Report updated May 20, 2026
Bury Times
For local residents of Bury and surrounding areas seeking hyper-local news and traditional print-style journalism in a digital format.
Bury Times is an established magazines & newspapers app that is available.
What is Bury Times?
The Bury Times is a local news app for Bury and Greater Manchester residents, offering live updates, digital newspaper replicas, and interactive puzzles on iOS and Android.
Users hire the app to maintain a connection to regional events and community news, serving as a digital extension of traditional print journalism.
Current Momentum
v1.0 · 1w ago
Intense- Launched initial iOS and Android builds.
Active Nemesis
Newsday
By Newsday
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
Magazines & NewspapersNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Gathering signals...
What makes this app unique?
How Is The App's Momentum Right Now?
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What Are The Key Features?
Real-time news and sports reporting.
Removal of all advertisements.
Full-page digital replicas of print editions.
Daily crosswords and sudoku.
Text-to-speech for articles.
How much does it cost?
- Auto-renewing subscription via Apple account
Relies on auto-renewing payments to ensure recurring revenue from digital-only readers.
Who Built It?
Newsquest Media Group
Providing localized news and community updates to residents across the UK. Connecting local audiences with regional journalism and digital editions.
Portfolio
13
Apps
Who is Newsquest Media Group?
Newsquest operates a highly fragmented portfolio of regional news titles, leveraging a standardized digital publishing framework to maintain a presence in dozens of local UK markets. Their strategy relies on the consolidation of legacy print brands into a unified digital-first model, prioritizing local relevance to drive subscription and ad-supported engagement. The primary tension in their model is the struggle to maintain high user satisfaction across a vast, heterogeneous set of regional apps, as evidenced by the wide variance in performance across their local titles.
Who is Newsquest Media Group for?
- Local residents
- Community members interested in hyper-local news
- Regional sports
- Community events
Portfolio momentum
Released 100 updates across 120 apps in the last 6 months, indicating a high-volume maintenance and update cycle for their regional news network.
What other apps does Newsquest Media Group make?
Hereford Times
Bradford Telegraph and Argus
Hearts Standard
Powys County Times
Great Yarmouth Mercury
Watford Observer
What do users think recently?
Analysis in progress, available soon
What is the competitive landscape for Bury Times?
How's The Magazines & Newspapers Market?
How does it evolve in the Magazines & Newspapers market?
The Bury Times operates in the Magazines & Newspapers category, competing against regional news hubs by offering a niche community focus. Its reliance on a digital-replica model differentiates it from broadcast-heavy peers but limits its ability to capture high-frequency, utility-seeking users.
| Country | Category | Chart | Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇬🇧 UK | News & Magazines | AndroidGrossing | #149 | ▲11 |
The rivals identified
The Nemesis
Head to Head
The Bury Times must double down on its hyper-local community journalism to differentiate from Newsday's broad-market approach while exploring gamification to improve retention.
What sets Bury Times apart
Hyper-local focus on Bury and Greater Manchester provides a niche community value Newsday cannot replicate.
Leaner, community-centric editorial focus fosters deeper engagement with local residents and regional stakeholders.
What's Newsday's Edge
Massive scale and high review volume establish a dominant brand presence and social proof in the market.
Diversified content ecosystem including TV and interactive games creates a stickier, multi-functional user experience.
Contenders
Wahpeton Daily News Media
★5.0 (4)Forum Communications Company
It competes by positioning itself as a comprehensive regional journalism hub, mirroring the Bury Times' community-focused mission.
Stronger focus on regional journalism depth, providing context that goes beyond simple breaking news headlines.
High user satisfaction scores suggest a more polished execution of the standard local news app template.
Fergus Falls Journal
★3.7 (3)Forum Communications Company
This app is a direct contender in the local news space, focusing on community sports and regional events.
Emphasizes local sports coverage as a primary driver for community engagement and recurring app visits.
Maintains a simplified, lightweight interface that prioritizes speed of information over complex digital features.
Pierre Capital Journal
★3.0 (2)Forum Communications Company
It competes for the same local-news-seeking audience by providing integrated weather and sports updates alongside standard reporting.
Integrates real-time weather updates directly into the news feed to increase daily utility for local users.
Prioritizes multimedia content delivery, offering a more visual experience than text-heavy local news applications.
The Williston Herald
★5.0 (2)Forum Communications Company
This app competes by offering a similar template-based local news delivery model, targeting readers who prioritize regional reporting.
Utilizes a standardized regional journalism template that allows for rapid deployment across multiple local markets.
Focuses heavily on breaking news alerts to drive immediate traffic rather than long-form community features.
Peers
Provides access to the Newspapers.com archive, offering historical value that standard news apps cannot match.
Implements an 'All Access' subscription model that creates a clear path for recurring revenue and loyalty.
Integrates 'Triple Team Traffic' reporting, providing a specialized utility that keeps commuters returning to the app.
Maintains a massive, highly active user base that provides significant social proof and platform authority.
Includes an interactive radar map that provides immediate visual value for users tracking local weather patterns.
Offers a 'Save for Later' functionality that encourages users to curate their own news reading experience.
Provides 24/7 live news streaming, offering a broadcast-quality experience that exceeds standard text-based news apps.
Features a highly customizable weather hub that serves as a daily utility, driving consistent user retention.
New Kids on the Block
Offers a premium ad-free reading experience and offline access, targeting users frustrated by ad-heavy news apps.
India Tribune
0Generation Next
This newcomer enters the space with a focus on comprehensive news and lifestyle content, potentially siphoning niche readers.
Bundles lifestyle and health content with news to capture a broader, interest-based audience segment.
The outtake for Bury Times
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Hyper-local focus on Bury and Greater Manchester provides a niche community value that broad-market competitors cannot replicate.
Critical Frictions
- Lack of multimedia integration (video/TV) limits session duration compared to broadcast-style news apps.
Growth Levers
- Integration of real-time local weather or traffic utilities could transform the app from a periodic reader into a daily utility.
Market Threats
- Standardized regional news templates from competitors allow for rapid deployment and feature parity that could erode the Bury Times' niche advantage.
What are the next best moves?
Integrate real-time local weather data because it increases daily utility → boost daily active usage.
Competitors like Pierre Capital Journal use weather integration to drive daily habit formation.
Trade-off: Push the article audio player refinement to Q4 — weather utility has a higher impact on daily retention.
A counter-intuitive read
The reliance on digital newspaper replicas is a strength, not a weakness, as it preserves the high-value legacy subscriber base while competitors chase lower-LTV casual news readers.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Real-time weather integration (available in Pierre Capital Journal)
- Video/TV content (available in Newsday)
Key Takeaways
The Bury Times maintains a strong local niche but lacks the daily-utility features needed to compete for attention, so the team should prioritize integrating real-time regional data to drive daily habit formation.
Where Is It Heading?
Stable
The regional news market is consolidating around apps that blend journalism with daily utilities like weather and traffic. The Bury Times is currently positioned as a content-first reader, so it must add high-frequency utility to prevent churn to more dynamic regional competitors.
The app launched with a standard feature set, indicating a focus on establishing a baseline digital presence before scaling engagement features.