

Ask HN: Can local online news be disrupted? - patrickcb

I don&#x27;t think online local news and communities are as developed as they could be. I think a new unique site can be developed for individual cities that offering something other than the usual what&#x27;s on&#x2F;guides&#x2F;local deals.
Ways I feel it can be improved:<p>- A Youtube channel that produces short form documentaries (similar to Vice) to compete with local news, aimed at a younger audience.<p>- Work with brands through promoted content (similar to Buzzfeed) rather than banner ads and blatant advertising.<p>- Partner with tech companies solving local problems such as Homejoy, Uber and Blue Apron.<p>- Develop a community of people (similar to Product Hunt) that are passionate about the town&#x2F;city.<p>- Push this content out through dedicated and effective social media channels. @DiscoverLA on Instagram is a great example.<p>Can local news be disrupted? What would you like to see on a website for your local area? What would keep you coming back?
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valarauca1
Local new likely can't be disrupted because its existence tailors primarily to
those who shun modern technologies. Therefore using new tech to "disrupt it"
fundamentally fails to understand your target audience.

For example the "Average" viewer of local news only watches for ~6-12 minutes
if you throw out the 60+ demographic which will watch 70min+. On top of that
viewer engagement is typically 50-60%, once gain if you throw out the 60+ demo
which reaches the 90-95% engagement local news likes to brag about.

The 18-29 and 29-39 demo's only have high >70%/90% engagement for
traffic/weather. Most other categories are <50-60%

The "core" audience local news is tailored too are people who watch news not
to gain news, but to be entertained by news. This is also shown by most 18-29
demo believes that news doesn't report in-depth enough, while the 60+ demo
feels there aren't enough stories in a given time block.

Young crowd wants journalism, old crowd wants to be entertained.

~~~
patrickcb
Thanks for the feedback, really interesting points.

I'd be specifically talking about online local news.

With that being said, could a Youtube channel producing short-documentaries
similar to Vice's highly successful format engage the 18-29 demographic on
local issues? As this news would be more in-depth and as you said this appeals
to a younger demographic.

What about online websites for local news too? Do you think they can be
improved? Currently the local websites near my city (Manchester, UK) only
publish restaurant deals, reviews and unimaginative news.

~~~
valarauca1
The problem is, at least the western world. The local news isn't news. Nothing
actually happens in our back yards, restaurants open/close, local man gets
divorced, local elections, local women fights telephone pole placement, etc.

As you limit your content to ~50km you limit what you can report on, and most
of it, surprisingly isn't that interesting. CNN airs news 24/7 from around the
world, and even they have to greatly hype stories to fill all their air time.

And on top of all of this political partisanship with news. You will easily
lose 50% of your audience for reporting on a story "wrong" or in disagreement
with somebodies political opinions.

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davismwfl
Yes, I think it can be. I feel the reason no one has yet been successful is
that the cost to do so is likely very high, even using local volunteers. Many
people try to solve local news, local events type problems. Even Google and
Yahoo want to solve this as it really is something that can drive user
engagement.

The problem is it takes significant man hours to make local news, events
relevant daily. If you just look at your local news, cut out all the
sensationalizing around each crime/victim, the news boils down to about 6-10
minutes of real news, 3-5 of which is your local weather, the other few
minutes is usually something the local station is doing in the community or
highlighting, like a local teacher etc. They repeat the same news cycle about
every ~6 hours, usually 6am, noon, 6pm and 11pm. I believe they use this
formula in part because the can centralize research and collection of news
stories around the local police, jail and city/county daily publishings, and
then hammer it home for a 24 hr cycle. The formula works too because a lot of
people will watch that type of content and they are hitting different
demographics with each time slot.

So IMO to properly solve this problem, it would take significant local
presence to collect, and organize the happenings around the city/area,
assuming you wanted to differentiate some from local news. Then you have to
get it published in some meaningful way where people can search it, use it and
receive value so they will return again. This takes significant production in
a short window.

Also, as I think a lot of sites/people have found out, the build it and they
will come just doesn't work. Volunteers just won't start adding their content
to a site because it exists, there has to already be a following or there is
no benefit. Same for companies willing to sponsor a persons time to do this,
if there is no audience to sell to, why would they dedicate the dollars to do
it. So it is up to a central group/company to create the local following first
then it can expand with the aid of others, but initially it would require
significant labor, time and money. Multiply this by the number of local areas
and you start to see that while doable it is definitely a large problem to
tackle.

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neduma
Patch.com nextdoor.com

