Buffalo News going to use paywall for Bills stuff

[dudacek]

I'll pay $30 a year if they give me 10 minutes worth reading every morning. The Risto piece was a good start.

Thing is, good user-generated content on a site like this is a bigger draw for me than traditional sports "news"and I think that applies to most serious sports fans. I watch the games and the interviews via the NHL and I talk about them here.

Edited September 6, 2017 by dudacek

[WildCard]

I'll pay $30 a year if they give me 10 minutes worth ready every morning. The Risto piece was a good start.

Thing is, good user-generated content on a site like this is a bigger draw for me than traditional sports "news"and I think that applies to most serious sports fans. I watch the games and the interviews via the NHL and I talk about them here.

Agreed. Every article I ever read from the Buffalo News is the same anyways. The only sports articles I truly read are Players Tribune stuff or deep dives into analytics, and there are a million free places to find those.

[Eleven]

This ties into something I was wondering about -- whether The Buffalo Star (a new online publication covering Buffalo sports -- e.g. they've just posted a really good article on Risto that was linked to in the Risto thread) is viable.

 

The Star is subscriber-only and is $4 per month or $30 per year.  It features good writers that will be familiar to many people here (Dave Davis, Kevin Oklobzija, Matthew Coller, etc.), and I'm virtually certain its written content will be substantially better than that of any other WNY publication.  (Certainly the Risto article fits that description.)

 

And yet I'm pretty skeptical that there are enough Buffalo sports fans who are going to be willing to pony up $30 per year to make it viable -- even combined with advertising, which I also think won't deliver much revenue. 

 

I hope I'm wrong.

 

 

I'll pay $30 a year if they give me 10 minutes worth reading every morning. The Risto piece was a good start.

Thing is, good user-generated content on a site like this is a bigger draw for me than traditional sports "news"and I think that applies to most serious sports fans. I watch the games and the interviews via the NHL and I talk about them here.

 

I'm with dudacek.  I pay $35 or so / year for the New York Times crossword.  Some people thing it's stupid and/or a waste of money.  But it's my hobby, and it's ten cents per day.  If The Buffalo Star gives me ten minutes of worthwhile reading material every day, that's worth ten cents, easily.  Easily.

 

The Buffalo News does not give me ten minutes of worthwhile reading material every day.  And I mean the whole paper.  I read one or two articles in the City and Region section, one or two in the Business section, one or two in the Sports section, and that's about five minutes (because the paper is written at a sixth-grade reading level).  I usually scan the obits.  And that's it.  National and international news are covered better by other outlets.

 

So again, how does WGRZ manage to write the same stuff, at nearly the same writing level, and put it on the Internet for free?

[josie]

Ties in to my rant about no one using illustrators anymore, but it's also what killed print media. Why pay money for a trusted rag when you can find most of the same information for free online? 

 

People hate paywalls. I hate them too. But a subscription can seem more like a club, maybe? I look at it as a patron thing. If it's good work by good people doing honest hard reporting, solid writing, and supporting the community, I'll give them my money happily. It's a support thing. It's smaller. It doesn't feel like dumping your coins into the gaping maw of a newsstand monopoly. 

 

And 30 bucks for a year in regards to the Star really isn't much when you think about it. Certainly $4 a month as a test run is the average cost of a cup of fancier coffee. 

 

 

 

I'll sign up. 

 

 

 

The Buffalo News does not give me ten minutes of worthwhile reading material every day.  And I mean the whole paper.  I read one or two articles in the City and Region section, one or two in the Business section, one or two in the Sports section, and that's about five minutes (because the paper is written at a sixth-grade reading level).  I usually scan the obits.  And that's it.  National and international news are covered better by other outlets.

I liked the welcome/intro article in the Star about this. He's pretty scathing elsewhere in the article as well. 

 

"The focus is going to be on quality, not quantity. In terms of numbers, that means we’re aiming for about 50 great pieces per month, instead of the 50 sometimes good/sometimes fluff articles per week you’ll see elsewhere. "

[SwampD]

I'm with dudacek.  I pay $35 or so / year for the New York Times crossword.  Some people thing it's stupid and/or a waste of money.  But it's my hobby, and it's ten cents per day.  If The Buffalo Star gives me ten minutes of worthwhile reading material every day, that's worth ten cents, easily.  Easily.

 

The Buffalo News does not give me ten minutes of worthwhile reading material every day.  And I mean the whole paper.  I read one or two articles in the City and Region section, one or two in the Business section, one or two in the Sports section, and that's about five minutes (because the paper is written at a sixth-grade reading level).  I usually scan the obits.  And that's it.  National and international news are covered better by other outlets.

 

So again, how does WGRZ manage to write the same stuff, at nearly the same writing level, and put it on the Internet for free?

You must really read slowly if you can find ten minutes worth of reading on the WGRZ site. :lol:

[darksabre]

I'll pay $30 a year if they give me 10 minutes worth reading every morning. The Risto piece was a good start.

Thing is, good user-generated content on a site like this is a bigger draw for me than traditional sports "news"and I think that applies to most serious sports fans. I watch the games and the interviews via the NHL and I talk about them here.

Yup, I'll pay for the Buffalo Star if the content is better than what I can get elsewhere. But they are going to have to offer a certain amount of free content to keep attracting subscribers. 

 

They've got the talent on their staff to make this work, they just need to come out strong. 

[jeffismagic]

I won't pay for their product because I don't like it, but I found this interesting regarding the Athletic and their paywall structure:

 

https://theathletic.com/40690/2017/02/27/letter-from-the-editor-why-the-athletic-has-a-paywall/

 

That's the model the Buffalo Star is emulating as well. 

[MattPie]

I'm with dudacek.  I pay $35 or so / year for the New York Times crossword.  Some people thing it's stupid and/or a waste of money.  But it's my hobby, and it's ten cents per day.  If The Buffalo Star gives me ten minutes of worthwhile reading material every day, that's worth ten cents, easily.  Easily.

 

The Buffalo News does not give me ten minutes of worthwhile reading material every day.  And I mean the whole paper.  I read one or two articles in the City and Region section, one or two in the Business section, one or two in the Sports section, and that's about five minutes (because the paper is written at a sixth-grade reading level).  I usually scan the obits.  And that's it.  National and international news are covered better by other outlets.

 

So again, how does WGRZ manage to write the same stuff, at nearly the same writing level, and put it on the Internet for free?

 

WGRZ still gets money from their traditional product, selling viewer eyeballs to advertisers. They can put up some basic content on the web without hurting their model, and at this point, I don't think they've really been hit by cord cutting (and even then, they still broadcast so they're better off than someone like TBS or USA network). A Newspaper's business model is getting text-based information to people for a nominal cost, somewhat buoyed by selling ad space. Physical Newspaper subscribers are down, so ad space goes becomes less valuable as well, and revenue goes down too. They either need to reinvent themselves as something that people will subscribe to (either online of off), or they'll eventually die out. Online has the advantage that they don't necessarily need to produce something every day to sell papers, so they can spend the time on the "good" stuff. The Buffalo star seems to be taking that path so the don't have to pay people to create a bunch of fluff every day.

[darksabre]

I just went ahead and signed up for Buffalo Star. They have comments enabled so maybe the subscription barrier will weed out some of the dumber comments and provide some additional content in addition to what I already get here on Sabrespace. 

[jeffismagic]

I just went ahead and signed up for Buffalo Star. They have comments enabled so maybe the subscription barrier will weed out some of the dumber comments and provide some additional content in addition to what I already get here on Sabrespace. 

 

I did too. Why not support this and hope they can cater to customers as they grow.

[darksabre]

I did too. Why not support this and hope they can cater to customers as they grow.

Right? 

Also, the Buffalo Star appears hard to find on google at the moment, so for those who are curious:

 

www.thebuffalostar.com

Edited September 6, 2017 by d4rksabre

[Eleven]

You must really read slowly if you can find ten minutes worth of reading on the WGRZ site. :lol:

 

I assure you, I do not spend ten minutes per day on that site.  But nor do I pay for it, which is kinda the point.

 

I just went ahead and signed up for Buffalo Star. They have comments enabled so maybe the subscription barrier will weed out some of the dumber comments and provide some additional content in addition to what I already get here on Sabrespace. 

 

You and others:  please let me know your experiences.  If you're enjoying it, I'll give it a shot.

 

WGRZ still gets money from their traditional product, selling viewer eyeballs to advertisers. They can put up some basic content on the web without hurting their model, and at this point, I don't think they've really been hit by cord cutting (and even then, they still broadcast so they're better off than someone like TBS or USA network). A Newspaper's business model is getting text-based information to people for a nominal cost, somewhat buoyed by selling ad space. Physical Newspaper subscribers are down, so ad space goes becomes less valuable as well, and revenue goes down too. They either need to reinvent themselves as something that people will subscribe to (either online of off), or they'll eventually die out. Online has the advantage that they don't necessarily need to produce something every day to sell papers, so they can spend the time on the "good" stuff. The Buffalo star seems to be taking that path so the don't have to pay people to create a bunch of fluff every day.

 

The most widely-circulated newspaper in the US is completely free online.  Actually, I don't know that anyone ever pays for USA Today.  I think they just get it for free in hotel rooms.  So again, how come traditional newspapers cannot figure it out?  It's the ad revenue, folks; go after the ad revenue!

[darksabre]

I assure you, I do not spend ten minutes per day on that site. But nor do I pay for it, which is kinda the point.

 

 

You and others: please let me know your experiences. If you're enjoying it, I'll give it a shot.

 

 

The most widely-circulated newspaper in the US is completely free online. Actually, I don't know that anyone ever pays for USA Today. I think they just get it for free in hotel rooms. So again, how come traditional newspapers cannot figure it out? It's the ad revenue, folks; go after the ad revenue!

It seems to work well on mobile if that matters to you.

 

Just sign up, it's cheap enough. Think of it as being an investor.

[Brawndo]

I signed up for both the Buffalo Star and the Athletic today. The Athletic will be adding a Sabres Writer soon, my bet would be either Joe Yerdon or John Vogl from the News. Also they have acculmated some fantastic writers across the NHL such as LeBrun, Custance and Mike Russo. That's too much talent to pass on.

[Eleven]

Ok I signed up.

[MattPie]

The most widely-circulated newspaper in the US is completely free online.  Actually, I don't know that anyone ever pays for USA Today.  I think they just get it for free in hotel rooms.  So again, how come traditional newspapers cannot figure it out?  It's the ad revenue, folks; go after the ad revenue!

 

USA today's business model never included human beings as subscribers. As far as I can tell, it's based on spamming people via hotel room doors, largely with fluff pieces. I have to think most of their revenue comes from the contracts with big businesses to provide X number of papers per day to their location, and turning around and saying advertise with us, we have the largest circulation in the US. I'd call it a market niche, as it's unlikely that most other papers could use the model without being on the same scale.

 

Did you note the article above that Facebook and Google have driven down the ad payout so far that places like the NYT aren't making enough on it to make it worthwhile? 20000 clicks only pays like $100; TBN is never going to get the clicks to make that sustainable.

[Eleven]

USA today's business model never included human beings as subscribers. As far as I can tell, it's based on spamming people via hotel room doors, largely with fluff pieces. I have to think most of their revenue comes from the contracts with big businesses to provide X number of papers per day to their location, and turning around and saying advertise with us, we have the largest circulation in the US. I'd call it a market niche, as it's unlikely that most other papers could use the model without being on the same scale.

 

Did you note the article above that Facebook and Google have driven down the ad payout so far that places like the NYT aren't making enough on it to make it worthwhile? 20000 clicks only pays like $100; TBN is never going to get the clicks to make that sustainable.

 

Then newspapers need to stop using clicks as their measurable.  They don't (and can't) do that with the print editions; why should they on their websites?  That industry has had 20 years to figure it out and band together.

[Two or less]

I signed up for both the Buffalo Star and the Athletic today. The Athletic will be adding a Sabres Writer soon, my bet would be either Joe Yerdon or John Vogl from the News. Also they have acculmated some fantastic writers across the NHL such as LeBrun, Custance and Mike Russo. That's too much talent to pass on.

 

The Athletic is taking over. I actually subscribed not too long ago as well and really enjoy it. It's not that expensive and if you enjoy it, it really is pretty cheap.

 

Today i subscribed to the BN Blitz. I think it's a pretty good idea. They seem to have some big plans with it. I'll give it a try. And not all of their reporters are trash... i saw people mention Sully, but Vic Carucci, Jay Skurski and Chris Trapasso are pretty good.

[sabills]

If that Coller article about Risto is going to be par for the course over there, my subscription to the Star will be totally worth it.

Edited September 7, 2017 by sabills

[darksabre]

If that Coller article about Risto is going to be par for the course over there, the subscription to the Star will be totally worth it.

They've got a nice stats-based lineup review posted up this morning. Great read. 

[sabills]

They've got a nice stats-based lineup review posted up this morning. Great read. 

yess, thats the good stuff.

[spndnchz]

I thought the Snooze was already paywall.

[Eleven]

I thought the Snooze was already paywall.

 

Yes; they're starting a new project called BN Blitz that is basically just football coverage for $3/mo.

[That Aud Smell]

The Athletic started this ball rolling.

 

And Dave Davis has something like it going called The Buffalo Star (which I am planning to sign up for).

 

I've read that, at some point, the former print media will get to an iTunes type model where there is a micro-click-charge -- like maybe 15 cents an article or something for starters (with a credit card on file).

[Brawndo]

Kevin Oklubja (this can't be spelled right) formerly of the Rochester D&C will be the Buffalo Star's Primary Sabres Reporter.

Yes; they're starting a new project called BN Blitz that is basically just football coverage for $3/mo.

There are no plans to start a project like this for BN Sabres Coverage