Lost Remote » The Seattle web wars

The Seattle web wars

Cory Bergman August 3rd, 2007

It’s interesting to watch how my hometown of Seattle has become an intense battleground in the local web wars. For starters, just look at these breaking news alerts:

Just minutes apart — as is very typical now — sent from three of the stations in town. One station, KING5.com, is where I work. Another station, KIROTV.com, is where my web-savvy friend Todd Mokhtari recently signed on as news director. And the third, KOMOTV.com, has hired Terry Heaton as their online consultant (KOMO’s parent company just bought PegasusNews). Last night, Terry threw one of his hallmark blogger meetups, and he writes, “We’ve a bunch of other cool things planned with bloggers in the Seattle community, and I’m looking forward to becoming a regular fixture there.” Hmmm, Heaton moving into my backyard? I invite the challenge, and as many of you know, I launched the Seattle blog aggregator Citizen Rain several months ago. I also have a bunch more cool stuff in the pipeline.

Oh, and I shouldn’t forget to mention Q13Fox.com and NWCN.com as well.

And TV sites are just a part of the local web wars. Our two newspapers, SeattleTimes.com and SeattlePI.com are both stepping up aggressively, and both sites are very solid. The PI hosts dozens upon dozens of “reader blogs,” and it just launched The Big Blog. Then there’s Crosscut.com, a relatively new regional news site that combines aggregation with some original reporting. There’s SeattleWeekly.com and TheStranger.com — the latter of which has one of the most popular blogs in town, Slog. And let’s not forget Seattlest and Seattle Metroblogging, two “national chain” blogs that have built solid audiences of their own.

So keep an eye on Seattle, folks. Like many other markets, it’s going to get interesting.

12 Comments Add your own

1. fleetwood mack | August 3rd, 2007 at 4:49 pm

But…but…but…

Are those stories really honest to G-d right now “breaking news? Or are those web sites being infected by cable’s need for “breaking news”…”still breaking news”…”continuing coverage of stuff we wished was honest breaking news but maybe can suck you in on with a misleading banner….”???

Cory if you have any muscle in that market…suggest to those websites that setting a good example CAN be good business. Or ought to be.
2. Jason | August 3rd, 2007 at 5:38 pm

Seattle sounds like fun…
3. Michael Gay | August 3rd, 2007 at 5:42 pm

I wonder how long the ad market can support that many local news websites. The good news is, that market is probably so crowded now that the cost of entry to that market is too high for a new news website to get any traction. Now, as always, lots of money or an amazing idea throw my observation out the window.

Good thing KING has Cory to lead the way.
4. Don Day | August 3rd, 2007 at 6:45 pm

Where’s KCPQ?????
5. tdc | August 3rd, 2007 at 8:55 pm

whatup?

no mention of that asskicking women’s blog…seattlechic?

for shame
6. Rob | August 3rd, 2007 at 9:10 pm

Sounds like things are popping on the other side of the Cascade Curtain. With all the moves FishComm has been making lately (Adding Terry Heaton to the mix sounds interesting), things should definitely be interesting for KING and KIRO in the near future.

Q13 … yeah … their web presence isn’t really that newsy, but I’m kinda shocked that Cory didn’t mention *cough* NWCN.com.
7. Cory | August 3rd, 2007 at 11:29 pm

Good point, guys, I added Q13 and NWCN.com, although the former is not an online news competitor because of Tribune, and NWCN is an Belo Northwest aggregator.
8. Steve Boriss | August 4th, 2007 at 6:29 am

Cory, Seattle is just ahead of the rest of the country. What you are witnessing is the beginning of the convergence of all news media onto the Internet. Ultimately, these web sites/blogs will remain, and newspapers, radio broadcasts, and TV transmissions will go away. Which means that today’s newspapers and local TV affiliates will be direct competitors providing completely substitutable products, just one mouseclick away. Welcome to the future of news. (Steve Boriss, TheFutureOfNews.com)
9. thedetroitchannel | August 4th, 2007 at 7:12 am

i like reading what steve (above) writes even though i don’t completely agree.

yesterday i came across a site dedicated to early tv days in Detroit.

it’s operator seems to know what he’s talking about (always a plus!).

if you substitute ‘internet’ for tv in his writings as they relate to the switch from radio to tv to what we’re witnessing now (in regards to fear and less-than-enthusiastic investment) it is striking.

if i remember the link i’ll try to post it here later.

that said radio is still here.

btw- this particular site has some old footage, photographs and commercials that’ll jog long-dead brain cells if you’re from around here.
10. Eric | August 4th, 2007 at 12:27 pm

The amusing thing is that with POP3 delivery variables and large subscriber lists there’s no way to know which one of those alerts was actually sent first
11. Steve Boriss | August 6th, 2007 at 8:31 am

See my post about this post: “First shots fired in the future of news. All media converge on the Internet in the Battle for Seattle” (Steve Boriss, TheFutureOfNews.com)
12. Anonymous | August 9th, 2007 at 12:43 pm

that’s pretty much par for the course these days in the big 5 markets as well… i don’t think seattle is any different.

wondering out loud if you just wanted to just show your competitors that your breaking news alert beat theirs.