Anyone feeling Christmas in the air?
Nope, me, neither.
And yet, this is the time of year we have to begin planning for the holiday season, which, as with most businesses, accounts for a significant portion of our annual revenue. So, in response to repeated -- and welcome -- requests for us to make this type or that type of merchandise available, Dali and I thought it'd be a good idea to drop a semi-survey right here.
The reason: Whatever we order to have printed up has to be done in bulk to keep the cost down for you.
So, let's hear any and all suggestions, including preferred sizes of any clothing articles, while I share our own early list:
• T-shirts: This one's the no-brainer, but we're entertaining multiple designs for the website, for the podcasts, etc., and wide open.
• Hoodies: Of course. In heavier winter types, but also the really light, super-comfy models which one could wear year-round if, say, one had zero fashion sense.
• Ball caps: We have these already, and they're really nice!
• Laptop/phone decals: This might be the sort of thing we just give away at meetups or whatever, but it's on the list just because I'm into these.
Important: Nothing's available yet. We're just trying to plan this as best we can, hopefully with your help. (I would say that no idea's a bad one, but I'll bet there'll be at least a few!)
PITT MAKES BIG GAIN!
Our drive to achieve 1,000 total free subscriptions for Pitt and Penn State students found its first real plot twist with Pitt supporters buying 21 to Penn State's 10 over the past week.
That cut the Nittany Lions' lead to 88-62.
Our concurrent campaign to match 2,000 military veterans to free one-year subscriptions saw 30 purchased this week, for a total of 657.
The latter's moving more slowly than in the past, but so far, what really matters is that the contributions have kept pace with the actual requests from both active-duty and veterans, almost at a one-for-one pace. So no sounding the alarm here yet.
If you'd like to contribute to either drive, email me directly -- DK@DKPittsburghSports.com -- and, after you hear my thanks, Dali will reach out with the rest. The cost of either one is $20 each. You can contribute one, or as many as you'd like. Every contribution counts, large and small, and they're all appreciated equally.
Thanks again to everyone who's already participated!
WEEKLY APP TIPS
Ways to make the app experience even better:
• Apple's new iOS 15 system that was released this week is delivering gorgeous app alerts, which reminds me to remind right here that you can control which ones you do/don't wish to receive. Just go to your Profile -- top left corner -- thumb down to Notifications, choose Select, and you'll see the screen with all your team/type options.
• Add an avatar! Spice the place up a little! Go to your profile, then tap the camera icon just under the words MY ACCOUNT. Import a pic of your choice, and that's that.
• We have NFL data! We've activated NFL standings, the Steelers' statistics and the Steelers' schedule, all easily accessed on our team page. We're pretty proud of these packages. They're updated around the clock, they're clean, easy to toggle and sortable. And the hockey pages will be refreshed in short order, as well.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the past week were 621,174, down 6.5% from our biggest week since early 2020. Our most-read original piece was my column on the Steelers' loss to the Raiders, at 20,533. Broken down by team, articles on the Steelers brought 23% of our traffic, the Penguins 16.2%, the Pirates 8.8%, Penn State 5.8%, and Pitt 2.5%.
• Our new subscribers for the past week were at 27, down 136 from a week ago when we had the big sale.
• Our new app downloads for the past week were 82 for Apple, down 37 from a week ago, and 59 for Android, also down 37 from a week ago.
• Our podcast downloads for the past week were 136,728, down 6% from a week ago.
• Our YouTube video views for the past week were 61,398, down 39% from a week ago.
• We're at 42,467 (+18) followers on Twitter, we're at 37,174 (+14) followers on Facebook, we're at 14,551 (-9) followers on Instagram, and we're at 7,915 (+94) followers on YouTube. These figures are just for our official company accounts on each of those platforms, not including any of our individual accounts.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Random geographic fun, to be read in an Alex Trebek voice: This city is the only one I've never visited that was home to an NFL, NHL or Major League Baseball team at any point in the past half-century. (If you don't want this spoiled, try to guess before opening comments!)