(upbeat music) - We're now joined by our two longtime friends, Anthony "Tony" Russo, President Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey and CEO and Publisher of Commerce Magazine, our longtime media partner, and Michael Shapiro, founder and CEO TAPinto and founder and CEO of Hyper Local News Network.

Tony and Michael, great to have you with us.

- Thank you, Steve.

Good to be here.

- Great to be here, Steve.

- So what's, in Italian, you know, there's a word for this.

It's called a (italian word).

Tony knows exactly what I'm talking about.

It means a marriage, sometimes arranged, back in the day, but this is a partnership between the two organizations.

Tony, talk about it.

- Yeah, thank you Steve, and I've known Mike now for a few years, and, you know, it's getting harder each month to really stay in front of people with all the information overload that's out there, both in the internet and in just people's busy lives, right?

Working remote.

So Commerce Magazine, I'm happy to say our partnership with you has been great, but we were founded in 1968, and we're always looking for ways to improve what we do and how we deliver the magazine.

And so when Mike and I saw each other last November, you know, he and I just talked about this partnership, and it's great because his platform, and I'm sure he will talk about it, just the access to that local news media, right?

In terms of the people that want to cover or want to get their news from the internet, you know, Mike's platform is great that way.

So when we signed the partnership with Mike, you know, launched a couple, about three months ago, it's been nothing but great news in the sense that our exposure now, you know, to the local communities that Mike serves with his platform has just been great.

So, and it's a way to deliver the business stories that we capture to his audience.

- And as Tony said, all of us are looking for different, innovative, creative, impactful ways of reaching different audiences.

Michael, talk about your platform, platforms and how it's connected to the work that Tony and his colleagues are doing.

- Sure, Steve.

So I founded, you know, TAPinto now about 15 years ago, and about 10 years ago, we started franchising to enable people to start local news sites in their communities.

Today we have almost a hundred franchise TAPinto local news sites in New Jersey, covering over 125 municipalities.

Each site provides original local news reporting every day.

They have to be objective, they have to follow the Society of Professional Journalist ethics.

Recently, over the last year or so, I've been approached by a number of print newspapers, radio stations, one-off hyper-local news sites who have said to me, "Hey, we love your platform.

We'd love to be part of it, but, A, we wanna be able to keep our own branding.

And two, all of the back office services that you provide to your franchisees, we'd like to be able to have them a la carte."

So in the recent months, we've been able to create the technology to enable us to white label our platform.

- What does that mean, white label?

- Yeah, basically it enables us to provide our platform to Commerce Magazine so that they're able to be on our platform, seamlessly share content and sell advertising between all of the publications in the network, yet a hundred percent keep their own branding.

So when you come to the Commerce Magazine site online, you don't see TAPinto anywhere on it, including the domain name, but it's running on the same platform.

And my view is, is that it's kind of the ultimate in collaboration.

It's publications coming together where they can seamlessly share content with each other.

So for example, when Commerce Magazine does a business story, a statewide business story, they can share that content with all of our local TAPinto sites in the network.

Similarly, if a TAPinto site's say in Westfield covers a business grand opening story, they can share that story with Commerce Magazine, and now Tony's magazine has that content.

- And Tony, a follow up on that, really the media, the competitive nature of the media, I would love to get your perspective a little bit.

Mike talked about it in terms of the collaboration and the partnership, but how do you put that competitive nature on the side for the betterment, I don't even know if that's a word.

- It is.

- Of the, thank you.

Of the viewers, the readers?

Because I just love consuming my information in a digital way.

I love also reading in print sometimes.

So Tony, talk a little bit about how you put any type of competitiveness aside to collaborate for the people.

- Yeah, it's a great question, Mary.

And I don't see, I see Mike's platform again as an advantage to Commerce Magazine.

'Cause we publish once a month, right?

So the stories that we track down and develop, they have to have a longer shelf life because it comes out each month.

And we want those stories that you don't normally see on TV or read anywhere else, whether it's, and you both know that we have about 900 members from virtually every business sector.

So it's really interesting when you find out those stories, and we like to cover those personal stories, develop it, and then using Mike's platform, it reaches local audiences that we wouldn't reach before.

I mean, we're a business-to-business magazine working with TAPinto now, when somebody's sitting in their house wanting to hear the high school sports score, or what's going on with the mayor and town council, and we're Mike's, you know, business partner, and they maybe wanna see what happens in Trenton, maybe we're covering a story of what it happens in Trenton.

It's just another resource for them.

So we don't see it as a competition.

We actually see it as like, again, a complement to, again, what Mike has done through his network.

Just a way for us to get the business stories out there to the local people that normally maybe wouldn't see it.

And that's good.

Again, we come out once a month, so, you know, it's something that we have to just be strategic about, what we're gonna cover.

Each month is a different theme.

For example, the June-July issue's gonna be about tourism and hospitality.

We'll put it up to Mike's platform and wait to see who reads it and get the feedback.

- And along those lines, my monthly column on leadership runs in commerce and has for many years.

It's an important platform for us.

But one of the things that's interesting, Michael, is that for years, Mary asked the question about competition or our perception of competition, for so many years, the print folks and the traditional TV media folks, we were too isolated, insulated, and caught up in our perception of competition to understand that the only way is to collaborate, partner with others on other platforms.

What the heck do you think took so many folks so long, Michael, to realize we just can't survive with the status quo and the way we've been putting information out?

Long-winded question, I know, but there are newspapers across this state that don't exist anymore or no more on Saturdays, or they had to know a long time ago the model had to change, Michael.

- Yeah, I mean the writing's been on the wall for a long time, but, you know, I think that, you know, people who have been doing something for a very long time tend to do things the same way for a very long time.

You know, whereas like, you know, when I started TAPinto, I, you know, candidly, and, you know, I talk about this, I had no journalism experience, and I had no sales experience.

And I think that that's enabled us in large measure to be successful because I didn't have any kind of preconceived notions of what we should be doing.

I wanted to kind of invent it and evolve it as we continue to grow to make it into the best product for our readers, for our advertisers, and to provide really meaningful local news coverage.

And you know, to your point, I mean, even today there are still publications that have walls erected to prevent people from reading their content.

And to me, it should be about breaking down walls.

You know, to me, you know, you shouldn't have to decide between paying for food and knowing what your town council is doing.

But in on many local news sites, as well as many local newspapers, you can't find out what your town council is doing without paying to get the news.

Our view is totally different.

It's to democratize the news, and we make our money through advertising.

So bring the people to the site, get them excited about the local news, get them, you know, keep them coming back, and then reach out to local businesses and say, "Hey, do you wanna reach our readers?

Here's how to do it."

- Last question on my end.

Michael, you started 15 years ago with TAPinto, right?

- Yeah.

- Is this what you thought it would be, or did you not have any idea what it could or would be?

- No, I really had no idea what it could or would be.

My original thought, like I had started it in New Providence, New Jersey, and then within a few weeks, people in Berkeley Heights and Summit reached out to me and said, "Hey, we heard about this.

Can you start it in our town?"

And then I left my job in New York to do it full-time.

I had been an attorney in New York, and my original idea was, I was just gonna build those three sites, their traffic, their revenue, their content, and I built them the profitability.

We were able to bring on a full-time editor.

But I kept getting more and more requests from people to expand to their town.

And that's what led me to come up with this idea of franchising local news, which to this day, still nobody in the country has done.

But to me, that's how you keep local news local, yet provide the infrastructure and support to publishers so that they're not worried about, "Oh, I need to invoice that client.

I need to design this ad."

They can focus on news and the advertising, and everything else is done for them.

- Mary, before I let everybody go, you get most of your information from TAPinto in Westfield.

- A thousand percent, TAPinto Westfield.

I actually know the local writer for TAPinto Westfield, and it's just, it's great, and I can't stress enough just to get that local information, especially when both of my boys were in high school, getting that local information, having your kids featured because they did something really cool.

Joey has been featured in TAPinto for writing a musical in his senior year.

- Joey, your son.

- My son, Joey, but it's just a great platform.

So Bravo to both of you now working together, collaborating when so many other people are out there just trying to like, you know, butt heads.

So it's really exciting and refreshing to see.

- Butting Heads is so boring and unproductive.

To Tony, to Michael, I can't thank you enough.

And Tony, lemme just say this, you've been a great longtime media partner, and you've helped expand our audience and our brand, and hopefully it's mutual.

Thank you.

And Michael, wish you and your team all the best as well.

Stay with us, folks.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by NJM Insurance Group.

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And by The Fidelco Group.

Promotional support provided by Northjersey.com and Local IQ.

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