About this article
Published Online: Oct 16, 2019
Page range: 31 - 49
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2019-0032
Keywords
© 2019 Cook, C. & Bakker, P. published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Range of total annual income set against self-evaluation as viable, sustainable and resilient
| more than €355,000 | between €142-355k | between €35-142k | under €35,000 | unknown | more than €355,000 | between €142-355k | between €35-142k | under €35,000 | more than €355,000 | between €142-355k | between €35-142k | under €35,000 |
| 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
Taxonomy of business ecosystemic relationships
| Relationship | Revenue classification | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Non-monetary exchange or subsidised services | Rewarding delivery services, free use of office space, using freelance photographers for free to have their work linked and social media presences promoted, employment support in the form of salary or personal subsidies in exchange for opportunities for people to return to work | |
| Payment for additional services, financial pledges of support, monetary donations from a wide community base around a specific project or commission | Cooperative business structure, readers club, donations | |
| Ticket sales, entry fee, sponsorship, spin-out services or by reaching new audiences | Pop-up workshops, party events, conferences | |
| Revenues or cost-saving benefits, non-monetary exchange of time and skills, licence revenue model | Project collaborations, exchange of content ideas and expertise building with media know-how, acting as a front end to high-street retailers, website collaborations with local civic or tourism organisations, non-journalism projects with civic value | |
| Distribution deals, syndication, resource sharing | Exposure through parent, sister or incumbent local print publications, editorial partnerships, content sharing, data sharing, shared sales management, non-exclusive court reporting deals with public service broadcaster, advertising partnerships with regional publishers | |
| Advertising deals, advertorial, native advertising, sponsored articles, an event feature, home page takeovers, classified or listings | Discounts for repeat advertising business, incentives for long-term advertising contracts, advertorial talk show of local businesses, sponsored podcasts, classified and directory models, offering commissions to people in other organisations from lead generation | |
| Commission-based sales, profit share on revenue generated from advertising and sales, subcontracted sales, sales networks | Part-time sales also doing their own client network, commissionbased advertising salesperson, paid sales staff within the team, subcontracting to independent commercial agents, pooled resources to appoint a joint sales and marketing person with other hyperlocal services, pooled advertising inventory |
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| Country | Site | Website URL |
|---|---|---|
| Bitternepark.info | ||
| Visit Horsham | ||
| Charlton Champion | ||
| Shetland News | ||
| The Bristol Cable | ||
| OnTheWight | ||
| VIEWdigital | ||
| Blog Preston | ||
| A Little Bit of Stone | ||
| The City Talking/Hebe Works | ||
| The Ambler | ||
| The Lincolnite | ||
| Marsactu | ||
| Rue89 Lyon | ||
| Rue89 Strasbourg | ||
| Aqui.fr | ||
| Angers Mag | ||
| Terri(s)toires | ||
| Ditiswijk | ||
| dongen.nieuws | ||
| De Utrechtse Internet Courant (DUIC) | ||
| Vers Beton | ||
| Prinsenbeeknieuws | ||
| Den Haag Direct | ||
| e52 | ||
| Arnhem Direct | ||
| Liwwadders | ||
| Alphens | ||
| It Nijs | ||
| Dichtbij | ||
| Brusselnieuws | ||
| De Koep | ||
| Sydnärkenytt | Sydnarkenytt.se | |
| 321an | 321an.se |
Conceptual framework for viable, sustainable and resilient hyperlocal business models
| Classification | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Sites fulfilling a demand or perceived need for content by the audience | Likely to generate €35,000 or less. Often one-man operations working with limited resources. The Charlton Champion, UK, was created in 2010 as an addition to a sister site, 853 Blog. Both created out of passion and frustration, they continue to operate solely through the motivations of the founder. Less focus on page views and generating income but a heavy focus on investigative journalism. | |
| Able to sustain a flow of content to meet that need over time, and likely to draw some “money” as a wage, cover expenses of contributors and/or cover costs of equipment, web hosting, printing etc. | Annual income of €35,000 or more likely. More often a team operation mixing paid staff and some volunteers. The Lincolnite, UK, is an original digital start-up that is now dominating the local scene. Launched in May 2010, the website receives an average of 500,000 a month. Also runs a digital business magazine, job listings, hosts their own digital awards and ecommerce. | |
| Media can sustain a flow of content and make profit, or grow/scale the operation by investing the earned revenues | Can have varied incomes but more likely to have annual income above €35,000. Often more structured resourcing allocation. De Utrechtse Internet Courant in Utrecht has an online TV station and also makes videos for third parties. It started in 2011 and has a professional editorial and sales staff. Holding authority to account is their main objective. |