Readers have often shared that one of their favorite facets of Site Stuff is that I'll let you know both the good and the bad.
Well, on this particular Saturday, I'll let you know that this broader advertising crunch that's hitting companies worldwide ... yeah, it stinks.
To be clear, I'm not referring to our own partners. We're beyond grateful for the longtime support of Point Park University, Mike's Beer Bar, North Shore Tavern, GetGo, the LGKG law firm, NSSF and many others. And they're not going anywhere, we're happy to say. In fact, in the next section down today, I'll introduce yet another new partner in Family Table.
But no, I'm referring to the other kind of advertising we get. It's called programmatic, and it populates the site, the app and all our multimedia content automatically from external sources. And this kind of advertising, my friends, is collapsing like the Penguins last night on Long Island. You've likely read/heard some of the stories yourself in recent weeks. It's not pretty.
What's this mean for us?
Eh. It's not awesome.
For example: On the podcasting front alone, we served HALF as many ad impressions to our listeners in January as we did in December ... even though our actual downloads were UP by 24%! So even though we were growing our audience, the revenue took a massive hit. Big enough that, comparing this January to January of 2022, the revenue was roughly one-third. And since this collapse didn't begin until about a week before this past Christmas, it's all felt crazy sudden. And unsettling. And undeserved, since we didn't do anything wrong.
Now, what can be done?
Ideally, we fight our way out of it, like we've always done. Because it's worth a fight. I can't state this emphatically enough, but we love the scope and level of coverage we're offering, almost as much as we love the staff that's making it happen. We don't want to change a thing. Not. One. Thing.
Our hope is to adjust by focusing on further growth. And this is where you might come in: All those empty ad spots you might notice on the podcasts of late -- currently around 5 or 6 out of the maximum 8 -- are available for us to promote your business or your message. If we fill those spots ourselves, meaning with your ad, the programmatic ads are then relegated to what's known as backfill. They're gravy.
What we'd sell to you isn't expensive, we'd fit the pricing to your needs, and we've got no middlepeople. Email me at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com, and Dali and I'll work with you directly.
Look, this is frustrating. I'm not going to lie. We were 50 weeks into the best year we'd ever had, we still budgeted conservatively for 2023 ... and this still came and slammed us in the face.
Flying back from California a couple days ago with Danny Shirey, the two of us were talking about the type of coverage we were able to offer hockey fans out there, as well as lots of other work here of which we've all been proud. Which we should be. It took a long time to reach this point, where we're finally there with the right beats, the right approach and, above all, the right people ... and this still came and slammed us in the face.
I'm not happy to relay any of this to you. I'm certainly not bursting with pride. But, as noted at the top, I've always tried to be straight with you. And I'm doing it again now.
Let's do this together, OK?
We're not looking for charity in any way. Let our business help yours. Find out why all those aforementioned partners have been with us for so many years.
We'll come through for you, and you can help come through for us.
WELCOME, FAMILY TABLE!
As if right on cue, we just got ourselves a new partner in Family Table, an independent startup in the Manchester section of Pittsburgh that's owned by executive chef Michael Harding, a Crafton native and longtime DKPS subscriber!
Mike's a professionally trained chef with more than two decades of experience working as a personal chef for high-profile local families. Inspired by his own family's struggle to find the time to gather around the table for dinners, he founded Family Table to become a personal chef to all of us within delivery range. My own family's enjoyed a couple of Mike's meals already -- just needed to warm them up, per his specific instructions -- and he and his family can do likewise for you.
FAMILY TABLE
L-R: Jennifer O’Leary (customer service), Ryan Easterling (Marketing/Social Media), Michael Harding, Ty Harding (son/COO)
Mike operates from a state-of-the-art kitchen, where he personally designs and prepares every meal (ably assisted by staff), based on recipes inspired by his mom and ... man, if there's anyone I can get behind, it's someone who decides he's got so much pride in what he does that he prefers to bust out on his own. I had a chance to meet him at our HQ/shop a couple weeks ago, and I was as floored by the man as I was by the meal.
You don't need any subscription to his service, so there's no catch. They'll deliver it right to your door, all on your terms.
Oh, and because Mike's one of us, if you visit Family Table and apply the code DK20 when prompted, you'll get 20% off your entire first order plus free delivery.
(They've got gift cards, too!)
INSIDE THE WORKS
• I can't say enough good things about how that California trip worked out, having two of us there. I sure hope it showed.
• Our BoomPress developers are testing out the mechanism that's supposed to alert you -- via email -- when someone replies to your comment. But only if you choose that.
• Our aim for 2023 is 1,000 completely new subscribers. That won't be easy, and it won't come without heavy discounting for brand new arrivals. But bear in mind that, after the first year, everyone will pay the same price.
• Remember, too, that anyone who can't afford the full price -- at any point -- only needs to shoot Dali or me an email. We work with anyone to get through tough times. (We've actually done quite a bit of that in recent weeks, and we're happy to say we've kept every single one of those in the fold, even a few for free.)
• Travel on tap: I'm flying to Bradenton, Fla., tomorrow night to cover the Pirates' first full-squad workout Monday, along with Alex Stumpf. I'll make at least one more trip down there at month's end, and Chris Halicke will help, as well, in addition to some NFL-based travel he'll make, notably the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. ... Corey Crisan's got a bunch of Pitt basketball travel ahead, too. Including the ACC and NCAA tournaments.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the past week were a dismal 352,851, with our weekly goal being 500,000. Our most-read original piece was Danny's coverage from Los Angeles of Sidney Crosby's first NHL game misconduct, at 8,280. Broken down by team traffic, articles on the Penguins brought 28.1% of our readership, the Pirates 13.4%, the Steelers 11.2%, Pitt 3.2%, and Penn State 3.1%.
• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 116,644, with our weekly goal being 150,000, and our YouTube video views for the past week were 69,232, with our weekly goal being 150,000.
• Our company social media accounts are at 49,063 (+22) followers on Twitter, 38,988 (+16) on Facebook, 20,462 (+25) on YouTube, 14,812 (-2) on Instagram, 418 (+17) on TikTok.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com