Webinar recording now available.

At our June customer webinar, Susan Bell, senior product manager for TownNews, showed off the latest redesign of the BLOX Now mobile app. This major update bundles a variety of fantastic new features, design layouts, card styles, and more.

Topics included:

• All-new personalization features and behavioral recommendations
• Innovative new “Continue Watching” functionality lets users start a video on one device, pick up where they left off on another
• A completely revamped user interface for iPads and Android tablets
• Tons of additional card styles to help you show off your content
• A modern “flat” design option that you can enable with the flip of a switch
• . . . and much more!

Hello.  I wanted to find out how TownNews and TownNews sites are planning to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act. Enforcement begins July 1. The easy part looks like updating our privacy policy but the nightmare looks to be how we will respond to requests to provide site visitors with information about how their personal information -- everything from email address to I.P. address -- has been been collected and sold and shared with third parties.  TownNews back in January said it was looking at potential solutions. Can the company share any details at this point? Would these solutions help with complying for requests with this information. 

Webinar recording now available

At our May 2020 customer webinar, Rick Rogers, chief revenue officer at TownNews, and Richard Green, CEO of Evvnt gave an overview of the new Evvnt calendar integration that we’ll be rolling out over the coming months.
Download PDF Webinar slide deck: Introducing Evvnt

While in-person local events are on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to use this time to roll out Evvnt’s calendar platform on behalf of our partners. When local events return to our communities, the TownNews-Evvnt calendar partnership will provide our local media partners the best tools to showcase and monetize their calendar listings.

Topics included:

• Details about the calendar migration time frame and process.
• Ideas for generating new advertising revenue with local events.
• Examples of our Evvnt integration in action and peak behind the scenes.
• . . . and much more!

Ready to get started? Watch it now.

Curious if any sites are having success with doing paid advertorials or sponsored articles, and if so, how do you separate them from news content or do you have a specific place on site where they are placed?

Hello.If we migrate to the new Evvnt Calendar, will we still be able to embed events into individual articles and newsletters? Would we still set the price for upsells? 

This is a feature request to add the Breaking flag to video assets. 

1.WHAT PROBLEM DOES THIS SOLVE:  this allows us to use a LIVE VIDEO ASSET as a breaking news item on our site.  It provides easy access to one or multiple live streams in the case of breaking news.

2. HOW OFTEN WOULD WE USE IT: Often. Sometimes multiple times a day

3. HOW MANY PEOPLE IN OUR ORGANIZATION WOULD USE IT: All content publishers

As broadcasters, our life blood and competitive advantage is video. The easier we can streamline the process for our viewers, the better for everyone.

Join us on March 5th @ 10:30 AM CDT

At our March customer webinar, we’ll introduce SmartSend, an all-new text and email marketing app that allows your clients to easily send instant, direct messages to their customers. Your advertisers will love the outstanding response rates that text messaging provides—you'll love the effortless upsells and new digital marketing revenue stream!

Topics will include:

• An overview of SmartSend, an intuitive app that your clients can use to send texts and emails to their customers. It’s as easy as posting to social media!
• Success stories from businesses who are using SmartSend to send offers, coupons, invitations, and more.
• How you can start using SmartSend to easily generate NEW revenue from local advertisers.

Ready to get started? Join us on March 5th at 10:30 AM CDT.

Want to take in the webinar on your own time? Register now and we’ll send you a link to the webinar recording once it’s ready.

Webinar recording now available

Upgrade your email newsletters with our FREE optimization service

When it comes to audience engagement, email is still tops. But how do you know you’re getting the best possible results from your email newsletters? At our February customer webinar, Tim Turner, director of content and data services for TownNews, introduced a new, FREE optimization service that will help you deliver real results with ultra-engaging email campaigns.

Based on proven best practices, our team will work with you to:

• Double your existing newsletter signups (on average)
• Increase email opens and clickthroughs with new, optimized templates
• Create newsletters that appeal to a variety of key target audiences
• Maximize your local and programmatic advertising strategy

Ready to get started? Watch it now.

Webinar recording now available.

The New Year means big new initiatives at TownNews—and a webinar you won’t want to miss! At our January webinar, we gave a sneak peek at two new data-powered solutions that will transform your digital growth in 2020: iQ Audience+ and Data Insights.

Learn more about:

• iQ Audience+: An audience acquisition and retention platform that enables you to precisely tailor your conversion funnel using audience data, machine learning, and proven industry best practices.
• Data Insights: A powerful new tool for gathering, understanding, and acting upon the world of data that drives your business.

Both iQ Audience+ and Data Insights are slated for release in the first quarter of 2020. Be the first to see what’s coming! Watch it now.

Webinar recording now available

Join Tim Turner, iQ Engage program manager at TownNews, and Tim McDonough, manager of client strategy at Lotame, as they show you how TownNews and Lotame can help you improve ad targeting, and make more money with your in-house (first-party) data.

Topics included:

• Using your own proprietary audience data to maximize advertising revenue
• Augmenting your in-house data with third-party audience data to unlock new ad targeting opportunities
• Expanding your advertisers’ reach with look-alike modeling
• . . . and more!

Ready to get started? Watch it now.

Following up on Rob Weir's question, but with a Facebook focus. A Wordpress plug in was just announced making it easy for all publishers to access instant articles. Does TownNews have a plan to quickly match this?

Even with a preview image, link assets don't display well in vertical galleries. My suggestion is to have them look just like an article asset (with image and preview option).