3. Let’s take
a look at
DICHTBIJ.NL’s
crossroads
What is dichtbij.nl?
History & positioning
Editorial concept
Crowds & communities
Funding & Finance
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15. Active in the whole country, with
editorial and commercial teams
in the dark green areas (the rest
to follow)
THE NETHERLANDS DICHTBIJ
17. CONCEPT DICHTBIJ
Interactive Local News & Relevant Information
Combine the Skills of the Professional Journalist &
Wisdom of the Amateur
Self sufficiant & Collaborative outside/inside TMG
No editorial freedom without focus on business
19. PRODUCTS DICHTBIJ
Free Local news on desktop, mobile, app, paper
User Generated Content on all platforms
12 different themes, commercially and editorially
Local services like jobs, real estate, local agenda
20. FACTS & FIGURES (1)Founded in 2011
80 regions, 45 of which with editorial & sales staff
2,5 million unique visitors pm, 20 million pageviews,
1/3 of visits is mobile
120,000 newsletter subscriptions
75,000 followers on social media
140 employees
135,000 registered contributors (“meeschrijvers”)
250,000 articles (photos/videos included) per year
22. FACTS & FIGURES (2)
20 million pageviews per month;
5 million on articles about accidents & incidents
4 million on other regional and local news
6 million on pictures
The rest on various themes (cars, agenda, going out,
sports, etc)
Only about 10% of the pageviews go to UGC (25% of the
content)
38. “MEESCHRIJVERS” ON DICHTBIJ
Meeschrijvers (contributors) can upload content without
barriers
The only thing you have to do is fill in an account, log in
and off you go.
The community manager will check & curate all UGC
39. EXAMPLE: ARTICLE OF A MEESCHRIJVER
1.833 Local Pageviews
28 Comments
Keys to success:
Relevant topic
Video / picture
Links to more information
Written in an activist way
40. EXAMPLE: ARTICLE OF A MEESCHRIJVER
68 comments
8,328 local pageviews
Keys to success:
Relevant local content
Animals always click
Written in an authentic
way
Call to action
41. EXAMPLE: ARTICLES OF A LOCAL ADVOCATE
6 articles
10,000+ pageviews
Direct action from
municipality
Keys to success:
Relevant local content
Powerful call to action
Real, authentic anger
Simple solution offered
42. EXAMPLE: ARTICLE OF A MEESCHRIJVER
6,450 pageviews
23 comments
Key to success:
“Popular demand”
Well documented
Recognizable
Involved writing
43. EXAMPLE: PICTURES BY MEESCHRIJVERS
2,623 pageviews
Big hit on Facebook
Key to success:
Call to action: “send us
your rainbow pictures”
Everyone saw this
Everybody likes to be
published
Competition!
44. EXAMPLE: CROWD SOURCED NEWS
The Garbage Map:
Hundreds of tips &
articles
Map received
20,000 clicks in first
two weeks
Municipality reacts
and takes action
45. EXAMPLE: SERIES OF A MEESCHRIJVER
“Tijger” in the city forrest:
Every week one article
25 articles in total
We might publish a book
46. EXAMPLE: SERIES OF A MEESCHRIJVER
No journalists allowed in
refugee camp
(Groningen)
20 Stories from within
the camp
Biased, non-journalistic,
but authentic
Scoops day after day
50. FUNDING DICHTBIJ
Lots of experiments, and lots of plans, but…
…up to now only one thing works really well:
display advertising
(+/- 80% of revenue is from buttons & banners)
55. IS DICHTBIJ A SUCCESS?
BUT IS DICHTBIJ A STABLE SUCCESS?
COMPARED TO
1 YEAR AGO: YES!
HARDLY. . .
56. GARANTEES FOR THE FUTURE?
Only if we succeed for ourselves:
Break even in 2013
New business models as an add-on to display
New (related?) local activities
Useful for other parts of TMG
Fitting in the company’s (and shareholders’) strategy