How your support keeps the presses rolling at Bristol24/7

From an outsider’s perspective, working in the media really does look like a ball. It’s all party invites, hot air balloon rides and concert tickets, right? Well yes, there is a bit of that, but there’s also an awful lot of hard work – and that’s just to balance the books.

We’re spilling all our secrets; pulling back the curtains on where the cold, hard cash comes from and where it goes. Get ready for a thrilling tale of money, mystery, and media magic.

Let’s start with the money spinners – membership and advertising.

Advertising is what keeps the lights on at Bristol24/7. We mainly (although not exclusively) advertise local independent business by displaying banner ads on our site, in our newsletters, on our social media and in our print publications. We occasionally write features for businesses too, which are always clearly marked as advertisements.

For us, it’s about getting the balance between having the ads on our site that enable us to continue our work and not having so many pop-ups that you have to swat them away like wasps at a picnic.

Our second main source of regular income is membership and key partners. Our fabulous members are the backbone of our operation; they are the VIPs of our world – the ones who believe in us and support us through thick and thin. When you become a paying member, you not only get exclusive perks (hello, free pints!), but you also become a superhero for local journalism. Both businesses and individuals can support us by becoming members – visit my.bristol247.com/join for more information.

Members get a host of perks, including four free pints a month – photo: ShotAway

We spend rather a lot of time applying for funding too, to support our Climate & Sustainability Editor and our Community Reporters Programme, which sees us hire and train writers from areas in Bristol underrepresented in the media.

We’re hoping to grow our community to 3,000 members to enable us to invest more in our Community Reporters scheme and to help fund the role of the Climate & Sustainability Editor. At the time of writing, we have 1047 paying members.

Here is the breakdown of our income sources:

But where does the money go?

Most of it goes to our hardworking team of twelve, and a handful of dedicated freelancers. People often express surprise about how small our team is; unlike some of our competitors all of our advertising, marketing, HR, finance and distribution is done in house. It’s a lot of work! Almost 70 per cent of our outgoings goes to paying our team.

Reporter Betty Woolerton at the Balloon Fiesta – photo: Bristol24/7

We can’t forget about the unavoidable “overheads”; a fancy way of saying the not-so-glamorous expenses – like our office space, expenses and keeping the website from misbehaving (it gets a little rebellious at times).

Other expenses include printing (to make the magazine you’re reading), holding events, and tech such as laptops for our team to work on.

We have always invested all revenue back into our journalism and social impact projects, and no dividends have been paid to shareholders.

This is a diagram of Bristol24/7’s expenditure:

It’s easy to think: “Local newspapers must be rolling in the dough!” But unfortunately, it’s quite the opposite. Local journalism faces its own share of financial struggles. You see, unlike national media outlets, we’re firmly rooted in our communities, and we prioritise delivering news that matters to the people of Bristol. But with that comes near-constant financial strain, like a real-life whack-a-mole game with expenses popping up left and right.

So, dear readers, next time you glance at our pages and think it’s all glitz and glamour, remember the story behind the scenes – the tireless dedication of our staff, the relentless pursuit of truth, and the financial tightrope we walk. If you love local journalism as much as we do (and we hope you do!), consider becoming a member. Every contribution counts, and it goes a long way in securing the future of quality, community-focused news.

Visit my.bristol247.com/join to become a member.

Main photo: The Bristol24/7 team celebrating reaching 1000 members in September – photo: Bristol24/7

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