Quantifying Community Interest: A Study on the Role of Audience Metrics in Hyperlocal Journalism

This study examines how editors in Dutch hyperlocal newspapers use technologies for audience metrics in the news production process. As news organizations, especially small-scaled, low-budget ones, strive to engage and retain their readership, metrics analysis provides invaluable insights into audience preferences and behaviors. However, the use and misuse of audience metrics also risk increasing the dependency of small-budget newsrooms on media platforms and metrics technologies. Drawing from thirteen semi-structured interviews with ten editors and three managers from local news media conglomerates in South Holland, our findings reveal that editors and managers rely heavily on metrics such as clicks, views, and best-read stories to inform agenda-setting decisions. This reliance is further entrenched as these metrics are embedded in all-in-one editing suites, making them a constant presence and difficult to escape in the daily news production workflow. While editors in hyperlocal newsrooms display a generally positive attitude toward innovation and metrics adoption, they also demonstrate awareness of the risk of prioritizing “scoring” over “informing.” Although this article enhances our understanding of innovation in hyperlocal newsrooms and underscores the importance of audience metrics in shaping editorial choices, it also highlights the dependent position that small-scaled local newsrooms find themselves in.