Reading this story by @sarafischer about how Patch is operating during the coronavirus crisis. One part really stuck out to me that is worth talking about: the free registration. https://www.axios.com/patch-local-news-revenue-traffic-coronavirus-b3c9dae5-7ce7-418c-b7ca-393815ea7f6f.html

The secret to hyperlocal advertising is the ability to really target the right people. No local restaurant will advertise if it's ads are being viewed by people not within their geo. A good way to target is with a free registration.

By "gating" your content, people are forced to tell you a bit more about themselves. This information can then be used to sell advertising to specific types of partners.

The thing is, this should be common behavior across all sites. But publishers are worried about a drop in programmatic revenue since pageviews may drop some.

Here's the thing... Your programmatic revenue is going to continue drying up anyway. We're all seeing CPMs drop.

If revenue is dropping anyway, pubs should be taking advantage of this increase in traffic to capture more data about users. Own that data versus relying on 3rd parties to tell you about it.

Especially do it around the coronavirus content. If advertisers refuse to put their ads against that content and pubs have been vilified for charging for a subscription, find the happy medium and gate with free subscription.

The pubs that succeed in this next decade will know a lot more about their audience than they did in the last. The free registration is a great way to get started on that journey.