My local newspaper is the Hearst-owned SF Chronicle so I’m regularly pointing out opportunities I think the publication is missing. Two glaring and obvious examples (beyond a missing iPad app) are iPhone or smartphone apps — even just mobile-friendly websites — for its authoritative Top 100 Restaurants and Top 100 Wines directories:
The NY Times’ arts and entertainment iPhone app “The Scoop” is something of a model here. And there are other mobile Web/app opportunities that the Chronicle could exploit, regarding recommended local events and entertainment or local neighborhood guides for example.
If well executed these could become “go to” apps for locals on the go. Creating smartphone apps for this highly valuable content would equally create:
- Vertical and adjacent advertising opportunities directed toward consumers “on the go”
- Ad opportunities for the publication itself
- Beyond advertising, incremental revenue if the apps were sold ($0.99 – $2.99)
- Ways to reach new audiences and former print subscribers (like me) who might have “moved on”
- Social/viral exposure through mobile sharing of the newspaper’s content
- User-generated content, reviews and comments (that could be used in other ways as well)
When I’m looking for local restaurants on the go, I regularly consult Yelp, Urbanspoon and Google. If there were a top 100 restaurants app (even a usable mobile website) I would probably go there first. And if I were in a store shopping for wines (e.g., Trader Joes) it would be great to have access to the Top 100 Wine’s “bottles under $30” (even better would be a “bottles under $15.” A barcode scanner that included Top 100 Wines content is probably too ambitious.
The one caveat I would repeat is that the publisher would need to do a good job with the user-experience for these ideas to be viable; content alone won’t win. Historically, however, newspapers have not produced top-notch user experiences online.
It’s my hope, however, that Hearst will wake up and make some of this great content available to mobile users.
July 20th, 2010 at 3:06 am
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July 20th, 2010 at 3:56 am
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July 23rd, 2010 at 5:33 pm
There actually is an app that is precisely that! It is called LocalEats for .99 on the iPhone, or you can check out http://www.wherethelocalseat.com
Would love to hear your thoughts on our content, as I work for the company