Yesterday MSNBC acquired hyperlocal startup Everyblock for an undisclosed sum, but believed to be in the low millions.
Everyblock aggregates publicly available information by locality, for example police reports, restaurant inspection data, community service releases and more. It’s not a hugely innovative service, but it does offer a low cost, hyperlocal model that actively competes with local newspapers.
The entry by a television network into the hyperlocal space through acquisition isn’t terribly surprising, but it could be the start of an interesting trend: TV networks owning local news online in place of local newspapers.
Television isn’t immune to the downturn, and advertising has declined in the sector. Compared to the newspaper industry though, they are mostly worlds apart. Smarter, newer television networks (although MSNBC is a division of NBC, they are newer) are more nimble in production and management, vs the newspaper industry that is still heavily burdened by archaic management and oversight structures that unfortunately for the sector end up burdening acquisitions and in house hyperlocal plays.
Whether television networks can make a go of hyperlocal is another matter: the notoriously difficult space is paved with the bodies of startups that have failed. Likewise though the leverage opportunities may give the networks a strong base from which to become successful hyperlocal players. Either way, the days of local newspapers will continue to be numbered, and someone or something will fill the void.
