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BCP Expands To Include 5 Independently Owned Local News Organizations Serving Diverse Communities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE —

Publishers to receive Facebook funding to create revenue strategies around branded content initiatives


FORT WORTH, TEXAS, Feb. 19, 2020 — The Local Media Association and the Local Media Consortium, two of the local media industry’s most innovative organizations, today announced, in coordination with the Facebook Journalism Project, an expansion of the Branded Content Project to include five independently owned publishers serving communities of color and diverse audiences in a pilot group.


The Branded Content Project, a partnership between the LMA and the LMC, and funded by a $1 million investment from the Facebook Journalism Project, commenced in March 2019 with an initial alpha test group, and in November 2019, selected 22 more local media organizations to participate in a beta group. These organizations will develop best practices in branded content and will receive grant money to build and develop successful and sustainable branded content revenue streams.


The LMA and LMC define branded content as any sales initiative that uses content to engage the user and is paid for by a client who participates as part of the content, helps supply the content, or sponsors the content that is distributed across any platform.


Mabry


“This pilot will offer a group of independent publishers an opportunity to define, develop and grow branded content revenue strategies. The Local Media Association and the Local Media Consortium have been doing great work in this space and the Facebook Journalism Project is happy to support their efforts,” said Josh Mabry, local news partnerships lead for the Facebook Journalism Project.




Campbell

“We are thrilled to bring this innovative pilot group into the Branded Content Project and work closely with their teams in the coming months to build and refine their branded content strategies,” said Julia Campbell, Branded Content Project lead. “As part of the Branded Content Project initiative, this pilot group of independently owned publishers, will build on the knowledge gained in the first year of the project and will share their progress in case studies and white papers to highlight their findings and results with the broader local media industry.”


The Branded Content Project independently owned publisher pilot group includes the following (listed in alphabetical order):


  • The AFRO American Newspapers

  • AL DIA

  • Chicago Reader 

  • The Oklahoma Eagle

  • The St. Louis American


Howze

“The AFRO is thrilled to have been selected to participate in the Branded Content Project. With the ever-increasing demand for advertising versatility, we are confident that the training and strategic direction we’ll receive will be of great benefit to our advertising clients and result in incremental revenue growth,” said Lenora Howze, executive

director, The AFRO American Newspapers.