Although independent local news sites are a small part of the overall news industry, this sector has been making noticeable gains in the last year. According to State of the News Media 2014, published today by the Pew Research Center, small U.S. new sites currently support about 1900 jobs -- an average of 4.4 jobs per outlet. "In terms of the numbers of outlets, the largest component of the growing digital news world is the smaller news site."

Pew identified a total of 438 digital news organizations that produce original reporting on a regular basis. Most are less than ten years old (nearly one third were founded since 2010, and over half launched between 2005-2010). Most focus mainly on local coverage. About half have a nonprofit business model.

The faltering general economy helped spur this growth. According to Pew: "The biggest single year for expansion was at the height of the recession. There were 103 digital native startups in 2009, the same year that the American Society of Newspaper Editors recorded the loss of 5,200 newspaper newsroom jobs. That suggests many small digital organizations were formed to try to fill perceived reporting gaps created by legacy layoffs exacerbated by a bad economy."

Most small news sites have a staff of less than five, and additionally rely on volunteer and citizen contributors. "On one level this reliance on non-paid workers reflects the lean budgets of many of these outlets. But it also reflects some of the genre's editorial ethos -- that covering local communities or neighborhoods at a grassroots level is best accomplished with contributions from regular citizens."

Pew also observed that small news sites can be "economically shaky, as exemplified by what happened at Patch." However, it appears that the hyperlocal news network Patch, a division of AOL, was not included in Pew's jobs figures for the small news site sector -- indicating that Patch's recent demise does not reflect the fortunes of independent local news sites as a whole.

Traffic to local independent news sites varies widely, from site to site and over time. "At the local level, MinnPost attracted 268,955 unique visitors in October 2012, according to the report, while The Lens, which focuses on New Orleans and Gulf Coast news, reported just 20,177 unique visitors in October 2012 (though again a huge increase, 375%, over October 2010). The variation in these data speaks to both the diversity in the scope of noncommercial digital startups as well as the degree to which collaboration and syndicated content may mean that site visits is not the best way to assess total audience."

Digital news sites are experimenting with a variety of business models and revenue streams. Even for major digital news outlets, subscription revenues are "likely small at this stage. Even among the largest entities, the total dollar amounts are small relative to other revenue streams."

Similarly, citing a recent survey by Michele McLellan of KDMC, Pew noted that only one out of 44 hyperlocal for-profit sites said that subscriptions accounted for at least 50% of their total revenue.

Grants and voluntary contributions are an important support for noncommercial digital news sites, from public broadcasting to nonprofit hyperlocals. Overall this represents nearly a quarter of all revenue for noncommercial journalism. "It is often a crucial part of the mix, and is considered by analysts to be fundamental to future sustainability," said Pew. While most charitable giving for noncommercial journalism goes to public broadcasting, in 2013 about $15 million in philanthropy went to roughly 100 digital nonprofit organizations, including major players such as ProPublica and Texas Tribune.

Pew's State of the News Media 2014 focuses mostly on major daily news outlets, operating on a metro, national, or global scale. It's a wealth of current statistics on all aspects of the news industry.