UK: Northcliffe Media launches 45 new hyperlocal Thisis sites

Posted by Alisa Zykova on September 15, 2008 at 9:52 AM

Northcliffe Media announces the launch of 45 local websites in order to expand its Thisis network, which already offers numerous regional and urban sites. The move will be focused on hyperlocal services for Nottingham areas like Beeston, Hucknall, Sherwod and Long Eaton. The company's publication count will grow from 113 to 151 daily, weekly and free papers.

"If you rewind the clock to a few years ago, people would describe businesses like Northcliffe as primarily newspaper publishing businesses with a few websites. Now they'd describe us as a multimedia business," says Sean Mahon, the firm's marketing director.

Mahon predicts that the firm will launch more Thisis sites in the upcoming six months and may develop the network to emphasize regions where it doesn't currently have print titles.

The firm's publications reach nearly 4.7 million readers, reports The Guardian. Traffic has been growing by 45% year on year on 10 of the company's news sites, according to The Guardian.

The most popular site was ThisisNottingham.co.uk, with an average of 318,367 users per month for April-June. ThisisHull.co.uk came in second with 230,777unique users for the same timeframe. Meanwhile, ThisisLinconshire.co.uk was least popular, with 120,293 uniques.

Outside of the Thisis network, Northcliffe Media launched an entertainment site for Bristol and a business-oriented news site for the East Midlands by using resources from papers the Derby Evening Telegraph, Leicester Mercury, Nottingham Evening Post, Lincolnshire Echo and Stoke Sentinel.

Source: The Guardian