We recently looked at Seattle's hyperlocal ad trends and identified some of the ways that independent community sites are leading the way in creating sustainable business models for advertising supported local news. We've seen scant evidence that big media has learned from any of this -- to date, the typical Seattle big media hyperlocal advertising effort is practically nonexistent while the worst are driven by third-party managed boiler rooms that leave long-term sustainability and present-term SMB relationships shredded in their path.
Fortunately, on the content side of the equation, there are signs that big media can have a positive role to play in hyperlocal news. We have been exceptionally hard on Seattle's big media efforts in hyperlocal news and information gathering. But Seattle's big media has done some things that are exceptionally hard on the hyperlocal environment.
Now there are signs that, when it comes to the quality and, yes, even quantity of hyperlocal news, big media operations are learning. Seattle's trends around big media collaboration with community news sites now show some signs of hope. The trends fall into the following categories:
- Partnership
Seattle's surviving daily newspaper leads the way in this category having expanded its partnership to 16 community news sites in the area -- four of which, we're proud to say, are Neighborlogs sites. The Seattle Times partnership is less than a year old and still in a very preliminary state. It mostly focuses on featuring links to the community news sites on the Seattle Times homepage and from related Times coverage but there is also more and more effort and planning being put toward shared resources and collaboration. Will revenue opportunities follow? Stay tuned.
- Powered By
In its move to an online-only existence, the Seattle PI seems a natural partner for independent community news sites but for awhile, it looked like the PI was going to compete with these sites, not embrace and extend them. Now a wiser, friendlier strategy seems to be afoot as the site has begun partnering with local neighborhood efforts by creating 'Powered by' sites like this Wallingford example powered by our pals at Wallyhood.org
The strategy is a little wacky -- not really sure why the PI feels it needs to simulcast the content vs. finding a way to monetize the traffic on the partner site -- but it's a better start than the 'Compete' strategy the PI initially rolled out in other parts of the city when they tried to use free labor to go head to head with community-driven independent news sites. In the meanwhile, the indie sites like Wallyhood and MyGreenLake -- both InstiAds partners with us, by the way -- is exposure to an audience that maybe hasn't found them yet but will be easy converts to their daily, community-focused news coverage.
- Academia
What labor pool could be more attractive to big media? Free or cheap content created by journalists in training seems irresistible to big media. And the effort doesn't have to be entirely cynical. Large media might be able to provide students with resources, training and, gulp, maybe even some money for their work. The collaboration announced between the NY Times and CUNY is one high profile example. The efforts in Seattle at this point are much, much smaller and relatively informal. And they're not all big media-focused. Here's the fruit of one collaboration on nationally known Seattle hyperlocal news site West Seattle Blog. We've seen other 'partnerships' appear at other area schools and expect the trend to continue and, likely, formalize as money and resources are brought into play. Will the effort be worth it? While the talent pool is tantalizing affordable for big media, the work required to collaborate on any kind of truly educational level with students likely outstrips the savings. Add to that the limited schedules of students and the shifting in and out of staff from semester to semester, and you end up with an environment that becomes much less attractive to bottom-line focused corporate media entities.
- Compete
We have to include this category as some of the efforts receiving the most press and investment lately depend on it. Fisher Communications experiment in Seattle with a KOMO-centered string of community sites is powered by a Washington State tech company called DataSphere. DataSphere proudly states in its marketing materials that its business is to "improve site monetization... with minimal investment of time and money." Unfortunately, their method of site deployment leaves KOMO in a protracted ground war with deeply entrenched, highly dedicated community news sites. This battle forces KOMO to do humiliating things like this to try to create local content on its sites:
Wanna write about Capitol Hill?
We are looking for people who live or work on Capitol Hill who want to write about their community and contribute to this blog.
Whether you're interested in writing about restaurants, history, local business, people, pets, fashion or even just snapping a few photos, we want to hear from you!
Send us an email at communities@komonews.com and we'll get you blogging!
We have yet to see more than a very small handful of posts across the 40-some KOMO neighborhood sites from anybody other than a KOMO employee. Seems the compete path might not be working. Maybe check out the other three?
