Project Neon will see digital news sites in three regions set up to explore ‘different commercial approaches’ to making local news profitable. Archant has said that the project will ‘rethink local news from every perspective’ with creative business models, website designs, layout and storytelling methods. The areas have been identified as being under served by local news providers but have yet to be announced.

In a blog for Google, Matt Kelly, chief content officer at Archant, said that the aim was ‘a sustainable digital model for local news’ but that ‘no local newspaper group has yet found the recipe to survive in the digital age’. He noted that data privacy regulation has hit profits as publishers are increasingly limited in the extent to which they can collect and pass on readers’ data to advertisers.

UK-based Project Neon comes after Google launched a similar initiative in March with US publisher McClatchy and last summer pledged $300 million over three years to support journalism.