Niche journalism is being acclaimed as the next great hope of journalism, which is seeing a transition of its reportage, writers, editors, and audiences to online communities. It draws readers in because of its unique angles, in-depth analysis, and specialized content that are tailored to a specific target market. For example, if mainstream news will cover the economic expansion happening in a major U.S. city, niche journalism will narrow the focus even further. It would concentrate its reportage on a couple of towns within that state and narrate the interesting ways by which its entrepreneurs and small businesses are launching new stores, inventing new products, and crafting their marketing campaigns.
One way that the more successful niche content publishers have done it is to go vertical or find content that complements what they offer their usual readership. According to Pubsoft, “comps” or “titles deemed comparable to other works or publications” would be subject matter or topics that are related to the content that they regularly publish, and which their loyal readers just might like.
Comps can also bring in “adjacent readers” who do not belong to the publisher’s market base but can be won over because of the new topics. For instance, a publisher who has a solid base of IT readers who thrive on his tech website can build tech-related comps like science-fiction. There just might be enough fans in the tech community who watch Star Trek movies, binge on superhero TV series, and devour Orson Scott Card books to give the science-fiction a chance. Meanwhile, other sci-fi buffs who do not subscribe to the tech news but have heard of the new content offering can also be drawn in to try reading a few of the articles.
Niche publications that you may have ignored in the past are now thriving in an industry that is believed to yield to its demise soon.
Another way to bring in the audience is to dig even deeper into the content being offered and concentrate on the finer details of subjects that are not prominently known, but which the audiences may end up loving. Take for example the case of Time Inc.’s Extra Crispy Vertical. It lures readers in with the various salivating ways by which they can make their breakfast experience more sumptuous and filling. The content has been narrowed down from the generalist subject of food to the dining experience, and then focuses on the morning meals. This specialized site had 51 breakfast-specific stories on site when it launched, all of which were written by 18 food writers. According to Niemen Lab, Extra Crispy is refining its choices even more as it is actively looking for a “bacon critic” to give bacon lovers culinary tips on how to make their favorite piece of cooked meat more sizzling and appetizing.
Specialized content can also prove to be the business by which niche journalism makes money. The site launch of Extra Crispy was sponsored by the Danish dairy company Arla Foods, which is expanding its cheese products in the U.S.
Niche content has been attracting its fair share of sponsors and advertisers who will fund certain campaigns in order to highlight certain topics that are related to their business. One such finance and business news app, Born2Invest, has been on the radar of these companies that have taken note of its 80,000-strong-and-still growing community. Readers from all over the world daily click on the Born2Invest app for information about business sectors worldwide. While a lot of the news is curated from reputable international news agencies, Born2Invest, which is founded by M6 Limited, fosters a sense of community among its readers by localizing the information and making it more relevant and impactful to their day-to-day concerns.
At the end of the day, it is quality content that brings the readers in and can make them value the content so much that they would be willing to pay for it. Wired says that this is the experience of Blendle, a media platform that offers readers rare but useful news content for a fee; for a few cents, they can download articles from The New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. While Blendle still has to find its footing among its American audience, it is enjoying huge success in Germany and the Netherlands, where it has 650,000 readers who pay per article.
Media researcher Odylzyko says, “There are only a small number of stories that are really unique.” Yet these are the ones that readers are willing to open their wallet for, and which sponsors are more than ready to leverage on. And they are the ones that will keep niche journalism alive and thriving.