How advertising can support local media without annoying readers

Oliver Rouane-Williams, founder of Ipswich.co.uk, speaking at Newsrewired in May 2025

Credit: Mark Hakansson / Marten Publishing

After spending fifteen years in digital media, watching (and often leading) the industry's relentless pursuit of clicks and impressions drive journalism into a race to the bottom, I've long believed there had to be a better way.

When I launched Ipswich.co.uk, I was determined to build something different – a local news platform that could sustain quality journalism without sacrificing the reader experience and, most importantly, remaining free.

• Listen: 'I spent my life savings on launching a local news site,’ says Ipswich.co.uk founder Oliver Rouane-Williams

We've been experimenting with our partnership model for the last ten months with varying success, but we've faced one constant problem: creating always-on value for partners when we're not writing about them or covering topics they can contribute to.

This week, we've launched our solution: a new share-based native advertising model, which I believe represents a fundamental shift in how local media can approach the relationship between publisher, readers and advertisers.

The transparency principle

At the heart of our model is radical transparency about the true cost of journalism. At the bottom of each article, we tell readers how much it cost us to produce, calculated by multiplying the time spent (research, interviews, writing, editing, etc.) by our modest hourly rate, which includes salary and employment costs.

We then thank the three local businesses whose support made each article free to read – once in a bar that sticks to the top of the page, and again at the bottom of the article.

This isn't just about being open with our audience; it's about educating them. I still find it baffling that organisations value PR professionals more than the publications they're paying them to obtain coverage in. That has to change, and transparency is the first step.

How the model works

Unlike traditional display advertising, which is typically sold on a CPM basis, each article is sponsored by three of our partners. Each organisation is thanked as the reader scrolls through the article and can promote their brand, products or services through a single native advertising placement immediately after the article. Ads integrate naturally with the reading experience, never interrupting the content itself.

Our partners purchase between 1 and 20 advertising shares at £18 per month or £180 per year. Ad opportunities are distributed proportionally, like a timeshare – the more shares they own, the higher their chance of sponsoring content.

When we mention a partner in our editorial coverage, they automatically become one of the three sponsors for that piece. And when partners share our content using their unique tracking links, they exclusively sponsor every article that referred readers consume. Like so.

Beyond the impression trap

The beauty of this model is that it grows with us. As our readership expands, so does the value we deliver to our partners. More importantly, it makes advertising a positive experience. 

I've always found the concept of businesses paying to piss off readers a strange one – and I say that as someone who's had a successful career doing exactly that. Our model flips this dynamic entirely, creating what I believe is a genuine value exchange between readers and advertisers.

We've maintained strict principles: never interrupt the reader, create rather than detract value, and work exclusively with local businesses. Most importantly, we've kept our distance from impression-based advertising, which I believe is the primary driver of digital journalism's quality decline.

It's very early days, but the results so far are encouraging. Our partners have embraced the model, and reader feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I'm excited to see where it leads.

The bigger picture

Anyone who's heard me speak over the last ten months will know that my vision for this Ipswich.co.uk extends far beyond just a media platform.

• Read more: How UK local news entrepreneurs are building sustainable businesses

However, our media platform is crucial to everything we aim to build in the future. By treating our advertising partners as genuine stakeholders in our media ecosystem, we're building something more valuable and less transactional than what's come before.

Many local media companies have been (and still are) guilty of taking more than put back into communities. That has to change if local media is to thrive in the future.

I believe that readers are willing to support local businesses when that support enables high-quality journalism, and that they will appreciate the transparency and the opportunity to understand the true economics of the content they consume.

The digital media industry has spent years convincing itself that reader frustration is an acceptable cost of doing business. My experience suggests that's not just wrong – it's unnecessary. There is a better way, and it starts with respecting the very people we're trying to serve.

Oliver Rouane-Williams is the founder and editor of Ipswich.co.uk, a regenerative local media company serving Ipswich and surrounding communities in Suffolk.

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