid subscription giving users access to all of the titles, the company included some of the key local newspaper features to engage subscribers further. The ability to post wedding photos, birthday greetings, funeral announcements and events all became a feature for subscribers. By tapping into a specifically local element that competitors couldn’t offer, the company displayed the value of subscription. There is a clear sense of the local community, despite the efficiencies delivered by the parent company.
By transferring the little things that make local newspapers special, the familiar faces and local colour, onto a digital app Amedia has managed to pass 130,000 paid subscribers from a zero starting point three years ago.
The latest news offering is coming from one of Germany’s largest publications, Focus Online. It hopes to use location data from mobile devices to give users local news. The formula for hyperlocal news has yet to be cracked, but if the past is anything to go by, the lucrative potential of engaged communities will only be tapped by a blend of strong editorial and effective use of technology.