E-Media Tidbits

PolitickerCO.com PolitickerCO -- one of 10 state-focused Politicker.com sites currently online.

Jared Kushner, publisher of The New York Observer, has an intriguing new project in the works: Politicker.com. Here's how the New York Times described it today: "The plan is to pull together 50 Web sites, one for each state, into a political hub called Politicker.com. Each site will serve as an intensely local source for political articles, speculation and scandal."

Sounds intriguing. We've all been on national-politics overload lately, even though state and local politics generally are more immediately relevant to people's lives and communities. It'll be interesting to see how this project develops.

So far, 10 sites are live on Politicker.com (covering the states of Ariz., N.H., Colo., Md., Maine, N.J., Nev., Ore., Vt., and Wash.). The Ky. site is next in line. Since I live in Colorado, I'm very glad to see PolitickerCO as a complement to the Denver Post's site focused on the presidential race, PoliticsWest.

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Politicker's business model is, of course, advertising. Like the newly announced quadrantONE ad network, Politicker's focus appears to be on funneling national advertisers to state and local audiences. Kushner told the Times: "Instead of taking out ads in five papers across the state, if you want to reach the most influential and politically active people, all you have to do is buy an ad package on the site."

Silicon Alley Insider observed: "Even if the sites find an audience (and sustain them after the election), how are you going to make the ad dollars work? It's one thing to string together networks of sites with national reach -- as Nick Denton's Gawker Media has done -- but selling regional audiences to online advertisers will be much tougher."

As I noted about quadrantONE last week, I hope Politicker.com also doesn't ignore local advertisers -- especially local political ads. It would seem strange to run sites focused on state and local politics that don't make it easy for local organizations, campaigns, and businesses to advertise.

Again, we're all in the relevance business, folks: journalists, news orgs, advertisers, and ad networks. But ultimately, we don't determine what's relevant. That's up to the community (formerly known as "the audience"). If local political junkies are visiting a site about state and local politics, which kind of ads to you think they'd find most relevant?

One more thing: I really would love to see podcasts from each Politicker site. It's a natural fit.