An interactive blog and other ‘live’ football transfer coverage run by the Hull Daily Mail was attracting a reader comment every five seconds.

The sports team on the Northcliffe daily used CoverIt Live to tell Hull City FC fans the latest rumours as the deadline for transfers approached on Tuesday night.

They conducted a running commentary during the day which, along with related coverage on thisishull.co.uk and Sporthull.co.uk, saw web hits top the 25,000 mark – an ‘unprecedented’ amount, according to the paper.

Over 6,000 comments were received from users with journalists responding to as many as possible on the day’s big football stories and rumours.

The Mail also sent out alerts to subscribers to its Sportsflash mobile service and put together five pages of coverage for yesterday’s paper.

Mail Editor John Meehan said: “This was our most ambitious interactive service yet and it received an astonishing response. We showcased how effectively we can differentiate our journalism.

“On the web we focused on breaking news and interaction; we used mobile to send out immediate news flashes to fans; and for the paper we produced a comprehensive, reflective and analytical package placing the events of the day and Hull City’s transfer activity in full context and perspective.”

Sports Editor Paul Baxter added: “We were amazed by the sheer volume of posts and questions sent to us.

“Possibly the best feedback we had was from supporters who thanked us for bringing the news to them in such an instant and entertaining way throughout the day.”

Comments

Lord R (03/09/2009 10:16:56)
Well done, Mr Meehan, but tell me, how much money did these 25,000 “hits” bring in?

Wibble (03/09/2009 10:30:24)
“We showcased how effectively we can differentiate our journalism.” Say what?! It wasn’t really journalism, though, was it? Just another platform for people to endlessly speculate in the absence of any news. I’d rather the HDM paid proper journalists to spell people’s names right and not put the wrong dead baby on the front page.

paul (03/09/2009 13:34:26)
Get the punters to write your copy. Genius!

Malcolm (03/09/2009 14:53:54)
Personally I think the HDM should be congratulated on finding the editorial resource to invest in such an innovative digital project.

Hacked off (07/09/2009 12:08:03)
Why is it that when the rare thing that is a positive story about journalism crops up among all the doom and gloom on these pages, all most people seem to do is criticize it and poke fun at it?

Wibble (08/09/2009 14:14:43)
Because these internet chatrooms masquerading as journalism that are, ultimately, putting us all out of work… sorry, some of us are cynical for a reason and would love to be positive about something. This, though, ain’t it.