Innovation Starts Here:
The New Era of Local Journalism

One major innovation from the sector has been the development of the Public Notice Portal – an initiative from the local news media sector to further promote public notices to communities and enhance local democracy by harnessing the sector’s massive online audiences. Find out more.

Amazon has partnered with Reach’s proprietary ad tech Mantis to leverage contextual customer data to support more targeted and relevant online advertising.

Mantis is an AI-powered tool originally developed for brand safety to prevent brands from appearing next to potentially harmful or inappropriate content. Reach has continued to develop Mantis’s capabilities, allowing it to place ads alongside contextually relevant content, enhancing the precision of targeted advertising. This partnership is among the first of its kind in Europe.

With the rapid growth of digital, publishers have adapted their businesses to respond to rapid changes in the marketplace. Newsquest for example has repositioned its advertising sales teams to be local digital marketing agencies so they can help local businesses with a wide range of digital marketing solutions, including advertising on its websites.

LOCALiQ works with thousands of SMEs throughout the UK helping them get the best out of their marketing and provides a broad range of digital solutions including SEO, online display, video, social, digital PR, as well as paid search.

Iliffe Media has announced a new partnership with Smartico to introduce technology to rebuild print advertisements to make them suitable for use on websites.

The technology extracts all the relevant data from the print ad and then enriches it with images, data, and text from the web, using a mixture of AI and human work to do so.

Reach’s work to develop direct relationships with readers using WhatsApp was recognised in the Best Idea to Encourage Reader Engagement category at the INMA Global Media Awards in April.

In its entry, published on the INMA website, Reach said: “Changes to Twitter, Facebook, Google and the growth of platforms like TikTok, Snapcha and Instagram have left publishers struggling to drive sustainable revenue streams from large audiences.

“After months of research, building prototype systems and taking learnings from newsletter publishing, Reach launched its first wave of WhatsApp Communities delivering news, sport, entertainment and one-off events directly to thousands of people – with no algorithm.”

With the fast evolution of media consumption habits, local publishers are rethinking their business models to keep pace. The Inverness Courier, a bi-weekly newspaper with a 200-year legacy in the Scottish Highlands, faced the challenge of shifting from print to digital while maintaining relevance among younger readers. With under-35s rarely buying print and 80% of revenue still reliant on print sales, the title needed to embrace change to secure its future.

The Courier joined initiatives like the Google News Initiative and FT Strategies to jumpstart digital transformation. They introduced a paywall to drive digital subscriptions and explored new ways to connect with audiences, including newsletters tailored to user interests. Within six months, they had amassed 25,000 newsletter subscribers. The team tested different messaging on digital platforms and offered promotions aimed at younger readers, fostering a culture of rapid experimentation and learning with minimal financial risk.

Internally, a skills audit highlighted gaps in video production, graphic design, and data visualization – areas critical to boosting digital engagement. By leveraging existing social media expertise, the Courier expanded its digital subscription base to 3,000 paid users, creating a revenue stream that did not exist before these efforts.

National World and Waymark, a company that uses AI video creation technology, have signed a local advertising deal that will feature Waymark’s Generative AI technology to allow National World’s digital and regional news outlets to sell affordable video ads to local businesses across the UK.

Through this partnership, National World can now offer its customers the ability to create high-quality commercials with professional voice-over in five minutes or less.

Newsquest have developed an AI tool called DotDash News creator which can draft, “trusted stories from trusted notes.

This tool is central to our innovative approach, which includes the establishment of a safe ‘human-in-the-loop’ workflow. This critical step ensures that while we leverage the efficiencies of AI, we do so without compromising the quality and integrity of our journalism.”

Newsquest said in its entry for digital initiative of the year at the Regional Press Awards. Newsquest have also created AI-assisted reporter roles, a first in the industry, to utilise this tool. “This has allowed our traditional reporters to shift their focus to ‘human touch’ journalism and more in-depth content tailored to our loyal audience, enhancing our overall output of compelling, local news.”