Revolutionizing digital publishing: Forum Communications’ path to efficiency

Brightspot’s flexibility has allowed us more opportunities to innovate and experiment in an effort to serve and learn from our audiences.”

Steve Wagner, director of content operations, Forum Communications

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Overview

Forum Communications has been a pillar of regional journalism for over 140 years, serving audiences across Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota. The company owns multiple local-media brands, including Fargo's Inforum.com, the Brainerd Dispatch, The Rochester Post Bulletin and NewsCenter1 TV in Rapid City.

Like many print publishers transitioning to digital, Forum Communications needed to modernize its CMS. The goal was to consolidate multiple properties onto a single, scalable platform, reducing costs while enhancing editorial control, audience engagement and revenue generation. Its previous CMS was inefficient, requiring extensive engineering work for routine updates, such as creating new sections or launching new sites. With more than 20 markets, local newsrooms were limited in what and how they could publish content to their sites.

Challenges

• Inefficient workflows that required engineering involvement for basic content management tasks
• High costs associated with maintaining multiple CMS platforms
• Need for improved digital revenue opportunities, including advertising and subscriptions
• Limited flexibility for editorial teams to adapt sites quickly to evolving content needs

Brightspot’s Solution

Starting in late 2021, Forum Communications migrated its portfolio to Brightspot’s multi-site CMS. This move empowered newsroom teams and streamlined publishing operations, giving journalists flexibility and the ability to be nimble in publishing and managing content.

Key Improvements

• Speed & Efficiency:
  • Reduced time to create a new website section from two weeks to just 10 minutes
  • Launched 12+ new sites in one week
  • Enabled real-time publishing without engineering support
  • Allowed newsroom staff to publish and enhance content in real-time without interrupting their workflow or having to retrace steps in the process
• Editorial Empowerment:
  • A modern, dynamic rich-text editor enhanced content creation
  • Customizable roles, permissions and workflows eliminated reliance on developers
  • Ability to manage articles, videos, podcasts and other content formats seamlessly
  • Add design elements to sections, pages and tag streams to deliver more context and appeal to readers
• Front-End Enhancements:
  • Improved site navigation and page layouts
  • Mobile-first responsive designs
  • Optimized page speeds for better SEO performance
• Revenue Growth:
  • Integrated metered paywall and membership tools
  • Enhanced ad targeting for local advertising opportunities

Results & Impact

Forum Communications' transition to Brightspot was transformational. The newsroom teams gained direct control over their digital experience, allowing them to serve passionate niche audiences without coding limitations.

As Steve Wagner described: “Brightspot provides our newsrooms with the tools to serve targeted audiences with local content, enhance their stories with features that serve the reader and easily produce and schedule it to fit their lives. It’s allowed our journalists to be more strategic in publishing by giving them control on how they tell their stories. Our newsrooms can determine how their websites are organized, accentuate their storytelling with elements and features that enhance their content and control what and where to showcase their journalism.  Brightspot’s flexibility has allowed us more opportunities to innovate and experiment in an effort to serve and learn from our audiences.”

Additionally, operational bottlenecks were removed, allowing the team to launch multiple sites efficiently. Forum Communications seamlessly launched its sites in two waves, including 14 in one morning.

Conclusion

By adopting Brightspot’s multisite CMS, Forum Communications transformed its digital operations, allowing editorial teams to manage their content with greater speed, flexibility and efficiency. The result is a superior digital experience for both newsroom staff and readers, positioning the company for future growth in the evolving media landscape.

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