McClatchy Tests the Politics Niche
Important Details: This week, the Sacramento Bee launches Capitol Alert, a new California state politics-and-money newsletter, aimed at lobbyists. The newsletter, priced at $499 annually, focuses on immediacy and on expert commentary. The Bee has long been a paper of record for the Sacramento-based state legislature and government. Now it’s taken a page from the past — numerous states have for some time had weekly printed newsletters edited by political insiders — and meshed it with some modern tools. Capitol Alert features several SacBee.com blogs, now put "behind the firewall." It also promises to deliver tomorrow’s SacBee political news generally by 8 p.m. the evening before, and provide calendars of relevant Capitol events. Finally, it plans to provide links to relevant non-Bee-created politics websites.
In Outsell’s Opinion: Politics is a niche worth pursuing online. Outsell believes wherever money changes hands, the value of informed, immediate news and opinion creates an opportunity. In this case, it’s an opportunity writ at least 50 states large. Some states have long had paid political newsletters, like Minnesota’s "Politics in Minnesota", published by non-newspaper companies. In national politics, both Congressional Quarterly and The Hill have plumbed the territory, with CQ most aggressive online. They have recently been joined by the new ThePolitico.com. One emphasis announced on the new site that we think is worth adopting by state newsletters is a focus on data, as well as stories. Easier-to-use databases — think political contributions, lobbyist filings, etc. — are like raw meat to its users. That’s essential in creating — and sustaining — a $500 per year product. Commentary; search; databases: all are essential.
In Capitol Alert, the Bee is essentially selling intelligence, and that’s a ladder news publishers need to move up on. "General news" unfortunately has been commoditized. De-commoditizing general news content — to create political content, health content, environmental content — shows promise.
While it is a paid site, Capitol Alert’s growing subscriber base will also be attractive to advertisers. That will take McClatchy back to a familiar business mode: subscriptions and advertising – old models updated. That’s a model the New York Times, with Times Select is testing, as well. The marketplace, fueled by more experiments, will let us know whether these models have serious promise in the next couple of years.
Finally, managing early releases of tomorrow’s newspaper is going to be problematic; it’s bound to leak and the newsletter — picked up by others on the web — will scoop the paper. That will lead back to such initiatives as the recentl publish-web-first Los Angeles Times announcement and will ultimately push newsletters like Capitol Alert to pay for and publish original, proprietary content. But that’s a problem to solve down the road depending on the newsletter’s success. In the meantime, niche, niche, niche is the order of the day. If it’s ultra specific, ultra relevant, and packaged for efficient use, the niche’s inhabitants will pay.