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Tidesports.com (Tuscaloosa News) now charging for content

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Steak Snabler, Aug 31, 2009.

  1. JakeandElwood

    JakeandElwood Well-Known Member

    Good luck to them. I hope it works.
     
  2. Hammer Pants

    Hammer Pants Active Member

    I really, really, really hope this works. If it will work anywhere, it will work down there, so if it doesn't work down there, that's bad news.

    My worry for the T-News is this: I think the college fans who pay for Web site subscriptions are the fringe — growing, but still fringe — segment who care way more that most fans about recruiting news. Will the T-News boost its recruiting coverage to get subscriptions? If not, Gentry Estes at Mobile can match or beat them most days, and his stuff is free. Admittedly, Gentry's one of my best friends, but as a fellow SEC scribe I keep up with the whole league, and he's become the go-to guy for consistent breaking news, at least on the free side of that beat.

    But anyway, the biggest thing here is that papers will only survive by producing online revenue, so a victory here for TTown would be nice news. Hopefully they'll have more success than Knoxville did with a similar experiment.
     
  3. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    The T-News recruiting guy, who also writes for Scout.com, is one of the weaker writers among those who do it full-time. Seems like an OK reporter, though he doesn't consistently beat the Rivals site for recruiting news (for one thing, the Rivals guys have an in with a particular assistant coach who loves to talk).
     
  4. Hammer Pants

    Hammer Pants Active Member

    But that assistant doesn't talk on the record, if he works for the one company, one voice Nicktator.

    I know what you mean, though. Loudmouth assistants make a beat writer's job approximately 1,000 times easier.
     
  5. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Assistants can't talk on the record about recruiting anyway, according to NCAA rules. It's an open secret on most beats that assistant coaches, quality-control guys and GAs feed recruiting info to fan sites as part of a symbiotic relationship. Sites get to break recruiting news; teams get front-page stories about commitments.
     
  6. Bamadog

    Bamadog Well-Known Member

    Here's the problem I have with this: when you've made your product free for so long, as we have in this biz, what does that make it worth in the minds of your consumers?

    There will be resistance. The pay sites have been raking in the cash for years. Granted I think the T-News stuff will be better, but will it be worth it to folks who have paid nothing for their commodity for years and years?

    I think it creates a lot of confusion in the minds of the reader. Why is what they were once giving away for free now costing me $60 a year?

    GoVolsXtra is a cautionary tale, but we in this biz should have been charging from the get-go. Anyone with half a brain would realize that online ads wouldn't completely pay the bills. Giving away your product denigrates its value in the eyes of your market.
     
  7. Smash Williams

    Smash Williams Well-Known Member

    On the pro end, the DMN used to have a pay site for Cowboys news (back in 05 I want to say), but it only lasted two seasons.
     
  8. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    If you had a strong niche and wanted to start your own site, would you bank on ads and investors or a modest subscription fee and hope to make money on volume?
     
  9. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Paging Moddy......
     
  10. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    I know his plan better than I know any of mine.
     
  11. Moland Spring

    Moland Spring Member

    Can someone re-hash what happened to GoVolsXtra or whatever... why did it fail? And how much did it cost?
     
  12. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    The one guy in Knoxville who knew how to use a computer moved.
     
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