When The Salt Lake Tribune needed to understand which coverage areas were worth expanding and which were better left to specialized competitors, the 150-year-old newspaper turned to Chartbeat, a real-time content analytics platform built for publishers.
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Key Takeaways
- The Salt Lake Tribune uses Chartbeat to allocate reporting and test headlines.
- Data led to doubling religion reporting and scaling back outdoor coverage.
- For mid-sized nonprofits, real-time analytics replaces gut-feel planning.
The result: a data-informed approach to coverage that led the Tribune to double its religion reporting staff while scaling back expectations for outdoor content that wasn’t finding an audience. For a mid-sized nonprofit newsroom balancing editorial ambition with financial sustainability, the platform provided evidence where intuition alone had guided decisions.
Chartbeat’s Essentials plan typically costs around $13,000 annually, with a lower-cost starter tier reportedly in development. Implementation requires adding JavaScript tracking code to the site, with data appearing in dashboards within 10-15 minutes.
The gist
Chartbeat helped the Tribune turn reader behavior data into actionable editorial strategy.
- Real-time dashboards show who’s on the site, what they’re reading, and where they came from
- Headline testing identifies which options drive the most engagement, then applies winners automatically
- The Tribune expanded religion coverage from 1.5 to 3 full-time reporters based on audience data
How they use it
The Salt Lake Tribune integrates Chartbeat into daily editorial workflows across multiple touchpoints.
- Real-time monitoring: Staff track current traffic, top-performing stories, and traffic sources throughout the day, responding to spikes by adding related links or promoting stories on social media.
- Headline testing: Editors provide multiple headline options for key stories; Chartbeat identifies which performs best and applies it automatically without CMS changes.
- Coverage allocation: Analytics revealed that religion coverage consistently outperformed hiking content, informing the decision to expand the religion beat.
- Story framing: Data showed that restaurant reviews focused on diner experience outperformed chef profiles, leading reporters to restructure how they approach dining coverage.
- Engagement tracking: Beyond pageviews, staff monitor time spent on articles and recirculation rates to identify stories that build loyal audiences rather than drive one-time clicks.
Key metrics
The Tribune tracks several indicators tied to its strategic goals.
- Religion beat expansion: Grew from 1.5 reporters to 3 full-time religion reporters based on audience engagement data
- Engagement focus: Prioritizes time on page and recirculation over raw traffic numbers
- Subscriber tracking: Higher-tier Chartbeat features connect story performance to subscription conversions
What to watch for
Chartbeat requires clarity about goals and ongoing attention to deliver value.
- Strategic alignment: “Is it enough to just build readership? Or are you looking to grow newsletter subscriptions?” asks Ian Swenson, the Tribune‘s director of news and audience analytics. Define success metrics before diving into dashboards.
- Staff engagement: The platform works best when reporters and editors actively monitor and respond to data, not just analytics specialists.
- Plan limitations: Historical data retention varies by subscription tier; mobile app functionality is more limited than desktop.
- Cost considerations: At roughly $13,000 annually, Chartbeat is more affordable than Parse.ly or Marfeel but still represents a meaningful investment for smaller outlets.
- Privacy review: Chartbeat masks IP addresses by default and prohibits personally identifiable information, but newsrooms should review data practices with legal counsel.
Newsrooms considering Chartbeat can request demos and pricing at [email protected]. Initial demonstrations typically require 30-45 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Salt Lake Tribune uses Chartbeat’s real-time dashboard to inform editorial decisions about homepage story placement, social media timing, and staff resource allocation during breaking news. The data helps editors understand which stories are actively engaging readers and which need promotion—shifting homepage decisions from intuition to evidence.
Chartbeat data helps editors decide which stories to feature prominently on the homepage, when to push social media posts for maximum impact, how long a story should stay in a prominent position, whether a story needs a new headline to improve click-through, and where to direct reporters’ update efforts during a developing story.
This is an important editorial consideration. Analytics data should inform decisions without overriding journalistic judgment—viral doesn’t equal important. Newsrooms like the Salt Lake Tribune that use analytics effectively establish explicit policies about when and how data influences story placement, separating audience insight from audience pandering.
For nonprofit newsrooms focused on reader revenue rather than advertising, Chartbeat’s Engaged Time metric is particularly valuable—it correlates with subscription intent better than raw pageviews. Understanding what content drives deep engagement helps nonprofit newsrooms prioritize journalism that serves their mission and supports long-term sustainability.
Setup requires adding a JavaScript tracking snippet to your CMS, configuring site section and author tracking, and training editorial staff to interpret the dashboard. Chartbeat offers onboarding support and the dashboard is intuitive enough for non-technical journalists to use confidently after a brief orientation session.
