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'Everyone is an advertiser': Flyerboard's 'bulletin board' ad system for local media

Posted: 30/06/09 By: Laura Oliver

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Hyperlocal news sites and niche publishing networks may address gaps in news coverage, but when it comes to making money, similar innovations in advertising will be necessary if the plight of traditional models isn't to be replicated.

With advertising system Addiply making its US debut last month, new approaches to advertising developed at a niche level are beginning to attract the attention of news organisations, both the new hyperlocals and more established groups. See the MinnPost's launch of Real-Time ads this week or Yahoo's Newspaper Advertising Network.

And now Flyerboard, an advertising system developed by PaperG in the US and inspired by a bulletin board, is about to launch across a network of regional US newspapers.

The system, which is already used by Boston.com's hyperlocal sites, looks like a traditional noticeboard with posted advertiser flyers. Users can click to expand the ads, which can be submitted by advertisers via PaperG's website. Most are priced by the week and advertisers can select on which titles and networks their 'flyers' will appear.

Publishers make money from every advert sold by sales reps or through the Flyerboard interface, with a portion of that revenue going to PaperG for providing the technology.

"I saw students at Yale using a virtual bulletin board to share what was going on around campus, and I was inspired to develop the Flyerboard so that local readers and advertisers could share what was going on around town," Victor Wong, CEO of PaperG, told Journalism.co.uk.

"Simultaneously, some friends at Harvard were looking for ways to sell online ads to local advertisers on The Harvard Crimson newspaper website. Together, we realized the potential of Flyerboard to solve the challenges of supporting local online media, and decided to start PaperG as a result."

The focus of Flyerboard, says Wong, is making money from interactions by offering 'an engagement component' to publishers: "It is basically paid content in the form of a community widget for users to share events, deals, announcements, and classifieds with others who may be interested. This drives new users back to our partner publications and keeps loyal readers engaged."

Taking the bulletin board format online, which in its physical form requires no explanation to users, keeps the process of posting an ad simple and opens it up to individuals, small business as well as trained sales reps, he adds.

The company is looking to expand to new media websites and establish itself in 'every major market and in every major local vertical': "We envision bringing all the traditional paper flyer advertisers online," says Wong.

"People are saying now that everyone is a publisher - living in a local community and recording what happens can instantly make any journalist their own publisher.

"If this is true, then that also means everyone is an advertiser. We all do things in the community and want others to know about it. Flyerboard was built with this in mind. We want to help everyone from the local band to the city-wide festival; by doing so, we will help local online media."

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