What I’m thinking about: Birmingham Live and the ‘piss troll’ strategy
Back in March, my former colleague Harry Leach posted a TikTok about the ‘Birmingham piss troll’. His post seemed likely to be part of a shift occurring at our biggest local paper, Birmingham Live — one that I’ve been watching with interest for the last months.
If you aren’t already familiar, the piss troll is a figure of 2010s local urban folklore. Legend has it that on dark nights, a mask-clad form would emerge from the canals beneath the nightclub Subway City (now Tunnel Club) and lie in wait for male club-goers to relieve themselves over the side of the bridge above. The first known record of the piss troll appeared in the now-defunct blog Sick Chirpse. But the tale gained an audience far beyond Birmingham when it became popular lore on the Chart Music podcast, thanks to the late journalist Neil Kulkarni.
The reason Harry’s video — a front-to-camera report made from the bridge itself — stood out to me was because it was so decidedly un-Birmingham Live. It was funny, obscure, and not a grim crime story, or an update on new DWP rules, or a gushing ode to a This Morning presenter’s outfit, complete with affiliate marketing links.
Before you come for me, I know this is low-hanging fruit; I know that Birmingham Live publishes better stories than that previous sentence would suggest. But for a long time, in my opinion, this work has played second fiddle to the gruesome crime/benefits scaremongering/Holly Willoughby types of story that have been their big focus. Until now.
The Dispatch
Late last month, Birmingham Live’s parent company, Reach Plc, revealed it was radically changing its business model. In the wake of figures showing the firm had suffered a 40% decline in visitors to their websites since the beginning of the year, they are pivoting away from chasing ad revenue with high volume stories about London-based celebrities.
The new order of the day is: original content, high-quality video and paid subscriptions. You could dub it the ‘piss troll strategy’ in honour of Harry — no disrespect intended. I think it’s a good strategy (but then, since The Dispatch has been focusing on original content and paid subscriptions from the beginning, I’m biased). Still, nothing’s set in stone. You have to wonder now. Is this too little, too late, after the company has scuppered the reputations of long-standing newspapers like the Birmingham Mail?
And besides, what’s going to stop all of these journalists with fast-growing platforms from one day jumping ship, abandoning Reach altogether, and simply doing it on their own? With the amount of redundancies the company has made over the years, I wouldn’t blame them.
What I’ve been arguing about: town vs the suburbs
I have a colleague called Moya who I admire and respect despite what is arguably her biggest weakness: the fact that she is based in London (at least for now). Whenever she visits Birmingham and has opinions about my hometown, I find myself getting defensive and disagreeing at every opportunity. Which isn’t to suggest that her views on our city are generally negative — quite the contrary, in fact — more so that I am a tedious contrarian. Lately she’s been arguing that Birmingham’s city centre is lacking. To be fair, whenever she visits us at our office in the JQ, the neighbourhood does seem rather quiet.
According to Moya, the best bits are the suburbs, particularly Stirchley and Moseley with their buzzy bars and restaurants, where indie food, markets, and community events like the Mostly Jazz Festival are thriving. In her view, it seems like the suburbs are their own mini-towns, whereas town proper is somewhere people come to mainly for work. I’m not sure I agree, so please wade in below. Are Birmingham’s suburbs where it’s all happening?
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