Thunderdome and Beyond
International Symposium on Online Journalism
Austin, TX; April 19, 2013

2011: Where We Were
• Unsustainable cost structure.
• Too many journalists focused on production, not the creation
of compelling local content – our only competitive advantage.
• Different print designs, web designs and content management
systems from property to property.
• No common ad map on print and digital products.
• No ability to take advantage of scale.
• Not enough digital focus.
• Shortage of key digital skillsets.
• In short … too much inefficiency.

Problems to Solve
• How do reduce production needs and yet get more unique content to
differentiate our digital products?
• How do we respond quickly to national audience and revenue
opportunities without upsetting the tenuous nature of our newsrooms
and sales forces?
• How do add we create uniqueness outside of local to help improve SEO
and create audience growth opportunities?
• How do we grow digital know-how in our newsrooms in a cost-effective
fashion?
• How do newsrooms gain digital expertise in a world where changes
come by the day, not the year?
• How do newsrooms improve their cost structure and get new products
with a digital-first focus?

THE ANSWER?

THUNDERDOME

Primary T-Dome Functions
Centralization of
non-local news
editing and web
production
Creation of new
traffic- and
revenue-driving
content channel
and products
Creation of
DFM-wide
editorial support
network with key
digital
capabilities

Primary T-Dome Functions
Centralization of
non-local news
editing and web
production
Creation of new
traffic- and
revenue-driving
content channel
and products
Creation of
DFM-wide
editorial support
network with key
digital
capabilities
COST
REVEN
UE
QUALI
TY

Story Coverage
• More than 60 DFM journalists from 20-plus
papers in CT, MA, PA, NY, VT and CO
contributed to Newtown coverage.
• Thunderdome’s data, video and curation
teams collaborated with local newsrooms.
• Thunderdome filled in any gaps in what
local newsrooms could handle.
• Thunderdome made sure all of DFM knew
what Newtown content was being
produced across the company – and the
country.
• We have Thunderdome journalists in
Boston and Texas as we speak.

Real-Time News Coverage
• For major news events – planned or
unplanned – we produce real-time
coverage that includes photos, video,
reader interaction and social media
integration.
• Among the events we’ve provided
live coverage of:
– The Oscars
– NCAA Tournament opening weekend
– Christopher Dorner manhunt
– All 2012 presidential debates
– Election Night
– Supreme Court gay marriage hearings
– Boston Marathon bombing
– Texas fertilizer explosion

Non-Local News Production
• We produce a steady feed of major
non-local news stories from across
all subject areas.
• Stories are presented with a
digital-first mindset, meaning more
integration of social and
multimedia elements.
• Around major news events, we
produce special packages
integrating multiple partners and
storytelling forms.
• We are staffed 18/7 and on call
24/7.

Viral News Production
• A la BuzzFeed and Huffington Post,
we produce content designed to be
viral, focusing on lists and unique
news presentations.
• Using tools like Storify, Spundge,
Meograph and Geofeedia, we
produce content that’ll resonate
with digital news consumers.
• We produce weekly packages on
oddities around the globe,
including:
– Weird Wide World
– Corruption Chronicles
– Hollywood Gone Wild
– Bizarre Blotter

Content Curation & Sharing
• Curation is one of digital’s most important arts. We provide services that:
– Pull together multiple threads to ably summarize a major story, thereby saving the
time of readers.
– Discover interesting stories that would be of interest to the broadest possible
audience.
– Provide research to find interesting related links to major stories of the day
• We also share out 30-35 DFM articles
per day, and also 15-20 partner
articles.
• These services allow our papers to
drive additional traffic by using more
stories we think will be of interest to
our readers.

Editorial Data Development
• Data-driven content drives traffic
and requires limited maintenance,
but many newsrooms don’t have
any staff devoted to data.
• Thunderdome provides:
– Basic datasets for major news
events, i.e. elections, sports
events, etc.
– Assistance in turning acquired
datasets into effective consumer-
facing digital products.
– Training on how to do basic data
development.

Video Storytelling
• Video is becoming more and
more important to our digital
products, especially in mobile.
• But effectively producing
video content is hard, and
requires significant
investment.
• We provide the following
services:
– Video training, both technical
and creative.
– Story creation

Photo Gallery Production
• Photo galleries drive tremendous
traffic, but doing them well takes
time.
• Thunderdome produces 10-15
photo galleries per day, covering all
major subject areas.
• These galleries are produced by
the award-winning Denver Post
photo team, which has won two
Pulitzer Prizes in the past four
years.

Channel Creation & Management
• We will soon begin launching
content verticals to deepen our
sites and provide new sales
opportunities.
• Currently planned:
– Politics
– Nation
– World
– Business
– Sports
– Technology
– Opinion
– Food
– Families
– Health
– More…

Plug & Play Mobile Apps
• The world is moving to mobile –
and fast.
• Building scalable and smart mobile
apps requires significant
investment.
• Our mobile apps are currently
being rolled out across properties,
with a terrific review coming from
no less an expert than Mario
Garcia.

Training
• We provide training on skills
such as:
– Social media
– Video shooting and production
– Data/infographics development
– Curation
• We also specialized training on
new digital tools, such as:
– Spundge
– Storify
– Tout
– Meograph
– Geofeedia
– More…