Newspaper content goes hyper-local

In their quest to better engage with readers, publishers of regional newspapers are exploiting their online potential.

Regional newspapers have accompanied their national counterparts in experiencing a long-term decline in sales. The challenge posed by other media is the most significant factor in regional titles' demise, and no medium has presented a bigger challenge than the internet.

However, while publishers initially feared the effect of the internet on their sales and content delivery, they have started to view online as an opportunity, rather than a threat. Ten years ago, the internet was seen as a way of extending reach; today, regional publishers are exploiting its potential to better serve their traditional community readerships.
Trinity Mirror is at the forefront of using digital to enhance its paper product. For the past year, the company has trialled a series of "hyper-local" sites based around postcodes in the Teesside region. The sites, linked to the Evening Gazette website Gazette Live, allow Trinity Mirror to provide more in-depth local coverage by enlisting the aid of 250 "citizen journalists". Trinity has even "reverse-published" a series of targeted newspapers that use the online copy in newspaper format.
David Black, Trinity Mirror's group director of digital publishing, says the company's hyper-local strategy is all about targeting: "We wanted to allow readers to drill down to a local market level, so we launched these postcode-marketed microsites as a test. We now have 20 sites in Teesside. The initiative is viewed as a great success and is something we want to roll out."
Black, who describes the sites as "the internet equivalent of the parish pump", says that they have tapped into a revenue seam of local advertisers. Steel manufacturer Corus, which has a strong presence in the area, has sponsored pages, while budget airline Wizz Air has used the sites to promote flights from Durham Tees Valley Airport.
Since launch, the hyper-local websites have attracted 140,000 unique users a month, and Trinity Mirror has extended the concept in Coventry. Meanwhile, rival regional publisher Newsquest has adopted a similar approach in Glasgow.
Innovative strategy
However, it is not just the big-circulation titles that are looking at local engagement. Berkshire paper the Newbury Weekly News has picked up awards for its innovative online strategy - ever since editor Adrian Martin decided, three years ago, that breaking stories in a weekly paper was no longer delivering what readers needed.
Journalists produce video reports and front a daily news bulletin, and a Newbury TV section has been given its own strand. "With IPTV, there may come a time where Newbury TV is more valuable and popular than the newspaper," Martin admits.
Commercially, the venture is a slow burn. The site attracts 5,000 unique visitors a day, and generates just tens of thousands of pounds. Martin says: "We had very little financial ambition for the site when it launched, and it was impossible to predict the value. The biggest asset is that we keep the people of west Berkshire linked to our products."
The Hull Daily Mail, which won the Best Use of New Media award at the Newspaper Awards in May, is also using the web to better engage with readers. Internet manager Nicola Ollett says the nature of online makes it more suitable for localisation. "If there is a car crash at the end of the road, people will go to the website expecting to find out more about it," she says. "In the paper, it would be a small story on page seven."
Six months ago, the Hull Daily Mail launched Thisisyourmail.co.uk: a user-generated site that divides the city into 11 hyper-local areas. Another offering where readers have become contributors is the Sporthull.co.uk website.
Ollett says: "We are integrating mobile and recently signed up 800 people in a month for Hull City news flashes. Supporters can also upload pictures and reports of Sunday league action."
Meanwhile, the Hullvibe.co.uk site, which targets 18 to 35-year-olds, has given the paper a new set of local advertisers, who have the flexibility to advertise on certain days and at particular times. Ollett points out that 33% of online users do not buy the print product, and that the paper's online audience has increased by 80% this year.
One-shot sell
But, although the new breed of hyper-local websites appeal to local businesses, national advertisers remain unconvinced. Dominic Williams, head of press at Carat, says national brands are looking for an integrated "one-shot sell", and that the standard of regional publishers' propositions is variable.
He adds: "(Trinity Mirror's regional sales arm) Amra and Northcliffe are integrating well, but others such as Johnston Press are less geared up for cross-media platforms."
Andy Devey, digital media manager at MediaVest, also believes that regional publishers' online offerings are not yet delivering the audiences required by national brands. He says: "Regional media websites are a long way behind their national counterparts, and it may be some time before the regional press website is perfected.
"Once it is, we will no doubt see a more uniform medium that delivers on and offline integration - something that is desperately needed if national brands are to place their faith in the product. As it stands, if you search for national brands in even the best of regional press websites, it is likely that you will be disappointed."
Ed Lucas, communications planner for Bristol-based Arena BLM, which represents brands such as David Lloyd leisure centres, Grosvenor Casinos and TK Maxx, says regional press appeals particularly to location-driven advertisers, such as retail.
But he is unimpressed by the hyper-local strategies from firms such as Trinity Mirror. He says: "The figures quoted from the Teesside experiment are impressive, so you have to ask why it is not putting its money where its mouth is, and introducing the strategy nationally. If Trinity Mirror hasn't bought into it, then why should we?"
Robert Ray, marketing director of The Newspaper Society, admits there is scepticism about local media. As part of its ongoing promotion of local papers, the society is undertaking research on the impact of local media and the nature of community.
Ray says: "We found that 71% of adults have taken action as a result of an ad in a local newspaper, and 53% of visitors to local sites said they trusted the advertisers there."
Ray believes national brands should take regional media more seriously. "As well as any brand having regional strengths and weaknesses in different areas, there is a real opportunity to connect with communities, whether it's Coke with football, Lloyds TSB with its Olympic sponsorship, or regional brands such as Newcastle Brown Ale."
At GMG Regional Media, Ruth Spratt, digital and broadcast director, says the publisher looks at each title individually. "Some titles, such as Asian News, have gone all-web, but you have to create a virtuous circle that takes in what advertisers and users want."
Spratt claims that engaging readers is not a problem, although making money out of digital content remains challenging. She says: "The Manchester Evening News has a hugely engaged readership, especially in areas such as sport."
Community interests
Spratt also points out that communities are not just defined by location. "Sport is the obvious example of where a community is wider than geography, but the same applies to entertainment or even restaurants."
With this in mind, the publisher has diversified, launching jobs site www.jobsmine.co.uk in January, with property and entertainment sites due to go live in the summer.
Archant is also looking to mine the classified area. Its three main classified properties: Homes24, Jobs24 and Drive24 are set to receive an advertising burst on 11 local radio stations and in the print paper, exhorting advertisers to "Look Local". The sections are served by location, depending on which of Archant's 68 online brands they are accessed through.
Ian Davies, Archant's digital development director, says: "We want to take the '24' sites into other media to build the brand. Homes24 has more than doubled its traffic to the extent where we can look to challenge sites such as Rightmove.co.uk on our local patch."
Archant has also launched a series of local directories. "This is another option for local customers," adds Davies. "The next development, to launch towards the end of the year, will be to allow stories to be mapped through geo-coding, with contextual advertising around them."
The fact that commercial spoils are slower to come is due in part to Archant's refusal to sell inventory through online ad networks. "We don't blind sell," says Davies. "All sales go through our own centres as an integrated package. We expect to quadruple our revenues online in the future."
However, according to Douglas McCabe, online analyst at Enders Analysis, such optimism could be misplaced. He says: "It's no secret that online hasn't generated the same revenue as print, but it seems hard for publishers to accept that the advertising-funded model won't ever generate the same cash as newspapers."
He adds that publishers need to remember what the core product is. Enders' research into UK advertising puts the value of a print newspaper customer at about £80 per year. By contrast, an online reader generates about £2 per year. "Publishers need to ask if that gap is ever going to close," says McCabe.
Archant's Davies says such statistics miss the point that the power of regional newspaper brands will endure. He adds: "Some newspaper brands have been around for hundreds of years. Even if you don't read the paper, you probably know the brand name, and when something happens locally, the newspaper is still the trusted source."

Stuart Derrick
Media Week
17-Jun-08