-By Katy Bachman

One year after NBC Local Media relaunched and reoriented its TV station Web sites with a hyper-local focus, the strategy is paying off. According to figures NBC released Wednesday (Nov. 4), the number of visitors to the 10 Web sites doubled from 6 million in Nov. 2008 to 12 million in Oct. 2009.

Page views are also up 296 percent from 29 million to 113 million.

NBC Local Media attributes the growth of sites such as nbcchicago.com (WMAQ-TV) and nbcphiladelphia.com (WCAU-TV) to the inclusion of more social-media tools, allowing visitors to interact with one another and the content on the site. For example on average, visitors cast 10,000 votes to indicate their “mood rating,” as “thrilled,” “furious,” “intrigued” or “sad.”

Launched a year ago, the 10 Web sites moved away from the style and approach of the traditional TV station Web site, evolving into a local portal offering more local services, news and information, along with user-generated content. The sites are also available via an iPhone application introduced a month ago.

“We’re encouraged by the tremendous response we’ve seen over the past year,” said Brian Buchwald, executive vp of local integrated media for NBC Local Media. “We’re proud of the direction the sites have taken and look forward to continuing to target our ‘Locals Only’ audience, building on the momentum we’ve gained in the marketplace.”