Suburban media haven’t made much of an impact on the Internet. It typically suffers from limited resources, and hasn’t been able to provide the metro-wide reach that retail advertisers and others require. The bottom line: suburban media earns far less per capita from their Web sites than metro papers.
But suburban media has some things going for it: strong demographics, unique coverage that can’t be commoditized by the portals, and better relationships, in some cases, with core advertisers. Thanks to population shifts, it has also been growing, a little, while Metros have begun declining. The newfound ability to aggregate classifieds online from other local sources, a la Oodle, also puts suburban media on more of an even keel with the Metros.
Other factors working in favor of the suburban media companies: they have historically been controlled by families (or by adjacent metros). These are just now selling out to well-financed corporate interests, just as many Metros sold out a generation ago.
The Boston Globe Suddenly Gets Surrounded
And all of a sudden….major Metros like The Boston Globe looks surrounded. Over the past couple of weeks, a $400 million spending spree by Gatehouse Media (formerly Liberty Media), has given Gatehouse control over 124 newspapers surrounding Boston that were formerly owned by Community Newspapers Co. and Enterprise NewsMedia. For the first time, advertisers have a real alternative in that market – including retailers and others seeking a region-wide reach.
Amidst all this, the newly acquired newspapers low-level, primitive Internet presence only works in their favor. Basically, they can throw it all out and begin again. In this case, they’re able to build on the recently created WickedLocal platform, powered by Planet Discover. It isn’t likely that Boston.com can move like that.
The Gatehouse newspapers can’t begin to match The Globe’s depth of reporting, sales, distribution, awareness, technical prowess …and cache. Actually, The Globe (and Boston.com) do a great job. But if you are an auto dealer with locations in several suburban locations, you may be looking at the alternative…in print, and online. For suburban papers, in fact, Boston represents Ground Zero in their ongoing, never-ending battles with the Metros.