Overheard my wife Dali joking with a business associate over the phone yesterday: 'We're working twice as hard and making half the money.'
She should've been a writer.
Her math wasn't intended to be precise, but the sentiment was spot-on. Our days and nights here at the new company HQ -- comprised of my couch, her desk and the tirelessly churning espresso machine -- consist of my whipping up a new Grind column, some video conferencing with our app developers, a quick trip out to shoot a Morning Java somewhere safe, her usual business affairs ... and a whole lot of data entry.
Not kidding on the latter. We've been up till close to sunrise all week manually processing the 1,000-plus free applications for those serving on the coronavirus front line, and happily so, I'll add. Been a blessing.
Overall, sure, revenues are down, as we've sold only 19 total new subscriptions over the past two weeks, and programmatic advertising -- meaning the kind that auto-populates boxes on the site -- has nosedived. But there've been positives, too, in that our existing subscribers have shown a tremendous retention rate of more than 90 percent, and our business partners have stood by us 100 percent. Meaning every single one, large or small.
We'll absolutely be fine. In fact, to be honest, we spent most of our time planning for the future, most immediately mapping out how we'll emerge once the world's moving back toward normalcy:
• The app, as you'll see in the next section below, is moving into a critical closing phase. So, coronavirus or not, we're going to launch it when it's ready, and we're going to need to promote it in kind ... after our subscribers have it. That'll be the order here. You'll get it first and, since nobody knows what this place is about better than you, we'll hear back from you on what's good, what could be better, etc. From there, we need to have everything aligned to go to the broader public.
• Editorially, we're clarifying as much as possible our ongoing priorities, not only through this crisis but also on the other side. We're watching what you're reading and what you aren't. We're also trying to anticipate what'll be of greatest interest once teams start at least preparing for competition, never mind real games.
• Financially, we're looking ahead to that same emergence, which, if you think about it, likely will involve a burst of travel whenever it comes. We'll have to scatter a lot of people to a lot of different places, and we'll have to pay for that almost all at once. So while all these cancellations and postponements offer savings, it's more of a delay than a reprieve.
But hey, being busy is by far better than the alternative. Not complaining.
NEW APP UPDATE
As mentioned, our new app is now very close to its beta phase, or the test phase for the non-techie types. There isn't a hard date, but it could come within the next couple of weeks. Our developers have been working around the clock -- safely from their respective homes, of course -- and the past month has brought tremendous progress, as well as all kinds of pleasant surprises I'll be eager to share when the time's right.
If you haven't seen our home page for the app, here's the latest mockup, albeit with no promises this is how it'll actually turn out:
Pay no heed to the content up there. Means nothing. It's about boxes, shapes, movement and functionality for future content.
What's needed next is you: If you're a techie, preferably a professional with testing experience, we'd love to enlist you in the beta process. Just shoot me an email directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com, and we'll get you hooked up. With our gratitude.
MILITARY DRIVE TO 1,500: 460
We had quite the week on this front, as well, with 53 military subscriptions purchased on a combination of bulk and individual purchases.
Josh DeNinno, our friend at Moon Golf Club, is challenging our subscribers to step up with 1,500 veteran subscription purchases in 2020, commemorating his course's 15th anniversary. And in the eight weeks since he's done so, our count is at 460, including 26 bulk purchases.
We've obviously got a very long way to go, but there's been a great early reaction to our having reduced the cost of these to half-price, now $19.99 for the annual, as we've done with other gift subscriptions. On top of that, Moon Golf Club will match 30 each month.
Let's do this. Here's where.
Or, if you’re interested in making a bulk purchase, please email me directly: DK@DKPittsburghSports.com -- DK
MEETUP AT MIKE'S?
We clearly can't do subscriber meetups in this environment, but Mike Sukitch at Mike's Beer Bar came up with the idea to have a bunch of us -- and readers -- hook up for another cyber-based Happy Hour yesterday:
We can do it again next Friday. Hope you can join us.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• New paid subscribers for 2020 -- not including gifts, military, returning/renewing subscribers -- are at 114. We had 10 new paid subscribers over the past week.
• Our daily page views, averaged out over the past week, were 47,696. The goal with this figure is to average 100,000, but that's obviously not going to be realistic for a while.
• Our most-hit original article of the past week was last week's Friday Insider, led by Dale Lolley's reporting on the personal letter to a player from Troy Polamalu, at 10,098. The Steelers accounted for 94,489 page views, the Penguins 63,075, the Pirates 36,855 and Pitt 8,002.
• We're at 36,034 (+33) followers on Twitter, we're at 32,177 (+30) page likes on Facebook, we're at 13,902 (+70) followers on Instagram. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
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