It’s been revealed that the Bedford Independent is “smashing it” with its local news content across Bedford Borough after lower figures for the two other news sources in the area were published.
On Friday (28 May) Hold the Front Page, a news website about journalists and journalism, published local news readership data for online news websites from market research firm Ipsos.
Comparing this data with their own independent data, the Bedford Independent found it is beating traditional publishers in the area for readership loyalty, with almost one million pages read across April and March this year.
| Title | Page views per visitor March 2023* | Page views per visitor April 2023* | Total pages read March/April 2023 |
| Bedford Independent | 4 | 4 | 924,000 |
| Beds Live | 2 | 3 | 610,000 |
| Bedford Today | 2 | 2 | 396,000 |
This means our readers are staying on our site for longer and reading more of our content and news than that provided by the only other news sources in the area.
In terms of readership, the Bedford Independent is also punching above its weight when compared to the titles owned by Reach and National World, the biggest publishers in the UK.
| Title | Unique Users March 2023* | Unique Users April 2023* |
| Beds Live | 143,000 | 108,000 |
| Bedford Independent | 125,000 | 106,000 |
| Bedford Today | 124,000 | 74,000 |
The comparison with National World’s Bedford Today, the online news website for the Times and Citizen is clear, showing the Bedford Independent has significantly more readers.
Meanwhile, the comparison with Beds Live, owned by Reach the largest publisher in the UK, is also incredible as their website covers the whole of Bedfordshire whereas the Bedford Independent covers a much smaller patch.
In a joint statement, Bedford Independent founders Julia Course-Crofts, Paul Hutchinson and Erica Roffe said they were delighted with the findings.
“What this shows is that Bedfordians are fed-up with big publishers peddling clickbait, churnalism and gossip from newsrooms many miles away from the areas they cover and calling it ‘news’,” they said.
“The Bedford Independent delivers what local news providers should never have stopped providing, fact-checked and well-thought-out news articles from people who live, work, play and understand the areas they cover.
“We’ve worked so hard and thanks to our readers helping us to deliver what they want, we’re now smashing it against news providers with far more resources than we have access to.”
While all three founders work part-time, along with sports editor Tom Carr and various freelancers, they have written 6,724 articles since launching in November 2018, 211 of which were exclusives, organised multiple events, and collaborated with private and public sector organisations on various projects.
“People trust that what they’re reading on our pages is balanced, accurate and informative, meaning local businesses advertising on our pages benefit from the trust people have in us, making the Bedford Independent the best place to advertise,” added commercial director Julia Course-Crofts.
“We’ve worked very hard to build a news website that supports Bedford Borough businesses of all sizes and helps grow the local economy. Our readership stats speak for themselves, the Bedford Independent is the best place to advertise”.
Commenting on what they believe is the reason for their success, joint managing editors, Paul Hutchinson and Erica Roffe said “accuracy and independence” have created a trusted source of news for Bedford Borough.
“People want to know that what they’re reading isn’t just a copied and pasted media release or a biased account of what has happened. We rewrite all media releases we receive, adding balance and additional information to make sure the full picture is available.
“We’re also regulated by independent press regulator IMPRESS, following their code of conduct and our own stringent ethics and editorial policy so readers know they have scope to challenge our reporting should they feel the need to do so.”
The team also play an active role in ‘bigging up’ Bedford, publishing a comprehensive What’s on Guide every Thursday and also organising an annual Everyday Heroes Awards to celebrate those that make Bedford Borough brilliant.
“At the end of the day,” said Erica, Paul and Julia, “we live in Bedford too. We want to make sure that everyone knows how great Bedford is and where there may be room for improvement, we’re really pleased our readers agree we’re doing just that.”
Looking to the future, the team say they’re investigating ways they can work and collaborate with more businesses to help cover the cost of the resources needed to not only increase coverage but also secure the future of local news in Bedford Borough and beyond.
If you’d like to see how you can support the Bedford Independent’s high-quality and popular news coverage and also benefit from their successful readership, helping your business reach even more people, email ads@bedfordindependent.co.uk.
Readers can also make sure they continue to have access to the best news coverage about their local area by making a small donation here.
While these stats only cover March and April of this year, the Bedford Independent has an average of 130,000 readers a month reading an average of 500,000 pages a month between them over a 12-month period.
