\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-08-20/an-upstart-sports-news-service-is-thriving-amid-media-layoffs 2
Buffalo_Gal Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 I signed up for the Athletic as soon as we quit the Buffalo News. The sports section of the News was all I was reading by that point, so I was happy to find something to fill in the sports-blanks. 1
ndirish1978 Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 Very happy I subscribed. The stories are well-researched and interesting and the article is correct, it's a return to long-form journalism rather than the clickbait garbage you find everywhere else. 2
BullBuchanan Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 I'm glad it's working for them, but I just can't see it being scalable under an old school industry business model. They may be able to catch boomers and gen-xers long enough to reap some revenue and maybe sell the company, but I just don't see how they're going to appeal to kids, gen z, and gen y when you have people creating great ad supported content out there. I had a sports illustrated subscription was I was 10. I don't see that happening with these guys.
JoeF Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 I subscribed when The Athletic Buffalo was launched. I feel like I get a year's worth of value every month. The writers have some free reign to follow story ideas. Matt Fairburn's current article where he talks with Ken Zampese and Marc Trestman about developing QBs and specifically seeks opinions on Josh is really good stuff. Will the model work? I have no idea, but I am going to enjoy the heck out of the content for as long as it lasts.
djp14150 Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 I’m not a subscriber of the athletic. my concern is how much of it is locally vs national level columnists. How much work together vs competition is there inside. What I mean is with bills playing the jets. Do the reports work together covering this game ? on the business side..I do wonder how many subscribers are needed for same the bills writers Ned to survive.
djp14150 Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 9 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said: I'm glad it's working for them, but I just can't see it being scalable under an old school industry business model. They may be able to catch boomers and gen-xers long enough to reap some revenue and maybe sell the company, but I just don't see how they're going to appeal to kids, gen z, and gen y when you have people creating great ad supported content out there. I had a sports illustrated subscription was I was 10. I don't see that happening with these guys. The way way I see it...do you have enough subscribers to pay for the reporters. i don’t know all the numbers but for the sake of argument say buffalo market has 10 reports on various sports. Thry would need say $1.5M to break even. If it’s $50 for a subscription that funds these peop,e you need 30;000 payers. the big concern in journalism is the issue of paying for content. Yet you paid for delivery to home.
Badanswer Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 Yup I've been with them for a bit now....good stuff for sure.
BullBuchanan Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 5 minutes ago, djp14150 said: The way way I see it...do you have enough subscribers to pay for the reporters. i don’t know all the numbers but for the sake of argument say buffalo market has 10 reports on various sports. Thry would need say $1.5M to break even. If it’s $50 for a subscription that funds these peop,e you need 30;000 payers. the big concern in journalism is the issue of paying for content. Yet you paid for delivery to home. The break even number is probably a lot higher than that, but I agree with the sentiment. They still have operational, tech, marketing, billing and support making up the rest. With 600k subscribers and around 400 editorial staffers per the article, they aren't turning a profit at a worst case revenue of $38.4M a year and probably around $32M in editorial staff salary. A lot of investment though.
Thurman#1 Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 (edited) I'm happier with the News than the Athletic, though I get both. The News just provides a lot of solid content. I was surprised by how few Bills stories the Athletic has. Good writing, deeper stories, but not much content. And it's hard to crank out deep content consistently. They do a good job but most stories aren't significantly better than you find elsewhere, IMO. I'll stay with both, probably. Neither is as good as the News was before they let so many people go. That was the Golden Age, when Graham and Sully and the rest were with the News. Edited September 7, 2019 by Thurman#1
BillsFan4 Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 19 minutes ago, djp14150 said: I’m not a subscriber of the athletic. my concern is how much of it is locally vs national level columnists. How much work together vs competition is there inside. What I mean is with bills playing the jets. Do the reports work together covering this game ? on the business side..I do wonder how many subscribers are needed for same the bills writers Ned to survive. They have beat reporters for each team, so you get separate articles on the Bills and Jets. The Bills are currently up to at least 3 full time beat reporters at the athletic. Sabres have 2-3 as well. 1
StHustle Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 Very happy with my subscription. I got a great deal on it to when it was on sale. A business model like this can absolutely work which has been proven by the current numbers. Millions of fans spend money on sports everyday. Its all about appealing to them and their are marketing tricks to make that work. 32 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said: you have people creating great ad supported content out there. Please point me in the right direction
zonabb Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 Never subscribed, never will. When I stopped subscribing to the Buffalo News, I gave up all media subscriptions. And today's front page of the Buffalo News website (yes, I checked headlines daily and if something interests me, I find it on WIVB, etc. or forego it altogether,) is a classic example... who the flub gives a flying flub about that talentless skank one of the Bills players, who if I recall cheated on her with a UB student, is dating. A classes pile of waste who aired their dirty laundry on the iternet like it was something to be proud of. And this is who the news covers? Disgusting. Why do we hold these people up as something worthy of our time and interest and, gasp, admiration? Same with players. She's married to a cheater. Stuck with him. She's a loser. He's a loser wearing the laundry of the team I root for, unfortunately. Maybe the Atlantic focuses on player people should actually look up to, with interesting stories worthy of admiration. I'll never know.
Big Blitz Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 Did the free trial. Wasn't impressed. Felt I'd read one or two good articles a month and that wasn't worth the renew cost. Maybe I'll try again. Idk.
Mark Long Beach Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 I've been super happy with what I've been reading. Especially since I've moved around the country a lot and have teams in different cities that I pay some attention to. But just looking at the Bills articles, I've been very impressed. I'm a cheapskate, but I'm still willing to pay for good value, and I feel like I'm getting it.
bbb Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 3 hours ago, Thurman#1 said: That was the Golden Age, when Graham and Sully and the rest were with the News. I couldn't be happier that Sully and Bucky are gone. I can't stand Graham on twitter, but I like his writing. I got in on some deal The Athletic had a few months ago. Those guys don't write many local articles it seems............The Lex Luther or whatever his name is story was good, though.
Mrbojanglezs Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 I signed up at 60% off but won't renew at full price unless I get another discount
notwoz Posted September 7, 2019 Posted September 7, 2019 I subscribed to the athletic in June. It was a $24 deal. I figured I'd give it a shot, based on all the glowing reviews from TBD. Nearly three months later, frankly, I'm not impressed. The stories don't make me shout, "Wow, I'm so glad I subscribe." I don't know if the business model will be a long-term success or if it's simply a ploy to strike it rich when or if the company decides to public on the stock market. And I will make sure I don't get sucked into the auto-renew at $60.
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