Belfast Live editor Sheena McStravick believes its positive outlook, non-partisanship and grassroots local journalism have been key to its success over the past ten years.
The site, which officially launched on 28 February 2015, was the first digital-only ‘Live’ newsbrand at Reach and became the model behind more than 60 sites to follow.
Belfast Live reached an audience of one million people within five months of launch and became the best-read Northern Irish news website around four years ago.
In February this year it had an audience of 2.2 million, up 3.7% month on month and 44.5% year on year, according to Ipsos iris. It also reported 13 million page views, down 22% month on month but up 36% compared to February 2024.
It reached 39% of the online population of Northern Ireland in February, more than 532,000 people, according to a Reach spokesperson citing Ipsos data.
[Read more: See timeline of the Reach ‘Live’ network expansion here]
Belfast Live started out with a team of about five people of which McStravick and now-deputy editor Sarah Scott were the two live news reporters.
The team is now about 20 people, including reporters, content editors, photographers, videographers and sports journalists, and has people based around Northern Ireland and not just in Belfast, despite the name of the site. The My Derry, My Fermanagh and My Tyrone sub-brands sitting within the Belfast Live website were launched in 2021.
McStravick, who became editor on secondment in November 2022 and took on the role permanently in March 2024, remembered the launch of Belfast Live as “an apprehensive time, because we were launching as an unknown into a highly competitive and saturated news market here in Northern Ireland with titles that have been long established for decades so that was very challenging and difficult, obviously, to make ourselves heard and carve a path for ourselves. And there’s others who have probably tried it in the past and not seen the great success that we have.”
Asked why Belfast Live has made it work in a competitive landscape amid challenges from Google and Facebook algorithm changes and evolving audience habits, McStravick told Press Gazette it was set apart by being “a positive newsbrand” and one that was “very keen to hone in on local communities”.
She said there were many communities that “probably felt underrepresented by the mainstream media and maybe only ever saw their communities reflected in negative headlines whenever there was something bad that happened.
“We set out from the outset to challenge that and change that and be a positive voice for those communities, and actually shine a light on the good and positive work that was being done.”
She said they “sometimes saw a bit of fear and resistance” but having reporters on the ground “helped break down those barriers”.
McStravick noted that this could be particularly important for communities that had lost their local weekly newspaper in the structural print decline of the past 20 years.
She also cited the fact that Belfast Live is “proudly non-partisan: we represent all communities”.
A Reach spokesperson cited recent TGI consumer data from Kantar Media that showed Belfast Live had the “most balanced readership” with 40% Protestant versus 43% Catholic, narrowly more even than the Belfast Telegraph’s split of 43-39. At the Irish News it was 18-70.
Despite digital headwinds, McStravick said: “I feel like we’re still proudly serving our local readers… Our focus has always been on quality, local, grassroots journalism, and that’s something that we continue to do, because that’s what our readers trust us for. That’s what they come to us for.”
Belfast Live is the only major news website covering Northern Ireland that does not have a paywall of some kind. McStravick said this is something she feels strongly about: “I understand there’s a model for monetisation and I understand why outlets use [paywalls], 100%, but it’s something I am really, really proud of and really passionate about: that we keep the news, especially local news, accessible and free for everyone.”
Reach chief digital publisher David Higgerson wrote on Linkedin that Belfast Live’s launch “proved to be a huge success, despite many nay-sayers suggesting it would be gone within 12 months.
“On the back of that success, we went on to launch digital news titles in cities like Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds and in London – and began rebranding our established brands – Birmingham Mail to Birmingham Live, Nottingham Post to Nottinghamshire Live and so on – helping those titles do local journalism differently, while still remaining true to the decades and sometimes centuries old commitment to local news.”
Several common criticisms are often levelled wholesale against Reach’s Live regional news websites: the sometimes slow, ad-heavy user experience (for which an improved CMS is currently being rolled out), the level of non-local news included in the mix, and allegations of clickbait.
McStravick said she can’t speak for other sites across Reach but at Belfast Live “our focus is on high quality local journalism serving local communities… I don’t believe our articles are clickbaity or anything like that at all, I think we provide fair and accurate journalism.”
She noted that readers “like to enjoy different types of content” and that Belfast Live provides “a real healthy mix of that content”.
For example she cited listicle articles like the best cafes to have an Ulster Fry in Belfast and said that “we always like to have a bit of craic” as well as cover the serious news.
“We know that they [the readers] like that, it’s almost like an escapism, a relief. The news is dominated by very heavy stuff 90% of the time, if not more. So we provide our audience a bit of a balance and a bit of lighthearted relief even if that is something people may criticise us for doing… this is content our readers like… that’s why we will continue to serve it to them as long as they want it.”
McStravick said Belfast Live has a “really engaged” audience of under-35s, the pursuit of which was described as the biggest challenge and opportunity last month by Mirror editor-in-chief Caroline Waterston. Reach said Belfast Live reached more than 383,000 under-35s in February, up 37% year on year.
Belfast Live has a youth audience lead and content creator, Justin Millar, who works alongside What’s On reporter Sophie McLaughlin on content including Tiktoks from Belfast music festival Belsonic, with which the brand has a longstanding media partnership.
Two of Belfast Live’s most-viewed Tiktok videos are from Belsonic, asking people their favourite colour of tractor and their favourite member of Take That.
McStravick said other stories people “might dismiss” were the arrival of the world’s first Primark Home store and the first Krispy Kreme in Northern Ireland, both of which opened in Belfast last month.
She said these stories and Tiktok videos “really resonate”, bring a “great excitement” among the younger audience and give Belfast Live “a really good mix” of content.
At the other end of the spectrum, last year Belfast Live also had one of Northern Ireland’s biggest scoops: the news that former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson and his wife had been charged with historical sexual offences, although they were kept anonymous in the initial reporting for legal reasons until they named themselves.
McStravick also noted the role Belfast Live played as riots unfolded across the UK last summer, putting out facts and figures on immigration in Northern Ireland to dispel misinformation being shared online.
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