Northwestern’s Local News Initiative does small-market study

Northwestern’s Medill Local News Initiative has done a follow-up study to an analysis last year on three big-city news outlets that showed that a regular reader habit and strong coverage of local news were the key factors for keeping subscribers. A question remained after the initial analysis: Was that true only for major metros, or for local news organizations in general?

The follow-up study focused on 12 small news outlets.

“The results of both studies strongly endorse reader habit and local news as major factors in subscriber retention. And the analysis of both the big metros and the small newsrooms showed the surprising finding that page views and depth of reading were not major factors in keeping subscribers,” according to the Local News Initiative.

National news was more of a key for subscriber retention in small markets, and sports coverage was less of a retention key, according to the Local News Initiative.

The Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and Indianapolis Star are developing or considering subscriber-only newsletters following the first study and in discussions with Medill in which emailed newsletters were spotted as a key tool, according to the Local News Initiative.

Gannett’s USA Today Network partnered with Medill on the small-market study. The Spiegel Research Center at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications undertook the research.

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