Ultra-local is the future for publishing

16 April 2009

Trinity Mirror’s creation of ultra-local sites reflects the changing media landscape (nma 19 February). As with most traditional media, sales of national and regional newspapers are in decline. The old habits of reading the daily newspaper and watching the six o’clock news are dying out, as consumers now readily obtain news and other information from the web, and increasingly via mobile phones.

Yet the brand value and credibility of newspapers remains high. In the digital world, newspaper publishing groups have a fantastic opportunity to drive new revenue streams, grow their share of audience and increase reader loyalty. But key to this is the ability to successfully commercialise their product offering.

With huge competition for ad spend, the ability for newspaper publishers to offer a free advertising model is compelling. Rather than charging the advertiser to place a classified ad in the paper, publishers can now deliver classified ads to consumers via mobile phones, with each responder paying a small fee.

It’s also important for publishers to follow the example of Trinity Mirror in recognising the growing demand for local information. This provides a new opportunity to offer locationbased services for local advertisers, enabling them to exploit the location of the mobile user or the use of local IP identification with the provision of real-time, personalised offers.

It’s up to the publishing companies to make the staff and operational changes required to maximise the new media marketplace.