Exclusive: Sinclair launches national news brand on Substack
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Photo: Courtesy of The National Press
Sinclair, one of the nation's largest local broadcast groups, is launching a subscription-focused, national news brand on Substack called The National Press, executives told Axios.
Why it matters: It's a huge bet for the family-controlled local news giant as it looks to build trust and loyalty among users beyond the TV screen.
- While Sinclair has invested in a slew of digital products over the past decade, "Substack was a glaring sort of missing area that we hadn't addressed," Sinclair president and CEO Chris Ripley told Axios.
- "It could very well be a core part of our digital offering, if we hit the targets and the expectations that we have," he said.
How it works: The National Press will use reporting from Sinclair's roughly 1,200 journalists across 60 local newsrooms to create content.
- The new venture will launch with both free and paid tiers on Substack, and it will distribute video and audio programming on YouTube and other social media platforms.
- It will feature three new original programs, including a daily news show anchored by Lyndsay Keith, an independent journalist who previously co-hosted a show on Newsmax.
- Paid users get access to ad-free and extended versions of shows, as well as subscriber-only content and interactive features.
State of play: Instead of building the operation itself, Sinclair is partnering with New Media, a startup from veterans of The Free Press, to build out the new offering.
- New Media helps legacy newsrooms build subscription businesses and digital programming, leveraging traditional journalists and digital creators.
Follow the money: New Media will be paid a monthly production fee by Sinclair and also get a cut of The National Press' revenue, New Media founder Alex Chitty told Axios. The revenue share, he said, gives New Media a financial stake in The National Press' success.
- "We only succeed if the partner succeeds," he said in a joint interview with Ripley.
- Ripley said revenue growth will be Sinclair's top indicator of success, followed by subscriber growth. He declined to disclose subscriber targets.
- Advertising and sponsorship revenue isn't part of the initial business plan for The National Press, although Chitty said they could be added later.
Between the lines: New Media is bringing some notable names to the project, including Vice Media co-founder Shane Smith, who serves as an investor in New Media and a partner in The National Press venture.
- Several journalists from The Free Press, the Substack-based subscription news outlet co-founded by Bari Weiss, are also part of New Media, including former executive producer and host Raf Siewert.
Reality check: This isn't Sinclair's first attempt at launching a national digital news brand.
- The company acquired the mobile news brand Circa in 2015 with plans to relaunch the site with a slate of new journalist hires. It shuttered the operation four years later.
- Ripley acknowledged that Circa was a "failure," but said the company likes to learn from its mistakes.
- He said partnering with Chitty and New Media should "significantly mitigate" the risk this time around.
The big picture: The new venture will test Sinclair's ability to translate trust in its local stations into a broader national brand that requires direct investment from consumers.
- While most local news consumers don't engage with the Sinclair brand directly, they may be aware of broader accusations of conservative political bias against the company.
The bottom line: Asked what he would say to critics who see the new venture as simply a right-leaning digital outlet, Ripley said, "They should tune in and judge for themselves."
- He acknowledged Sinclair has "a reputation that may otherwise make people believe something else," but argued its local journalism is community-focused and unbiased.
