Michele's List
Building blocks in the emerging local news ecosystem

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Statistics
Unique monthly visitors

300,000
Average page views

1,000,000
Average visits

700,000

E-newsletter

  • Yes, multiple newsletters
E-newsletter subscribers

16,000
Facebook likes

22,000
Facebook followers

24,000
Twitter followers

61,700
Instagram followers

5,170
You Tube

300
Revenue

  • $501,000 - $1 million
Primary revenue source(s)

  • Local advertising (including web and e-newsletter ads)
Ad products

  • Traditional Web display advertising sold directly by your organization
  • Sponsored content or native advertising
Paywall

  • No
Distribution

  • Direct to web/mobile
Total personnel/contributor FTE

8
Date of most recent publisher update

05/09/2019
Last Publisher Update

  • 2019-05-09 20:40:40 UTC
Berkeleyside
California
Berkeleyside

Berkeleyside is the independent, award-winning local news site in Berkeley, Calif. covering news in Berkeley and the East Bay. Founded in 2009 by three professional journalists: Tracey Taylor, Lance Knobel and Frances Dinkelspiel. Topics: Local news, crime, business, arts, food etc. Revenue: Advertising, membership, events.

Who is in charge?

Tracey K. Taylor, Lance Knobel, Frances Dinkelspiel

Job title

Co-Founders

City

Berkeley

State

California

Zip code

94704

Year launched

2009

Tax status

  • Public Benefit Corp

Geographic scope

  • Small city or town

Other geographic focus

East Bay

Population of coverage area

130,000

Scope of coverage

  • General news or a number of topics that are not necessarily closely related to each other

Primary focus

  • Current news and events

Topics of coverage

  • Crime & justice
  • Education & schools
  • Entertainment & arts
  • Food
  • Planning & development

Watchdog journalism?

  • Yes, infrequently

Facebook link

https://www.facebook.com/berkeleyside/

Site Twitter handle

@Berkeleyside

Effective engagement practice

We have high reader engagement through the site — we average 300 comments a day — and through social media. We break news on Twitter (where we have 61K followers in a city of 120,000) and live-tweet City Council and School Board meetings. Facebook allows us to disseminate our stories more widely, we have a closed Facebook group for our members, and we occasionally use Facebook Live to cover events live or to do live AMAs. We also engage directly with readers face to face at our events.

Revenue challenges

The major challenge is making enough from advertising and membership and other sources to have a sustainable business model.

In the news

http://www.poynter.org/2017/berkeleyside-has-raised-556000-of-its-800000-goal-heres-how-its-turning-fans-into-funders/464885/

https://www.lenfestinstitute.org/solution-set/2018/04/12/local-news-site-berkeleyside-raised-1-million-direct-public-offering/

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Berkeley-news-outlet-aims-to-turn-readers-into-10602139.php

http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/10/with-a-direct-public-offering-berkeleyside-wants-to-turn-its-readers-into-its-newest-owners/

https://www.berkeleyside.com/about-berkeleyside#news-about-berkeleyside

Berkeleyside: The Nimble Hyperlocal News Site is Winning Awards and Attracting Eyeballs: http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/winter-2015-breaking-news/berkeleyside-nimble-hyperlocal-news-site-winning

https://evilleeye.com/news-commentary/exclusive-interview-berkeleyside-co-founder-tracey-taylor-state-future-local-online-news/

Indie Local News Sites See Potential in Membership Programs: http://www.lionpublishers.com/news/report/082715_membership_programs/

Review of day one of Berkeleyside's Uncharted Festival 2015: http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2015-10-17/want-justice-system-really-works-all-panelists-say-make