The digital-only segment of the news media is difficult to track because it is diverse and growing rapidly, according to the Pew Research Center's State of the News Media 2015 report. Pew made one effort in its 2014 report to research and put a number on these ventures and the resulting newsroom jobs and revenues. 

Since then, however, many of these ventures, notably First Look Media, Gigacom, BuzzFeed as well as the re-creation The New Republic online, have faced financial and journalistic hurtles. Still other news outlets such as Vice News, Vox.com, Politico and Quartz have been growing. The latest Pew report provides thumbnails of the status of each of the news outlets listed above. 

Meanwhile, digital nonprofit journalism at the local and state level continues to develop, albeit at different rates and levels of success.  The Texas Tribune, for example has a staff of more than 40, a budget of $7 million in 2013 and a new grant to staff a Washington bureau.  In contrast, The Lens in New Orleans has had to cut back on its reporting because of unanticipated funding shortfalls. 

“Overall, digital news entrants and experimentation, whether from longtime providers or new, are on the one hand now so numerous and varied that they are difficult to keep track of, “ the Pew report said. “On the other hand, the pace of technological evolution and the multiplicity of choices – from platforms to devices to pathways – show no sign of slowing down. With each new pathway or platform, the old ones continue to be used, posing a nearly unattainable challenge to an industry in financial difficulty. And if news in the social space is more incidental and driven to a large degree by friends and algorithms, then gaining a foothold there may be even more elusive – or at least less in the industry’s own hands – than a secure financial model.”

One resource is Michele's List, a database of promising local news startups developed by KDMC program consultant Michele McLellan in 2010 and produced in collaboration with the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism. The list is updated regularly and used to conduct an annual survey of publishers.