online newspaper
An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical.
Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...
focused on the
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
region. Launched in 2016, the news outlet curates syndicated content and produces original stories aimed towards millennials. Instead of ads, The Incline's revenue comes from events. The best known of which is their "Who's next" event series. In March 2019, The Incline was acquired by WhereBy.Us.
History
Spirited Media founded Philadelphia's web-only local news site
Billy Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy an ...
in 2014. Billy Penn functions as a mixture of links to news articles produced by other outlets with its own original reporting mixed in. Rather than direct ad sales, Billy Penn found success with an event-based business model. Spirited Media looked for new cities to deploy it in. In 2016, Pittsburgh was identified as the second city after major investments came from
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
The Incline was launched in September 2016. The news outlet was named after the
Duquesne Incline
The Duquesne Incline () is a funicular located near Pittsburgh's South Side neighborhood and scaling Mt. Washington in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Designed by Hungarian-American engineer Samuel Diescher, the incline was completed i ...
. Because of the presence of Silicon Valley companies working with
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
and the absence of a tech business website in Pittsburgh, the Incline focused more on technology news compared to its Philadelphia counterpart. The Incline was also experimented on curation of news based on the moods of their readers.
Awards and recognition
The Incline won the award for the “Biggest blockbuster story” at the Hearken's 2018 Champions of Curiosity Awards. The Incline obtained recognition in multiple categories from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania at the 54th Golden Quill Awards. The Incline won an award from the 30th Anniversary Vann Media Awards for their coverage of business news.