Media outlet The Guide Liverpool is celebrating its eighth birthday during what had been its ‘biggest ever year’ thanks to Eurovision
Thanks to the global exposure of Eurovision, media outlet The Guide Liverpool is celebrating the biggest year in its eight-year history.
It was launched in 2015 by radio producer and presenter Jay Hynd as an independent media platform for Liverpool. Since then it has grown a local, national and international reach online and via social media.
A two-man team, led by Jay himself, The Guide has expanded to almost 20 and alongside what’s on and features content, it has become a sought-after video production company.
Jay said: “It’s always been important to me and the whole team to highlight the best of Liverpool, whether that’s the businesses here, the incredible events we put on or the people that call it home.
“The bulk of our content is just showing Liverpool for what it is. We don’t have to make it look good because it is good.
“When we first started, it was still really early days for online sites and social media and a lot of the platforms you see now, influencers and vloggers, just didn’t exist.
“We were covering events such as the Three Queens on the Mersey and Sound City at the docks. Lots of people might not have known they were happening because they didn’t get to see them.
“They might get a glimpse on the local TV news, but we were the first to actually create a professional video and put it out there.”
With the eyes of the world on the city as it hosted Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine in May, The Guide Liverpool became the voice of the host city. It offered unrivalled daily coverage from multiple locations with interviews and reactions from local and international fans.
During Eurovision The Guide had more than 11m video views and reached 15m people during and in the run up to the event..
“It’s the most ambitious thing we’ve ever done,” added Jay. “Obviously we’ve covered large scale events before, such as the Giants and LFC’s victory parades, but Eurovision was an opportunity to do something on a scale we’ve never done before.”
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Eight years on from setting up The Guide, he admits it’s grown into a business he could never have anticipated.
“It’s completely different to what I thought it would be when we started,” he explained. “But the essence of it is still there – it’s still a what’s on platform that shouts about all of the great things happening in Liverpool.”