The Global Media Weekly for executives and entrepreneurs

Nub News “£2m fundraising”

The UK hyperlocal group Nub News says it is in the final stages of negotiating up to £2m of equity funding from existing and new investors. The cash will help the “virtual” company increase its coverage of smartphone local news from 42 to 200 towns, including many London suburbs.

With annual operating costs of some £10k per town (a £24k editor will cover 2-3 towns) the new funds – with a ‘worst case’ estimate of £12-15k advertising/sponsorship annual revenue per town – will underwrite Nub News for 1-2 years.

The company’s founder and majority owner, former equities trader Karl Hancock said his plans had been accelerated (like his audience) by Covid which had stimulated a community spirit in small British towns. In June, his then 39 sites (serving towns with a total population of almost 1m) had 523k monthly uniques.

While Nub News has yet to start selling advertising (it has some sponsorship revenue just from Hancock’s own phone calls) no fewer than 1,700 companies have taken up the offer of free local listings during the pandemic. This has clearly helped to build audience loyalty during a period when many weekly local newspapers have been suspended.

The 18 months of progress, with its initial £700k of equity funding, implies Nub News could become a national network over the next 1-2 years with the new funding which is expected to be in place within a few weeks.

While the company will need to spend more, not least to take in audio, video and technology upgrades, its ‘worst case’ scenario of £12-15k per town really is just that, the worst case. Even with falling programmatic ad yields, Nub News will do much better – once it employs some sales talent.

Suddenly, Karl Hancock’s declared ambition to make Nub News “the largest online local newspaper in the UK” doesn’t seem so wild. The only question is whether this lowest of low-cost news providers will provoke either an irresistible bid or a competitive launch. One to watch, imitate or admire.

Nub News