Anyone who knows me can attest that I've never been satisfied with our product.
I'm proud of the effort, proud of the people, proud of the achievements over a decade-plus ... but I'm not commonly satisfied when it comes to what makes it to you, the reader.
I'd love to get there. Meaning this year.
The past week's been pretty good. I had a couple nice little news-breaks with exclusives on the Steelers and Pirates, Greg Macafee yesterday in Bradenton, Fla., was the first reporter to speak with Spencer Horwitz about the hottest topic of spring training, and, up in Montreal, Taylor Haase just wrote what I feel was the best lede of her career:
Mike Sullivan was sitting at the Bell Centre on Friday afternoon ahead of his media availability when he turned to me and said, "Man, it's going to be weird seeing Sid tomorrow, the first time he skates past our bench ..."
That's not good. That's not very good. That's great.
It connects so many positive: Reporter masters his/her beat. Reporter gains trust of those he/she covers. Reporter's there on the scene. Reporter recognizes the moment and owns it.
There also were major strides made in our Pirates ownership/finances project, which really ought to be published within the next week or two. It's been months in the works.
That's what we want for you.
We're already leading all Pittsburgh sports outlets in readership, app downloads, video views, podcast downloads and whatever other metric there might be. That's awesome. I'm hardly raining on that, especially not to you, since you've been a massive part of this, in that subscription dollars are what mostly fuels this. But I'd also be lying if I didn't tell you there's more to be had from the quality/completeness perspective.
We've got a business goal of adding 3,000 new/returning subscribers this year, and we're building a marketing push toward that end. But we're also looking at starting up drives to benefit those who make the biggest difference in our communities: Police, fire, ambulance, teachers and volunteers. This on top of our annual military drive, of course.
Reaching that figure won't be easy, but it's the one we'd need to ramp up to the next level of coverage, travel, etc. It'll take both the marketing and the drive to get there.
I'll be in comments for any questions.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• Our all-new college/team feeds -- Duquesne, Robert Morris, Penn State, West Virginia, Riverhounds SC, Riveters SC, Nailers and Wild Things -- are all up and running, and they've now been added as buttons atop the desktop platform, as well as inside our main menu. Soon, they'll be button options on the app, too. (Though you can only choose one.)
• Because we added press-release accounts of other sports for the Penn State feed, we did likewise this week for Pitt. You'll now see, in addition to football and men's basketball, accounts of women's basketball and volleyball, as well as men's soccer, wrestling and baseball.
• Taylor's the only reporter from our city at the 4 Nations Face-Off, which saw Pittsburgh hockey history made the other night in Montreal. She'll obviously follow the tournament through to its conclusion this coming week in Boston.
• I'll make a second trip to Bradenton next month. While in Florida, I'll also cover two Penguins games in Sunrise and Tampa, as well as the Pirates' season opener in Miami.
• Not getting our app alerts? Happened to us, too, with the recent update. But there's a way to get them back: Go to your Profile (top left corner), thumb down to Devices, tap Manage, thumb down to Having Issues With Notifications, then tap Request Permissions. It's not as complicated as it sounds, and that should get them going again.
• Everyone loving being ad-free? If you're not there yet, it's only for paying subscribers. If you aren't subscribed yet or if your subscription's expired: This is our subscribe page. From there, make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/renew at the monthly or annual level. We also offer mega-discounts, as ever, for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions.
• Grateful that so many are leaving us good reviews on other platforms. Feel free to add your own on our Google business listing, our Appleand Spotify podcast channels and, arguably most important, our own app, whether it's the Apple or Android version.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers for the past week were 912,817, with 43,590 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, Feb. 7-13. Our most-read original piece was my exclusive reporting on Russell Wilson's future with the Steelers, at 30,920.
• On the multimedia front, our video views for the past week were 264,597 -- more than half of those on 4 Nations material, by the way -- and our podcast downloads were 82,264.
• Thanks for reading and, as ever, for your support of this proud independent venture. It's all built on your backs.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
THE ASYLUM
Dejan Kovacevic
5:59 am - 02.15.2025Bradenton, Fla.Site Stuff: A push for excellence
Anyone who knows me can attest that I've never been satisfied with our product.
I'm proud of the effort, proud of the people, proud of the achievements over a decade-plus ... but I'm not commonly satisfied when it comes to what makes it to you, the reader.
I'd love to get there. Meaning this year.
The past week's been pretty good. I had a couple nice little news-breaks with exclusives on the Steelers and Pirates, Greg Macafee yesterday in Bradenton, Fla., was the first reporter to speak with Spencer Horwitz about the hottest topic of spring training, and, up in Montreal, Taylor Haase just wrote what I feel was the best lede of her career:
Mike Sullivan was sitting at the Bell Centre on Friday afternoon ahead of his media availability when he turned to me and said, "Man, it's going to be weird seeing Sid tomorrow, the first time he skates past our bench ..."
That's not good. That's not very good. That's great.
It connects so many positive: Reporter masters his/her beat. Reporter gains trust of those he/she covers. Reporter's there on the scene. Reporter recognizes the moment and owns it.
There also were major strides made in our Pirates ownership/finances project, which really ought to be published within the next week or two. It's been months in the works.
That's what we want for you.
We're already leading all Pittsburgh sports outlets in readership, app downloads, video views, podcast downloads and whatever other metric there might be. That's awesome. I'm hardly raining on that, especially not to you, since you've been a massive part of this, in that subscription dollars are what mostly fuels this. But I'd also be lying if I didn't tell you there's more to be had from the quality/completeness perspective.
We've got a business goal of adding 3,000 new/returning subscribers this year, and we're building a marketing push toward that end. But we're also looking at starting up drives to benefit those who make the biggest difference in our communities: Police, fire, ambulance, teachers and volunteers. This on top of our annual military drive, of course.
Reaching that figure won't be easy, but it's the one we'd need to ramp up to the next level of coverage, travel, etc. It'll take both the marketing and the drive to get there.
I'll be in comments for any questions.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• Our all-new college/team feeds -- Duquesne, Robert Morris, Penn State, West Virginia, Riverhounds SC, Riveters SC, Nailers and Wild Things -- are all up and running, and they've now been added as buttons atop the desktop platform, as well as inside our main menu. Soon, they'll be button options on the app, too. (Though you can only choose one.)
• Because we added press-release accounts of other sports for the Penn State feed, we did likewise this week for Pitt. You'll now see, in addition to football and men's basketball, accounts of women's basketball and volleyball, as well as men's soccer, wrestling and baseball.
• Taylor's the only reporter from our city at the 4 Nations Face-Off, which saw Pittsburgh hockey history made the other night in Montreal. She'll obviously follow the tournament through to its conclusion this coming week in Boston.
• I'll make a second trip to Bradenton next month. While in Florida, I'll also cover two Penguins games in Sunrise and Tampa, as well as the Pirates' season opener in Miami.
• Not getting our app alerts? Happened to us, too, with the recent update. But there's a way to get them back: Go to your Profile (top left corner), thumb down to Devices, tap Manage, thumb down to Having Issues With Notifications, then tap Request Permissions. It's not as complicated as it sounds, and that should get them going again.
• Everyone loving being ad-free? If you're not there yet, it's only for paying subscribers. If you aren't subscribed yet or if your subscription's expired: This is our subscribe page. From there, make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/renew at the monthly or annual level. We also offer mega-discounts, as ever, for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions.
• Grateful that so many are leaving us good reviews on other platforms. Feel free to add your own on our Google business listing, our Apple and Spotify podcast channels and, arguably most important, our own app, whether it's the Apple or Android version.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers for the past week were 912,817, with 43,590 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, Feb. 7-13. Our most-read original piece was my exclusive reporting on Russell Wilson's future with the Steelers, at 30,920.
• On the multimedia front, our video views for the past week were 264,597 -- more than half of those on 4 Nations material, by the way -- and our podcast downloads were 82,264.
• Our company social media: 58,059 on Facebook, 57,643 followers on X, 36,655 on YouTube, 16,249 on Instagram, 5,731 on Threads, 4,365 on TikTok, 2,374 on Bluesky!
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• The Downtown HQ/shop's open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 p.m., and our company merch can all be had in our online store.
• Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Thanks for reading and, as ever, for your support of this proud independent venture. It's all built on your backs.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
We’d love to have you!