Nothing's changed about our venture over 11 years quite like the methodology of funding it.
And I'm referring here mostly to advertising.
When we launched in 2014, we benefited from a booming head start through a sponsorship from a major local medical provider, then a major accounting firm, then a major university, then the most major of all our city's financial institutions ... and then, after several years had passed, all of them were gone, all for different reasons. In most cases, it's that we'd lose an important point person. In others, it's that they, like most companies these days, choose to advertise online directly through Google or other automated providers.
Well, we couldn't fight any of that. So we didn't.
Today, we've got three sponsorships, all of them valued on more levels than one: the North Shore restaurant Mike's Beer Bar, the New Castle law firm of Lawrence Garbett Kelly & George, and the Connecticut gun-safety agency Project Childsafe. Those three. That's it.
And we haven't actively pursued others, either, because we've now got a good idea of where that dialogue goes related to the automated providers. We're open to it, of course, but there's a big difference between that and pouring time and energy into such pursuits.
What we've found instead was something we couldn't have dreamed would exist upon launch, and that's advertisers being gathered by a third party, then placed onto our platforms -- our app/site for non-subscribers, all of our externally housed podcasts, and all of our YouTube videos -- by outside companies eager to attach themselves to popular content.
And it's worked. At times.
Podcast advertising's still on the rise compared to the death throes of old-school radio. (Almost no one's making money anymore, certainly not in Pittsburgh). But I'll also say that the regulation of that podcast advertising erupted in a wild-wild-west way coming out of COVID that it was never sustainable, and it'd eventually settled into something lower-paying but steadier.
Video advertising's gobbling up TV, as I'd hope would be obvious to everyone, and that goes double at the local level. (You can't imagine how poorly Pittsburgh's local TV stations are doing financially, and that goes for all three.) YouTube's been a real mine for us. It's sustainable, it's constantly growing, it's expanding with fresh concepts almost weekly, and it's as transparent, accountable and reliable as anything I've seen in any online operation.
And then there are the programmatic ads that populate our app and site right here, which, of course, our paying subscribers never have to see. Those that do see them ... yeah, it's not a pleasant experience, and we don't pretend otherwise. That's because it's a challenge for everyone to make meaningful money off these things.
It takes around 1,000 page views to collect a dollar.
I'm being totally serious.
So a standard article that accumulates, say, 5,000 page views (from non-subscribers, remember) will get you a $5 bill. A standard Starbucks latte.
And that specific line of advertising just keeps shrinking year after year after year. So much so that, to be honest with you, we've occasionally wondered if we shouldn't just go back to being all-subscription, since the other stuff's such a pittance.
Yeah, it's complicated.
SPECIAL-WORKER DRIVE: 705
The past week's seen 5 new contributions to our special-worker drive to get our total to 705!
Thanks to everyone so far!
We're seeking reader help building a fund from which we can offer 1,000 massively discounted subscriptions for teachers, police, fire, nurses, other emergency workers and volunteers. They're $20 per contribution. We'll then sell these at two-thirds off the full annual price, and that'll remain their price forever.
• Busy week ahead. The Steelers, with Aaron Rodgers in tow, will conduct their three-day mandatory minicamp beginning Tuesday, and Chris Halicke, José Negron and I will have that. The Penguins will introduce Dan Muse as their head coach probably Wednesday, and Taylor Haase and I will have that. The U.S. Open gets going up the river in Oakmont beginning Thursday, and Nicolas Lavigne will have that. The Pirates have their usual schedule, and Greg Macafee and Eric Bowser will have that. Not exactly the norm in June.
• Look closely to notice that our main Feed banners on the home page are now 30% taller, the photo spaces are a more traditional 16x9, and there’s an even bigger emphasis on the three teams we really cover. In turn, we moved Pitt down with the rest of the colleges while still giving it the biggest display of those five schools.
• If you're not ad-free, 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/restart at the monthly or annual level. We also offer mega-discounts for students and seniors.
• Feel free to add a good review on our Google business listing, our Appleand Spotify podcast channels and, arguably most important, our own official app pages, whether it's the Apple or Android version.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers were 862,828, with 31,770 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, May 30-June 59. Our most-read original piece was Chris' report on Rodgers signing, at 15,181.
• On the multimedia front, our video views for the past week were at 250,470, and our podcast downloads were 107,958.
THE ASYLUM
Site Stuff: The weird world of ads
Nothing's changed about our venture over 11 years quite like the methodology of funding it.
And I'm referring here mostly to advertising.
When we launched in 2014, we benefited from a booming head start through a sponsorship from a major local medical provider, then a major accounting firm, then a major university, then the most major of all our city's financial institutions ... and then, after several years had passed, all of them were gone, all for different reasons. In most cases, it's that we'd lose an important point person. In others, it's that they, like most companies these days, choose to advertise online directly through Google or other automated providers.
Well, we couldn't fight any of that. So we didn't.
Today, we've got three sponsorships, all of them valued on more levels than one: the North Shore restaurant Mike's Beer Bar, the New Castle law firm of Lawrence Garbett Kelly & George, and the Connecticut gun-safety agency Project Childsafe. Those three. That's it.
And we haven't actively pursued others, either, because we've now got a good idea of where that dialogue goes related to the automated providers. We're open to it, of course, but there's a big difference between that and pouring time and energy into such pursuits.
What we've found instead was something we couldn't have dreamed would exist upon launch, and that's advertisers being gathered by a third party, then placed onto our platforms -- our app/site for non-subscribers, all of our externally housed podcasts, and all of our YouTube videos -- by outside companies eager to attach themselves to popular content.
And it's worked. At times.
Podcast advertising's still on the rise compared to the death throes of old-school radio. (Almost no one's making money anymore, certainly not in Pittsburgh). But I'll also say that the regulation of that podcast advertising erupted in a wild-wild-west way coming out of COVID that it was never sustainable, and it'd eventually settled into something lower-paying but steadier.
Video advertising's gobbling up TV, as I'd hope would be obvious to everyone, and that goes double at the local level. (You can't imagine how poorly Pittsburgh's local TV stations are doing financially, and that goes for all three.) YouTube's been a real mine for us. It's sustainable, it's constantly growing, it's expanding with fresh concepts almost weekly, and it's as transparent, accountable and reliable as anything I've seen in any online operation.
And then there are the programmatic ads that populate our app and site right here, which, of course, our paying subscribers never have to see. Those that do see them ... yeah, it's not a pleasant experience, and we don't pretend otherwise. That's because it's a challenge for everyone to make meaningful money off these things.
It takes around 1,000 page views to collect a dollar.
I'm being totally serious.
So a standard article that accumulates, say, 5,000 page views (from non-subscribers, remember) will get you a $5 bill. A standard Starbucks latte.
And that specific line of advertising just keeps shrinking year after year after year. So much so that, to be honest with you, we've occasionally wondered if we shouldn't just go back to being all-subscription, since the other stuff's such a pittance.
Yeah, it's complicated.
SPECIAL-WORKER DRIVE: 705
The past week's seen 5 new contributions to our special-worker drive to get our total to 705!
Thanks to everyone so far!
We're seeking reader help building a fund from which we can offer 1,000 massively discounted subscriptions for teachers, police, fire, nurses, other emergency workers and volunteers. They're $20 per contribution. We'll then sell these at two-thirds off the full annual price, and that'll remain their price forever.
If interested: DK@DKPittsburghSports.com
INSIDE THE WORKS
• Busy week ahead. The Steelers, with Aaron Rodgers in tow, will conduct their three-day mandatory minicamp beginning Tuesday, and Chris Halicke, José Negron and I will have that. The Penguins will introduce Dan Muse as their head coach probably Wednesday, and Taylor Haase and I will have that. The U.S. Open gets going up the river in Oakmont beginning Thursday, and Nicolas Lavigne will have that. The Pirates have their usual schedule, and Greg Macafee and Eric Bowser will have that. Not exactly the norm in June.
• Look closely to notice that our main Feed banners on the home page are now 30% taller, the photo spaces are a more traditional 16x9, and there’s an even bigger emphasis on the three teams we really cover. In turn, we moved Pitt down with the rest of the colleges while still giving it the biggest display of those five schools.
• If you're not ad-free, 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/restart at the monthly or annual level. We also offer mega-discounts for students and seniors.
• Feel free to add a good review on our Google business listing, our Apple and Spotify podcast channels and, arguably most important, our own official app pages, whether it's the Apple or Android version.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers were 862,828, with 31,770 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, May 30-June 59. Our most-read original piece was Chris' report on Rodgers signing, at 15,181.
• On the multimedia front, our video views for the past week were at 250,470, and our podcast downloads were 107,958.
• Our company social media: 61,617 followers on Facebook, 57,985 on X, 50,442 on YouTube, 16,817 on Instagram, 6,054 on Threads, 5,700 on TikTok, 2,681 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.
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