Washington Post Shuttering LoudounExtra.com

A lack of advertiser support and a shortage of resources spelled doom for LoudounExtra.com, a hyperlocal site covering news in Loudoun County, Va., for The Washington Post, The New York Times‘ Bits reported.

The Washington Post also said it would not proceed with other planned hyperlocal sites.

The hyperlocal idea isn’t dead, as Bits pointed out that msnbc.com acquired EveryBlock earlier this week; AOL acquired Patch and Going in June; and The New York Times started The Local to cover communities in New Jersey and New York in March.

The Washington Post spokeswoman Kris Coratti told Bits:

We found that our experiment with LoudounExtra.com as a separate site was not a sustainable model. Updating the large amount of special features and technologies proved unsustainable.

And analyst Greg Sterling, author of the Screenwerk blog, added:

I suspect The Washington Post maybe made assumptions about acquiring advertisers that didn’t turn out to be true. It was probably the case that they were just really top-heavy and couldn’t get the ad support.

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