As has been reported, Yahoo is going to launch a collection of local news/content sites. Yahoo will leverage its $100 million Associated Content acquisition and may combine that with professional and traditional-media partner news content.
It goes up against AOL’s Patch, MSN Local to a lesser degree and a range of traditional media companies trying to build out local content networks. As Alan Mutter points out in an excellent piece, suddenly the online world is overpopulated with local and hyper-local blogs and sites.
Where once (hyper) local was thought to be the answer or competitive edge for traditional publishers and newspapers, now everybody’s doing it. Though not quite a “commodity” there’s now so much local information and news out there you can’t begin to track or consume it all. Mutter points to a listing of “more than 250 local sites” in the SF Bay Area alone. There are a lot of hyper-local posts falling in the forest; is anyone reading them?
Mutter’s larger point — and I totally agree — is that the easy availability of local news content will doom or contribute to the failure of online newspaper paywall strategies. He argues that instead of paywalls (at least online) publishers should focus on new products:
Instead of putting cycles into exercises like charging for access to obituaries, publishers need to focus their marketing power, content-creating resources and ad-selling capabilities on developing unique print, web and mobile products that will be valued by consumers and advertisers alike.
For anyone other than publishers of mission-critical business or government news like the Wall Street Journal and possibly the New York Times, pay walls will not fly. It is time for everyone else to move on to more productive pursuits.
Unfortunately falling revenues means that newspapers have cut editors and writers. If I were a publisher, however, I’d focus on quality and re-building the brand (you trust us, we have credibility). That doesn’t preclude content partnerships but don’t rely on content farms for much.
I’d also very much focus, as USAToday is now, on a cross-platform strategy that is mobile-centric. You also have to work on pricing and be smart and maybe creative about it: do you make mobile/iPad apps free with the print subscription? Are print and digital separate products? Is an iPad version a premium product?
Then there’s the user-experience component; it absolutely must be state of the art. Content alone won’t carry the day.
But I’ll say it again, in this noisy, noisy online world — with more noise to come on the local front — brand becomes critical. Everyone is competing for the long tail in search results, it’s time to drive some direct traffic with brand equity.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Amen Greg.
The only thing I’d argue is that one important way for publishers to build and leverage their brand is by acting more like curators and helping their readers make sense of all the noise that’s here and that is definitely coming.
Aggregate + Curate!
August 31st, 2010 at 2:02 pm
I agree that thoughtful curation — aided by Outside.in of course — is a better approach than hiring or acquiring content farms to develop fill out your content.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:04 pm
There is such an abundance of content out there and the traditional editorial teams can provide real value in this new world. People will always gravitate towards brands they know and trust. Same for advertisers.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Totally agree and that’s the opportunity in a way: to be the trusted broker of all this content as well as producer of original high quality content. Not sure the traditionals recognize the oppty however.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Many do — our partners (CNN, Trib, NYT, MediaGen, and more) get it and with all the recent noise (as you note), they’re paying much more attention to take greater advantage of it. In 2009 it was “let’s figure it out”, in 2010 it’s “let’s get down to biz.”
September 1st, 2010 at 1:13 am
Agreed, agreed, & agreed! Well stated, Greg. Mutter rocks.
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