The high amount, and assumption of geographic concentration, would put the company in contention to compete against other ambitious hyperlocal efforts, such as AOL’s Patch.com, which is set to spend up to $50 million in 2010.

A twist to Main Street Connect’s model is its focus on annual visibility programs that raise awareness for local businesses in several ways, including banners, social media, etc. Part of its strategy is to sell local partnerships, or franchises. Its website notes that “Main Street Connect provides local partners all the tools, working capital, and guidance they require to build profitable high-quality community news sites.”

We previously reported that Main Street Connect has a core base of 25 full time — albeit virtual — staffers, including 11 editorial, six sales, four engineers and four administrators.

In other hyperlocal news, The U.S. Local News Network, which raised $3.18 million, is operating with reduced staff, and in need of new investment. USLNN had previously shut most of the operations of its its Orange County Local News edition, which had been partnered with The Los Angeles Times.

Given all this, the question in all this is whether conditions are now ripe for hyperlocal to work, or whether its scale and audience will always be too fragmented.

Besides Main Street Connect, Patch and USLNN, other competitors include Yahoo, which is hiring local news editors in a number of markets and just acquired Associated Content, an SEO-based content creator; other content creators, such as Demand Media and Examiner.com; local news aggregators such as Topix and Fwix; event aggregators and city guides such as Center’d, American Towns, Eventful and Zvents; and CMS-based systems such as Matchbin.

The post Main Street Connect Raises $4 Million appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

When it comes to hyperlocal, the problem may just be that the local reporting doesn’t reasonate with the community as much as the old community papers did. That’s the feeling behind Main Street Connect, a new company launched by a team that includes community newspaper publishing vet Carll Tucker; his wife, financial columnist Jane Bryant Quinn; and  former SmartReply Exec John Falcone.

The company, based in the New York area suburbs,  is set to compete against several other companies with local editorial and sales, including AOL’s Patch.com, U.S. Local News Network and HelloMetro; as well as local news  aggregators such as Topix and Fwix;  event aggregators and city guides such as Center’d, American Towns, Eventful and Zvents; and SEO-based “content creators,” such as Associated Content, Examiner.com and Demand Media.

There have also been several very well funded hyperlocal startups that have hopes of reproducing themselves as a template, including The Bay Citizen and eBay Founder Pierre Omidyar’s Honolulu Civil Beat. CMS platforms that work with existing publishers such as Matchbin and Townnews are also major competitors in the space.

Main Street Connect started out a couple of months ago with The Daily Norwalk, Since then, it has added The Daily Westport and The Daily Fairfield. Five other  local sites will soon be launched in the area, with more than 50 planned by year-end. The key is to bring in genuinely local reporting.  “The non-local sites don’t get into the fabric of the community,” says Tucker, who is the company’s editor and publisher.

Tucker says the plan is to go from 50 to 3,000 sites within a few years, mostly using an affiliate model.  Tucker feels there have been a number of very good hyperlocal sites launched, but they really haven’t had either the scale or the focus on revenues to be truly self-sustaining. WestportNow, for instance, does a great job serving Westport.

In the 1980s and ’90s, for instance, The Patent Trader, Mt. Kisco NY – Tucker’s flagship paper — served a community of between 90,000 and 120,000 residents, and might annually gross $1.8 million and keep $200,000 to $300,000 as profit. But the new economics of the Web might allow much greater profit levels of $1 million for similarly- sized communities.

Main Street Connect’s model is to sell local advertisers on “Annual Visibility Packages” that would include prominent display ads on the “Digital Town Green.” They may also include additional advertising services that might be paired with the site’s social media efforts on Facebook and Twitter, and possibly, other online outlets such as e-newsletters. Social media links and pages currently account for 10-20 percent of the company’s present usage.

Tucker notes that the company is “seriously funded” by high profile executives, and its  board includes such people as the chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam and the CEO of Saks, Inc. It currently  has a core base of 25 full time — albeit virtual — staffers, including 11 editorial, six sales, four engineers and four administrators. The company is being  advised by new media consultant Dorian Benkoil.

The post NY-Area’s ‘Main Street Connect’ Takes Aim at Hyperlocal (Too) appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

When it comes to hyperlocal, the problem may just be that the local reporting doesn’t reasonate with the community as much as the old community papers did. That’s the feeling behind Main Street Connect, a new company launched by a team that includes community newspaper publishing vet Carll Tucker; his wife, financial columnist Jane Bryant Quinn; and  former SmartReply Exec John Falcone.

The company, based in the New York area suburbs,  is set to compete against several other companies with local editorial and sales, including AOL’s Patch.com, U.S. Local News Network and HelloMetro; as well as local news  aggregators such as Topix and Fwix;  event aggregators and city guides such as Center’d, American Towns, Eventful and Zvents; and SEO-based “content creators,” such as Associated Content, Examiner.com and Demand Media.

There have also been several very well funded hyperlocal startups that have hopes of reproducing themselves as a template, including The Bay Citizen and eBay Founder Pierre Omidyar’s Honolulu Civil Beat. CMS platforms that work with existing publishers such as Matchbin and Townnews are also major competitors in the space.

Main Street Connect started out a couple of months ago with The Daily Norwalk, Since then, it has added The Daily Westport and The Daily Fairfield. Five other  local sites will soon be launched in the area, with more than 50 planned by year-end. The key is to bring in genuinely local reporting.  “The non-local sites don’t get into the fabric of the community,” says Tucker, who is the company’s editor and publisher.

Tucker says the plan is to go from 50 to 3,000 sites within a few years, mostly using an affiliate model.  Tucker feels there have been a number of very good hyperlocal sites launched, but they really haven’t had either the scale or the focus on revenues to be truly self-sustaining. WestportNow, for instance, does a great job serving Westport.

In the 1980s and ’90s, for instance, The Patent Trader, Mt. Kisco NY – Tucker’s flagship paper — served a community of between 90,000 and 120,000 residents, and might annually gross $1.8 million and keep $200,000 to $300,000 as profit. But the new economics of the Web might allow much greater profit levels of $1 million for similarly- sized communities.

Main Street Connect’s model is to sell local advertisers on “Annual Visibility Packages” that would include prominent display ads on the “Digital Town Green.” They may also include additional advertising services that might be paired with the site’s social media efforts on Facebook and Twitter, and possibly, other online outlets such as e-newsletters. Social media links and pages currently account for 10-20 percent of the company’s present usage.

Tucker notes that the company is “seriously funded” by high profile executives, and its  board includes such people as the chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam and the CEO of Saks, Inc. It currently  has a core base of 25 full time — albeit virtual — staffers, including 11 editorial, six sales, four engineers and four administrators. The company is being  advised by new media consultant Dorian Benkoil.

The post NY-Area's 'Main Street Connect' Takes Aim at Hyperlocal (Too) appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.