ONCE-TROUBLED HYPERLOCAL NEWS BRAND PATCH EXPANDS TO AUSTIN; HERE’S THE HOW AND WHY
By Michael Theis – Staff Writer
Austin Business Journal
September 4, 2015
Patch, a network of hyperlocal news websites owned by Hale Global Inc., has expanded into Austin as the brand tries – cautiously – to re-establish itself among readers and advertisers after it struggled to find success as a branch of AOL Inc.
Three Patch websites focusing on Downtown Austin, South Austin, and East Austin went live Thursday, according to Warren St. John, editor-in-chief of Patch nationwide.
In all, Patch plans to soon launch hyperlocal news websites focused on a total of six Austin neighborhoods or suburbs, the remainder being sites that will focus on the suburbs of Pflugerville, Cedar Park, and Round Rock.
Patch was founded in 2007 by future AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. When Armstrong accepted the top job at AOL in 2009, he brought Patch into the company as well. There, the brand embarked upon an ambitious expansion that saw it grow from a handful of websites focused on suburban markets in the Northeast to a network of more than 900 websites and roughly 1,000 journalists (full disclosure: myself included) and salespeople.
But in late 2013, AOL dramatically scaled down Patch, laying off hundreds (full disclosure, again: myself included) before selling the brand to turnaround firm Hale Global.
Hale Global claims to have 65 editorial employees working for Patch right now.
Thus, for Hale Global, the Austin sites are a milestone. They are the second new set of Patch websites to go live under the brand’s Hale Global era (preceded by a single new site in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) but are the first to be launched in a media market to which Patch had no previous ties.
St. John explained that when Hale first acquired the brand, they tried a viral-content strategy that readers disliked. Now, they prioritize quality reporting.
“Our first goal is to try and make the coverages we’ve opened out of the gate excellent,” said St. John. “Hyperlocal is a huge challenge. Lots of people are running away from it, but we are going the other way because we know that users in our communities value hyperlocal coverage.”
Patch hired veteran journalist and Austin resident Stephanie Gaskell as its Texas Bureau Chief, according to her LinkedIn. Her background includes work with the AP, NY Post, and NY Daily News in places like Cuba, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
St. John noted they are trying to avoid the mistakes of AOL’s massive expansion.
“It’s very easy if you have a big pot of VC money to go fund a lot of great local coverage,” he said. “The hard part is making it work as a sustainable business. We’re coming at this from a very humble position… we’re going to grow only as we can justify growing.”
Patch is marketing to advertisers with a product called Patch Connect, aimed at helping businesses reach local audiences.
“Our most successful customers have been hospitals, gyms and schools,” said St. John. “We’ve had good luck at the national level with movie studios, because when you premiere a film, ultimately, your theaters are local and you need local audiences.”
According to Alexa, Patch.com is the 123rd most-popular U.S. domain, with 18.6 million unique monthly visitors and 52.4 million page views.