InYourArea
InYourArea - Reach PLC
In 2023, InYourArea successfully revamped its UK-only hyperlocal community news app, achieving significant recognition. The app rose to the top spot in the UK News App Chart on both iOS and Android, surpassing Twitter, Reddit, and BBC News. It also secured the 5th position overall in the FREE UK app chart on iOS. These rankings highlight the dedicated work of our 20-member in-house team, which includes only four full-time journalists. This accomplishment underscores the app's value to our highly engaged and loyal readers.
Despite our relatively small team, we've excelled in delivering a high-quality user experience. We've already invested in substantial redevelopment of our mobile app, with plans to upgrade the website in 2024 to mirror the native app's success. Our user base also expanded significantly in 2023, with an additional 500,000 registered users, bringing the total to 3.5 million users across the UK. InYourArea primarily caters to a mature audience, with 76.4% of users aged 55 or older, predominantly female. We specialise in offering "useful" and "friendly" news and information that directly impacts the daily lives of our readers, complementing trusted local newspapers.
A notable strength of our app is content aggregation. We pull content from various sources, including publications, user-generated content, and government data, which we then map to users' postcodes using an AI aggregation tool, creating personalised and relevant information streams for users 24/7 nationwide.
While users browse articles, they are targeted by our in-house local ad solution, "GeoFlex," with hyperlocal and contextual advertising. This advertising network sustains our business and ensures profitability.
InYourArea places a strong emphasis on community engagement, allowing readers to express their viewpoints through our "community" section and article comments. This fosters a sense of community among our members.
We've also established valuable partnerships with organisations, offering real-world benefits to our readers. For instance, we distributed over a hundred thousand FREE family passes to family attractions in 2023 alone.
Additionally, to help our readers cope with the cost-of-living crisis, we created a new section called "InYourPocket," designed to provide money-saving ideas and exclusive giveaways on the InYourArea app. This initiative has helped numerous readers during challenging economic times.
The app's commitment to user satisfaction is reflected in its customer reviews and ratings, with one user describing it as an "indispensable part of their daily routine."
These achievements and initiatives highlight InYourArea's commitment to delivering valuable and relevant content to our engaged audience while also providing support to tens of thousands of communities across the UK.