Bürgerportal Bergisch Gladbach (Germany)

Summary

The Bürgerportal in GL is a local community media outlet in the city of Bergisch Gladbach in western Germany. It was established as a digital local newspaper and citizen's platform in 2009 by Georg Watzlawek and Werner Schmitz-Dietzsch. Today, the Bürgerportal's primary product is a daily newsletter, which is read by approximately 16,000 people in the city every day. Offering all content freely accessible to everyone, alongside a membership program called "Freundeskreis" with 900 voluntary paying members, the Bürgerportal stands as one of the pioneering community media outlets in Germany.

Name

Bürgerportal in GL

Website

https://in-gl.de/

Location / Location of coverage

Bergisch Gladbach, Germany

Size of potential audience/ town region covered

110,000 population

Year they started publishing

2009

Language

German

Mission statement

Know what's going on. We endeavour to ensure comprehensive local reporting for our audience. We are a traditional local daily newspaper, but one that is published digitally as a newsletter, but also an impact-driven digital platform for citizens and local initiatives. With our Freundeskreis and BürgerAkademie, we provide a sense of community and political education and media literacy for our members.

Founders

Georg Watzlawek, Werner Schmitz-Dietsch

Current management team

Georg Watzlawek

Team

Full-time equivalent employees: 3

Legal form of company

sole proprietorship

Tax status

for-profit

Main products

Daily Newsletter (free)

Additional products

Website (free)

Audience and community reach

Newsletter: 8,000 subscribers, but around 16,000 readers in total

Website: 60,000 to 80,000 visits / month

Freundeskreis: around 900 paying members

Most important community engagement format

Bürgerclubs, regular small in-person discussion format

Revenue streams

Revenue: 18,000 € / month

Advertising (40 %)
Freundeskreis (30 %)
Partnerships (15 %)
Co-working space (15 %)

On the next pages you can read our in-depth portrait about the Bürgerportal. If you want to jump into a specific topic directly, here's the overview for you: