No one likes ads. Everyone likes quality content in the appropriate quantity.
Trouble is, without one, there can't be the other.
Trust me, we're pretty familiar with the math on this equation, and the programmatic advertising you see on this site -- not our direct sponsors but the automated ads -- account for an increasingly significant portion of the budget. And if they simply vanished, as some understandably wish, so would the same portion of our coverage. And travel. And people. And everything.
And no, asking readers to pay some extra fee to eliminate ads wouldn't come close to working. If you'd like to know the math on that, we'd basically need to charge everyone double. No kidding.
I'll repeat this into infinity, and without worrying who it'll offend: We aren't in debt. We aren't beholden to banks or investors or venture capitalists, so don't compare how we do it here to how anyone else does it here. We are, quite literally, the only operation of its kind in Pittsburgh that stands on its own two feet. That's the way we like it, and that's the way we're going to keep it.
So, the challenge is how to make the ads palatable for everyone. And within that, as with everything we're doing now, our focus is 100 percent on the new app/site platform, not this one.
What you'll see on the new app/site, per our discussions to date, will be a much healthier, more even distribution of ads. Meaning they won't have to appear as cluttered as they do now. We'll be able to spread them out to various locations that, candidly, aren't available to us now. This will be huge for us and for you, in that ads pay better when they get more isolated attention, and it's a better user experience to not see a slew of them. We'll also be able to do much better by our own business partners, with original, dynamic looks for what they have to offer.
What we can't say for sure yet -- but would love -- is to be able to streamline our programmatic advertising from the current four vendors down to two or even just one. By doing that, we'll be able to better control the caliber of the ads that pass through, obviously. But we'll see how that goes. Above all, the revenue has to work.
I'll be in comments, as always, if there are any questions.
But I'll repeat: We're focused on the new app/site, not this one.
HOME PAGE UPDATE
The design phase of the new app/site is complete. I'll be showing sneak peeks of different pages through the process, but this week I'll stick with the final version of the home page:
This one caused the greatest angst, as you might expect. We wanted to go for a clean feel, influenced by Apple News and The New York Times as well as our current look, but we also wanted to make a few things clear to new users at a glance:
1. We go places. That's why the location is prominent with every reporter's byline. That sets us apart. We and the Post-Gazette are the only Pittsburgh outlets that travel everywhere to cover every event involving the teams we cover. We're proud of that.
2. We have readers. This is an even bigger point of pride, and that's why we show page views and comment count right there. We want new users to recognize right away that this place is already home to a lot of engagement.
3. Scores get their own button. You'll be hearing a lot about this in the weeks to come, but this app won't just be for subscribers in that it'll be available to use for scores and other live data. We're confident we can get more people to pay for our premium stuff just by being around it. Kind of like foot traffic at the mall.
This excites me like no other topic. All of this. Happy to discuss this below, as well.
H2P PAST HALFWAY: 521
As of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, exactly three full weeks since the announcement that we're bringing back Pitt coverage, you’ve bought a total of 521 H2P Subscriptions. Which means, even though the pace predictably slowed over the past few days, we’re still past the halfway mark in fairly short order.
There are three ways to get one:
1. If you’re a new or returning subscriber, buy a full-year subscription at the half-off price of $19.76 in honor of the most recent football championship.
2. If you’re an existing subscriber, upgrade your current monthly or annual subscription to the three-year Lunatic Level. Just click ‘Upgrade subscription’ on that page. We’ll add three years to your existing subscription.
3. This is the big one: If you’re an existing subscriber, buy a Pitt one-year gift subscription — also $19.76 — for anyone you know. And if you don’t know anyone who’d want one, we’ll place your purchase into a pool and distribute them to students at the university. If you’re interested in buying a bunch of these in bulk, email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com.
To the latter point, we’ve already had 41 readers buy gift subscriptions in bulk.
Some readers have asked me what'll happen if this falls short of 1,000, and I've answered each time that we'll get there. Simple as that.
THAT WQED VIDEO
A month ago, we teamed up with WQED-TV, the iconic PBS station of Mr. Rogers, to produce a program called 'Purely Pittsburgh' with the great Rick Sebak. That's aired throughout the region since mid-October, but readers have been asking us for an online version, and here it is, thanks to our great friend over there, Lilli Mosco, and to associate producer Rich Capaldi:
If you're interested in the 'Purely Pittsburgh' package that includes two of Rick's brilliant videos, those can be found right here.
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