Media Thread
- Thread starter herman
- Start date
Well that was expected by everybody, especially once Custance went there after ESPN. The Athletic has seriously exploded recently. Not even just on the hockey side of things too. Getting Ken Rosenthal for the baseball side of things was huge too.
herman
Well-known member
CarltonTheBear said:
Going full vertical on NHL and MLB and other sports coverage, picking up the pieces mainstream sports media has lost due to their archaic financial model.
The Athletic TO dropped their beat writer, David Alter, though, and I'm not sure why. They picked up Scott Wheeler instead (full-time now) for Leafs and Marlies and draft coverage.
Pierre LeBrun joins the fold: https://theathletic.com/90956/2017/09/05/pierre-lebrun-why-im-joining-the-athletic/
Peter D.
Moderator
Zee said:
I'm skeptical about The Athletic model. Cobble a bunch of former writers together who mostly were laid off because people don't want to pay for content these days, to write for a site that forces people to pay for content.
I'd love to know how The Athletic is able to pay all these people a more than reasonable salary they're accustomed to..
Kin
New member
Peter D. said:
I guess the thinking is that unlike something like ESPN Insider this is wide ranging while at the same time very focused to sports fans. Also, I imagine that after the layoffs made by newspapers and places like ESPN this is an appeal to a certain kind of fan who really likes a particular type of traditional sports coverage at the same time that sort of coverage is rapidly disappearing.
Coco-puffs
New member
Peter D. said:
Say, for instance, that the average subscriber pays $40 / yr (most will sign up with a discount). 100k subscribers gives you 4 million in revenue. Take some off the top for running the site, $ to travel with teams (for the few who are on the beat) etc and you probably have enough leftover for 20-25 writers getting paid decently and a few others who freelance. I bet they've already surpassed those numbers too.
herman
Well-known member
Peter D. said:
They have venture capital backing, and a very low overhead model relative to the traditional print outlets (it's really the copious travel expenses that might bite into profits). The journalists also get to write about whatever they want (within reason) at whatever length and that, from a creative aspect, is attractive. They also don't have to tweet/blog/video for clicks/ad impressions if they don't want to.
Nik the Trik said:
The other day their co-founder said that 100,000 subs was the goal by the end of the year.
Kin
New member
herman said:
This is one of the things I wonder. For guys like Lebrun and Rosenthal, who also have TV gigs, I wonder if a certain level of editorial freedom maybe might sell them on a gig that doesn't pay all that well to a traditional media gig. Especially if, like I said, they have supplemental income.
Peter D.
Moderator
All are fair points. But it does also make me wonder why such a business setup wasn't thought of long ago.
It'll be interesting to see what comes of it. I'm actually surprised they would have such a big subscription base considering how adverse people are to paying for content. With that being said, I'm not a subscriber and I don't foresee myself becoming one either.
It'll be interesting to see what comes of it. I'm actually surprised they would have such a big subscription base considering how adverse people are to paying for content. With that being said, I'm not a subscriber and I don't foresee myself becoming one either.
Zee
Active member
Peter D. said:
I've tried it out for this year. They have some good articles, but then there's so much information on the web for free that I don't know if I can justify the cost for me. It doesn't hurt that they launched just as the Leafs are getting good again, as I'm sure a huge chunk of their base is Toronto fans. Not sure if they'll last but it'll be interesting to see that's for sure.
