byyou

The platforms that distribute local news weren't built for it. ByYou intends to be that platform, giving journalists and publishers the infrastructure to do their best work inside the communities they support.

The problem

Readers trust local news but won't pay alone. 85% consume it weekly, only 15% pay. The binary paywall asks too much of individuals and leaves everyone else behind. 1 2
Publishers have no owned social channels they can strongly rely on for engagement. Facebook referrals down 58% since 2018. Google search traffic to publishers down a third in 2025. Discovery now happens on platforms that have stopped caring about news. 3 4
When interested readers hit a wall, they leave. 53% go find the story somewhere else. Nearly a third now get local news from individual content creators with no editorial infrastructure or accountability. 5 6
Advertising revenue doesn't stay local. Publishers take home 30–40 cents of every programmatic dollar. The rest funds ad tech intermediaries with no stake in the community. 7
  1. Medill Local News Initiative, Northwestern University, 2025
  2. Pew-Knight Initiative, Americans' Changing Relationship With Local News, 2024
  3. Chartbeat via Social Media Today, 2024
  4. Reuters Institute / Chartbeat, Journalism and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026
  5. Pew Research Center, Few Americans Pay for News When They Encounter Paywalls, June 2025
  6. Medill Local News Initiative, Northwestern University, 2025
  7. Association of National Advertisers; ISBA Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency Study, 2020

What we're building

A communal access model. Readers and sponsors alike can fund community unlocks for attribution. No one reader carries the cost alone.
A publisher storefront readers can follow and engage with directly. A channel on ByYou is a direct relationship — beat taxonomy, geography, community — independent of any algorithm.
Readers follow verified journalists and storylines in their own community. A journalist's work doesn't end at publication. On ByYou, it compounds.
Seven revenue streams that keep money between local businesses and local newsrooms. ByYou earns when you do through a modest transaction fee.

Let's talk.

Publisher, journalist, employer, investor — if local news infrastructure interests you, I'd like to hear from you.

jake@byyou.app →