Deliberate audience initiatives and breaking news alike have driven traffic to local newspapers in the last few months.
According to Similarweb’s data, The Philadelphia Inquirer received 1.1 million more web visits in April than it did in March, about a 17% jump. Lisa Hughes, the Inquirer’s publisher and CEO, told me the spike coincided with the launch of Inquirer Weekend, “a key part of our content strategy to engage new readers over the weekend when we’d typically see traffic decline.” The audience development initiative introduced new recurring features like “Perfect Philly Day,” “Field Trip,” “Best Things We Ate,” “How I Bought This House,” and “Weekly Report Card,” which grades “the good, bad, and weird news coming out of the region (LeBron to Philly: A+, Flyers missing the playoffs, again: D-).” The Inquirer ran a paid marketing campaign to support the launch, which Hughes said engaged both new and current readers.
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