We've had countless meetups in countless places since this venture launched, but we've never had a simple Christmas bash.
Time to change that.
On Thursday, Dec. 19, from 6-8 p.m., we'll be getting our staff together at Mike's Beer Bar on the North Shore, and it wouldn't be a party without those who support us, so everyone -- I mean everyone -- is invited to partake. No catch. No cover charge. Just show up for what we hope will be a good time.
Wait, there is one catch: The wearer of the most interesting sweater, whether it's a Christmas sweater or not, will take home a complimentary holiday growler from Mike Sukitch himself. So bad taste is probably a prerequisite.
Also, we'll be passing out Lunatic bricks, mugs and other silliness for free, and we'll have copies for sale of Rob Ullman's 'Cartoon Canon' book!
Seriously, come on down! If nothing else, you get to meet Chris Carter!
ROB ULLMAN / DKPSHOLIDAY GIFTS!
For the first time, our holiday gift subscriptions are half-off, and we're offering three options:
1. Gift subscriptions. Again, these are half-priced annual subscriptions, meaning half off the usual $39.99. In addition, we'll get you a very special, original card -- illustrated by our own Rob Ullman -- customized to the team of your choice. And from there, you can either send the card yourself or print it out to accompany your gift. A rough sketch of his early work is above, featuring Bryan Reynolds and Cam Heyward.
2. Gift for yourself. Come on, let's not pretend these aren't your favorite kinds of gifts. If you haven't heard, our three-year Lunatic Level will be coming to an end Dec. 31. So if you'd like to extend your existing subscription -- regardless when it ends -- by a full additional three years, you can do so this month at the current price of $87.
3. H2P. Yes, of course, our Pitt subscriptions are still in the gift mix.
We've never made a secret that an enormous chunk of our annual revenue comes this time of year, so we're going to push hard. And we appreciate every bit of help you can offer, whether that's a share on Facebook, an RT on Twitter or especially a more personal word.
Thank you so much in advance for anything you do.
H2P PAST HALFWAY: 648
As of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, exactly five full weeks since the announcement that we're bringing back Pitt coverage, we've sold a total of 648 H2P Subscriptions. That includes 84 sold in the past week. The pace has picked up quite a bit, including a handful of bulk purchases.
Here's how to get yours.
WELCOME, SUN VALLEY ALPACA COMPANY!
Carter's Classroom has a new sponsor, and it's a super cool brand. One of four brands under the Inca Brands Inc., Sun Valley Alpaca Company makes women’s and men’s indoor and outdoor apparel designed right here in the US.
I knew very little about alpaca wool before this, and now I feel I was really missing out - soft, warm, durable, luxurious, hypoallergenic. A wool sweater that's not itchy at all? I'm in!
You can get a special holiday gift for someone or yourself, they have something for everyone, kids included. Don't wait until the last minute this year!
But none of this is what makes them super cool -- they make Mr. Rogers sweaters! For real, how cool is that? -- Dali
NEW APP UPDATE
The next phase of the new app/site is the actual production, and that's where it gets kind of quiet. This is the construction, the background, all the stuff that would be boring to most. But not to us. We met with our new developers for several hours Thursday, and it was a blast. All the ideas bouncing back and forth, the energy, the enthusiasm.
Here's another sample page, this one featuring our new look for comments:
This won't be quick. We're looking at February at the earliest for an actual launch. But the aim is to do it right.
GOODBYE, TABOOLA
Some will already have noticed that we've dropped the Taboola ads completely. Two reasons for that:
1. Readers hated them.
2. They went well beyond the deal we had with them, and they did so without asking our permission.
Thing is, we'll have to replace the revenue somehow. We'd much rather have a real, breathing sponsor, anyway. If you're interested in having our business help yours, reach out directly to my wife Dali at Dali@DKPittsburghSports.com.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• New subscribers for 2019 are at 1,201. You can track this figure daily at the bottom of the desktop and tablet versions of the site.
• Our daily page views, averaged out over the past 30 days, are at 95,433. I've been citing here for months now that the goal with this figure is to average 100,000, a number we've achieved regularly only during the two Stanley Cup runs.
• Our most-hit original article of the past week my column on Steelers-Browns at 14,878. The Steelers accounted for 164,374 page views, the Penguins 141,554, the Pirates 65,295, and Pitt basketball 9,731.
• We're at 35,016 (+82) followers on Twitter, we're at 32,067 (+20) page likes on Facebook, we're at 12,194 (+105) followers on Instagram. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
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