As delivered for the 2019 Newspapers Association Managers Annual Conference July 30 Marriott Château Champlain • Montréal, QC

1. Local Journalism for Local Readers
A Shift (Back) to Community
Missouri School of Journalism
University of Missouri

2. • Collect and use the right data
• Improve your marketing skills
• Align departments around one
revenue goal
• Apply data-driven insights
• Build a culture focused on
readers
https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/reader-revenue/what-it-really-means-to-shift-to-reader-revenue/

3. 1. Build for trust
2. Organize around reader revenue
3. Focus on the reader, and the user
experience
4. Integrate and align your systems
5. Use the funnel to attract, engage
and convert users
6. Make data informed hypotheses
and decisions
7. Improve your marketing
8. Work on acquisition and prioritize
retention
9. Change your culture
10. Start yesterday
TenEasyStepstoReaderRevenue

4. ScaleisDead
*UnlessyouaretheNYTandafewothernational/internationaloutlets.
*

5. TheInternetisGlobal,NewsisLocal

6. TheInternetisInfinite
YourReader’sTimeisFinite

7. TheInternetCentralizesProfit
YouAreNotattheCenter

8. LocalReadersatLocalScale
“National and local journalism are not the same business.
The New York Times can chase scale for profit, The Centre
Daily Times can’t. Because what the New York Times has is
an audience. In State College, they have a community.”
-Me
https://medium.com/media-stack/journalisms-dunbar-number-934f60027927

9. https://www.usnewsdeserts.com/reports/expanding-news-desert/download-a-pdf-of-the-report/
NEWSDESERTS:CountiesWithoutNewspapers

10. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/07/30/newsroom-employment-dropped-nearly-a-quarter-in-less-than-10-years-with-greatest-decline-at-newspapers/
FewerLocalJournalists

11. “During the height of family newspaper ownership, in the
early 20th century, newspaper owners ….were likely to
bump into readers at the grocery store or serve alongside
them on the boards of local civic organizations.”
Madison and DeJarnette (2017) via Nikki Usher
FewerCommunityConnections

12. https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/personal-experience-with-news/
LessVisibilityintheCommunity

13. https://www.journalism.org/2014/07/10/americas-shifting-statehouse-press/
*2014 Data
LessGovernmentCoverage

14. LocalMediaarethe KeystoneSpecies
inthe JournalismEcosystem

15. Butweneedtostoptalkingaboutourselves

16. CraigslistandFacebookandTwitterandGoogleandCraigslistandFacebookandTwitterandGoogleand

18. “Following a newspaper closure, municipal borrowing costs
increase by 5 to 11 basis points, costing the municipality an
additional $650 thousand per issue. This effect is causal and
not driven by underlying economic conditions.”
Financing Dies in Darkness? The Impact of Newspaper Closures on Public Finance
Gao, Lee & Murphy (2018)
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/WP44.pdf
IncreasedMunicipalCosts

19. “We discern a significant effect—a decline of split-
ticket voting across votes for the presidency and the
Senate—from the loss of any local newspaper.”
Newspaper Closures Polarize Voting Behavior (Darr, Hitt & Dunaway 2018)
https://joshuadarr.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/8/1/51819147/darr_et_al._-_newspaper_closures_jcomm__as_accepted_.pdf
PolarizedVotingPatterns

20. “Epidemiologists rely on all kinds of data to detect the
spread of disease, including reports from local and state
agencies and social media. But local newspapers are critical
to identifying outbreaks and forecasting their trajectories.”
Helen Branswell - Stat (3/20/18)
https://www.statnews.com/2018/03/20/news-deserts-infectious-disease/
IncreasedHealthRisks

22. Fewer Local Journalists
Less Coverage of Municipal and State Government
Increased Costs & Corruption
Degradation of Local and National Discourse
Loss of Trust in Media and Institutions
Fewer Local Journalists

23. HowDidWeGetHere?

24. CommunityDoesn’tScale

25. ScottBrinker’s‘MarTech5000’

26. Wehaveshiftedcoststoourreaders

27. BadUX

28. Chasingclicks

30. https://www.emarketer.com/content/us-digital-ad-spending-will-surpass-traditional-in-2019
DigitalAdDuopoly+Amazon

31. WhatDoWeDoNow?

32. In an effort to focus its resources with fewer, more
specific shows, News UK cut the number of
podcasts it produces in half, to 22 last year. One
year in, the result: Double the collective downloads
and triple the ad revenue.
-Lucinda Southern, Digiday 7/23/19
https://digiday.com/media/news-uk-halved-number-podcasts-produces/
LessisMore

33. In the past two years, ThePost and Courier has:
• Stopped focusing on pageviews
• Started publishing fewer stories per day
• Grown digital subscriptions by 250%.
Kristen Hare, Poynter 4/9/19
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2019/how-the-post-and-courier-grew-digital-subscriptions-by-250/
LessisProfitable

34. “To what degree does that sense of community
connection relate to (media) job approval?
Quite a bit, it turns out.”
For Local News, Americans Embrace Digital but Still Want Strong Community Connection - Pew
https://www.journalism.org/2019/03/26/for-local-news-americans-embrace-digital-but-still-want-strong-community-connection/
YourCommunityisanAsset

35. https://www.journalism.org/2019/03/26/characteristics-of-communities-show-some-effect-on-local-news-habits/
CommunityDrivesTrust

36. “Organizations which design systems are
constrained to produce designs which are copies
of the communication structures of these
organizations.”
-Melvin Conway
InclusionBuildsCommunity

37. LocalControl,LocalVoices
“When corporate-wide decisions are made at a
distance from local readers, those decisions are by
definition distorting local needs — either by omission or
commission.”
- Me
https://medium.com/media-stack/local-ownership-or-local-control-83ae9d992984

38. PageviewsarenotaKPI

39. NewGoalsRequireNewMetrics

40. Targetreadersbasedonpropensitytopay

41. Direct
2 points
Local
2 points
Local News
2 points
Social Media
1 point
In-state, not local
1 point
Local Sports
2 points
Search Engine
1 point
International
0 points
Wire story
0 points
6 Points
Very Likely
4 Points
Possibly
1 Point
Unlikely
Referral
Proximity
Content
PropensitytoPay

42. Matt Skibinski, Lenfest https://centerforcooperativemedia.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/04/Skibinski-Lenfest-MSU-Presentation.pdf
BehaviorsofLikelySubscribers

43. • When did a reader last visit (R)
• How often do they visit (F)
• How many articles have they read (V)
Recency,Frequency,Volume

44. InternalSilosKillInnovation

45. • A marketing campaign targeting a specific audience
• A proposal to launch a new paid sports vertical
• Design of a personalization feature
• A research study to create an ad-free experience
Editorial & Advertising & Audience & Product
UX & Product & Development & Audience & Editorial
Marketing & Analytics & Social & Audience
Audience & Advertising & Analytics & Product

46. “The Times added 52,000 digital subscriptions, but
“significant cancellations during the same stretch” left
the Times with a net increase of only 13,000.”
- Tom Jones, Poynter
https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2019/trouble-at-the-los-angeles-times-memo-says-digital-subscriptions-way-below-goal/
RetentionisCheaperThanAcquisition

47. DataMustbeAccessibleandActionable

48. WorktheFunnel
Implicit recognition of
brand, or explicit visit.
Interest
Engagement
Choice
$
Awareness
Return visit with intent
not just a blind referral
Critical point of intervention
for publishers
Decision to buy or other
longer-term relationship
Subscription or other
commitment.

49. FindoutWhatisEngaging
• Related stories
• Specific topics
• Newsletters
• Mobile Apps
• Coupons
• Video
Implicit recognition of
brand, or explicit visit.
Interest
Engagement
Choice
$
Awareness
Return visit with intent
not just a blind referral
Decision to buy or other
longer-term relationship
Subscription or other
commitment.
Critical point of intervention
for publishers

50. • Local voices are heard and valued
• Organizational changes encourage collaboration
• UX and design improvements are strategic assets
• Teams prioritize positive not negative digital interactions
• Newsroom goals prioritize reader loyalty
• The business model aligns with the editorial mission
WhatWinningLooksLike