The Athletic keeps growing .......

If readers don't stick around to finish stories, they aren't as likely to come back for more.

 

They seem to think their appeal is “We’ll write longer stories just because we can.” Sorry, no. 1,600 words on the Bengals’ tight end’s time remembering some cliche word of advice from his maw maw, or 2,300 words on the mindset of the 7th inning reliever of the Giants just ain’t gonna move the needle much, you great Athletic wordsmiths.

 

As much as we bitch about newsholes getting smaller and stories being cut - I remember a journo prof giving us newspapers to read in class one day and we were supposed to mark stories with where we stopped reading. Few stories were read beyond 20-30 inches.

 

I am surprised they haven't gotten into sports betting. At least one or two writers for it.

 

I don't think it even matters whether the product is "digital only" anymore, since newspapers are basically treating every story for online consumption (complete with shitty click-bait headlines). One of the Sunday sections I do will typically have 6-7 stories of 30+ inches. Some are Q&As on some college team that just go on and on and on and on and on and . . .

 

I’ll never understand the sports betting stans and their websites. They are a cocky bunch

 

And Person made it a few years before some guy named Sean McDermott.

 

sounds like a strategy that resonates with a certain subset of readers, judging by the subscription numbers i've heard. maybe it's not for you, but the newspaper traditionalists' biggest blindspot has long been its dismissal of any content that does not conform to the archetype of what is "acceptable" newspaper content. From Bill Simmons to video breakdowns to numbers-driven analysis they've already watched the world pass them by and yet they're still yelling from a mile back that everybody else is doing it wrong. Except, now, their voice doesn't matter enough for anybody to bother listening. But at least they've still got the APSE meetings.

 

Newspapers still travel to more stuff than the Athletic. My local city site, no travel to recent baseball road games. Newspaper was there.

 

How does Bill Simmons wend his way into this conversation? You think local rags should be running columns on pop culture references, the college version of the Ewing theory and levels of gut punch losses?

 

Well if what people really want is datelines, then I guess it should be easy to sell more digital subscriptions than them.

 

Yep. Nailed it. Good contextual reading by you.