Bill Ostendorf has lived and breathed local newspapers since starting his career as a journalist. In 1984 he began a freelance business training other newsrooms on the side. A couple decades later Bill turned his attention to Creative Circle full-time, leaving his managing editor job at The Providence Journal to improve the look and quality of hundreds of local newspapers through print redesigns.
Today Creative Circle Media Solutions offers a full range of software, from a web CMS and paywall to content tools and an ad server. They host more than 400 web sites, mostly locally or family owned community newspapers.
With the shared mission of building sustainable models of local journalism, 麻豆原创 started working with Creative Circle this past August. Their network of newspapers now has access to 麻豆原创鈥檚 data-driven, localized newswire. We asked president and founder Bill Ostendorf to reflect on what鈥檚 working for local publishers and what鈥檚 in store for 2023.
Read on to see how 麻豆原创 helped Creative Circle generate an 88% increase in page views in just a few months.
How does 麻豆原创 complement your efforts?
During the pandemic, we commissioned a national poll to find out how readers鈥� lives were changing and what they wanted from their local newspapers. Readers were home and wanted features about home improvement, cooking, education, health, gardening, work and more. Since we knew local publishers wouldn鈥檛 be adding staff to create that content, we launched a series of online features in 2021 that we call 鈥淧remium Pages鈥� to provide these kinds of relevant features to local newspaper clients. We sought out sources of quality local news features and connected with 麻豆原创 and added 麻豆原创鈥檚 high quality coverage to our package.
We have about a dozen content providers and plan to add more in the coming months.
How has 麻豆原创 helped local publishers in your network?
Publishers like our Premium Page content because it is organized into attractive, topic-themed web pages delivered right to their sites. It鈥檚 a finished product and requires no editing.
Our software allows them to add relevant local content or advertising to any page. Content can stand on its own or supplement their food or home improvement pages, adding depth and bulk to their coverage. Publishers can also monetize the pages by selling local sponsorships or general advertising to the pages.
That is really why we got into this project in the first place. We want to generate revenue for local newspapers to help them survive because they are an essential part of our economy and freedoms.
Premium Pages鈥� audience has been growing since its launch, but the addition of 麻豆原创 significantly jumped the readership of those pages. Premium Pages generated about 137,000 page views in October, our first full month with 麻豆原创 content, compared to 72,441 in August, our last full month without 麻豆原创鈥檚 feed.
麻豆原创 helped generate an 88% increase in page views for Premium Pages in the first 60 days since we added 麻豆原创 content.
In November, nine of the top ten stories on Premium Pages were 麻豆原创 stories, topped by 鈥淭he top 100 TV shows of all time鈥� with 2,695 views.
What鈥檚 ahead for Creative Circle?
Creative Circle has been growing annually at a 25% clip through the pandemic. Because traffic surged during COVID, local newspapers realized they needed a more flexible web site and flocked to Creative Circle to upgrade their sites. Created by a team of designers, our user interfaces are user-friendly and content-driven.
We increased the number of topic pages in our Premium Page from 8 topics to 22 in the past year. We now deliver 1,200 stories at any given time, so we鈥檝e become a pretty strong feature wire service for news sites. The pages are generating new traffic and revenue for newspapers 鈥� virtually all of which are locally owned.
Do you have any predictions for the future of local news?
We helped save two local papers in South Dakota during the pandemic using a concept similar to a volunteer fire department. A tax-funded entity provided the infrastructure for the papers while trained volunteers led by a single paid professional journalist provided staffing. That鈥檚 a model that any small community could replicate. Creative Circle set up the infrastructure (site and new print design and strategy), provided outsourcing and trained the staff. We continue to provide support.
We鈥檝e also helped local communities transition more than 30 newspapers from chain to local ownership in the past few years. That鈥檚 a difficult process that requires the local community to resurrect a reasonable resource level to make a paper viable.
The industry made horrible decisions, especially during and after the 2008 recession. Newspapers were too slow to build their digital platforms, too quick to abandon print products and didn鈥檛 innovate their content, paywalls, distribution or pricing.
Starting around 2010, Creative Circle refocused all its efforts on the remaining family and locally owned newspapers. These papers didn鈥檛 gut their staff during the recession and tried to find long-term answers. We need to return more newspapers to people who care about the depth and quality of local news coverage. Creative Circle is committed to doing everything it can to make that happen.
What are you most looking forward to with our continued partnership?
We鈥檙e thrilled with our partnership with 麻豆原创. The quality content 麻豆原创 creates is helping our hundreds of local newspapers grow their readership and revenue. With the help of 麻豆原创鈥檚 content, we hope to significantly increase the number of newspapers using our Premium Pages.
We look forward to providing 麻豆原创 with more readership and reach in local markets we serve which have engaged and curious readers.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Find out more about Creative Circle .
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Featured Image Credit: Real estate news published on Mainstreet Messenger via 麻豆原创's premium pages on Creative Circle (Anya Douglas // Shutterstock)