Gannett to launch more than 100 hyperlocal sites
The hyperlocal market in the US is continuing to heat up. USA Today-owner Gannett plans to boost its hyperlocal presence with more than 100 sites that will see it bring together community newspapers, local television stations with its high school sports community website HighSchoolSports.net.
Gannett said that the HighSchoolSports.net hyperlocal microsites are expected to bring it and advertisers looking to target teenage athletes and their families around 9.4 million unique monthly visitors.
The initiative will begin this month in 38 Gannett media markets, including Atlanta, Washington and Denver where it has local TV stations ahead of a rollout of 60 plus sites that is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.
The idea is to build on the presence that HighSchoolSports.net enjoys in the schools sports market for its coverage of American football, baseball and soccer among other sports. The initiative will also see Gannett add national high school sports pages to usatoday.com.
Peter Lundquist, vice president and general manager, Gannett High School Sports, said: “We are combining the news gathering assets of our newspapers and television stations with the technology and school relationships of HighSchoolSports.net to create the best possible experience for users and advertisers.
“This unlocks the full value of our prep sports content for our readers and for sports marketers, including national marketers, who are increasingly looking to reach 12- to 17-year-old athletes and their families at the local and regional level.”
The hyperlocal market in the US has become a hotbed of development this year. Earlier this month it was reported that AOL plans to spend $50m to expand Patch.com nationally in the US by the end of the year.
In the UK as well there have been interesting hyperlocal developments as we reported last week with Trinity Mirror’s project based around the Birmingham Mail in the Midlands.
Read also
Outside New York, old and new media prepare to battle for hyperlocal dominance
Birmingham Mail hyperlocal project points to the future
AOL’s hyperlocal Patch sites are sweatshops, editor claims
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[...] hyperlocal efforts of AOL’s Patch.Com, MSNBC’s Everyblock.com, the local expansion announced recently by Yahoo! and Gannett, of start-ups and the local broadcasters and you start to see an increasingly saturated market [...]
[...] But these commercial failure are not deterring others from trying. AOL is powering forward as is Gannett, which said last year it would launch more than 100 hyperlocal sites. [...]