Urban Milwaukee Announces Huge Growth

It turns out there is tremendous interest in Milwaukee for a publication that covers the city and urban issues.

In the last year, Urban Milwaukee has seen its readership grow from just under 125,000 monthly page views to just over 400,000 monthly page views, more than a three-fold growth in traffic. Going back to May 2012, the online daily has grown from about 30,000 monthly page views, seeing its readership grow by 1,233 percent.

“We’re thrilled and gratified by our growth in readership,” Urban Milwaukee’s President Jeramey Jannene declared. “We feel we have attracted a loyal readership that is passionate about Milwaukee, and we share that passion.”

Jannene and Urban Milwaukee Publisher Dave Reid founded Urban Milwaukee in 2008 and added Bruce Murphy as editor in May 2012. Since then, the publication has also seen its count of monthly unique visitors rise from about 19,000 to more than 129,000.

“We expect our traffic to continue its growth as we continue adding more content and contributors,” Reid said. “We’re on the road to a million monthly page views.”

Exactly one year ago, on December 1, 2013, Urban Milwaukee purchased the online arts publication, Third Coast Digest, and renamed it Urban Milwaukee Dial in May. The new name was launched along with new, coordinated logos for Urban Milwaukee and the Dial, created by the design wizards at Laughlin Constable.

The Dial has expanded the arts coverage that Third Coast did, adding coverage of rock and comedy shows, dining and bars. Readership has doubled for the Dial compared to its predecessor publication.

“With Urban Milwaukee and the Dial, we are now publishing 40 stories or more per week,” Murphy noted. “Frankly, we’re having fun growing the publication.”

At a time when print publications are declining and going out of business, the future of journalism is online, Jannene noted, and there will be great demand for a publication like Urban Milwaukee. “We’ve stuck to our plan to run a lean business that grows organically by attracting loyal readers and contributors who care about this city,” he added. “As Milwaukee continues to grow as an exciting urban area, we intend to be there charting those changes.”