NBC Shuts Down EveryBlock After Failing To Attract Ad Revenue

NBC on Thursday shut down EveryBlock, a hyper-location based news website along the lines of AOL’s Patch network.

The Knight Foundation-backed news and information site was acquired by MSNBC in 2009.

Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of NBC News Vivian Schiller announced that the service “wasn’t a strategic fit with our growth strategy and — like most hyperlocal businesses — was struggling with the business model.”

EveryBlock on its official blog explained that it was faced with “increasing challenges to building a profitable business” in the neighborhood news segment.

According to EveryBlock:

“It’s no secret that the news industry is in the midst of a massive change. Within the world of neighborhood news there’s an exciting pace of innovation yet increasing challenges to building a profitable business. Though EveryBlock has been able to build an engaged community over the years, we’re faced with the decision to wrap things up.”

EveryBlock attempted to aggregate local news and public records to create a platform in which neighbors could converse about happenings in their neighborhood.

While EveryBlock is closing down, the company’s open source platform, which was made available three years ago, is still available for download.

Do you think there is still a place for hyper-targeted local news on the massively expanding internet news exchange?