Cyclingtips = Velonews, Pinkbike = Beta

[herb5998]

CT has been great, was bummed to see the note from Wade Wallace explaining the acquisition. Given how much consolidation is going on, curious to see what comes out of it, unfortunately, I think it may mean more "reviews" that are really just confirming all the marketing BS, instead of true assessment, even if it has some bias.

[72gmc]

Originally Posted by yinzerniner

Pretty good rundown here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/business...alypse/546935/

But to summarize:
-Google and Facebook are so big that they rule all digital advertising
-Media consumption is on the rise, so costs are on the rise. However advertising spending is static, so profitability is not there

So for publications to not be complete sellouts they need another revenue base ie subscriptions.

Let's also not forget the role of ad blockers, and the digital ad industry's skill at self-inflicted wounds. It used to be you didn't allow autoplay video, or if you did it was muted. There used to be clear legal requirements for language and legibility. It used to be easy to find a functional "dismiss" button for an ad that covers content. Scary stories about ad blindness led to a positive spin about being "disruptive" and other excuses to not respect the site visitor or the customer experience.

[bostonbiker]

the paywall has now gone up at Cycling Tips...

Enjoy your three free per month!

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by bostonbiker

the paywall has now gone up at Cycling Tips...

Enjoy your three free per month!

What's interesting to me is so far it doesn't appear to be included in an outside+ subscription.

[lavi]

I am wholly uninterested in this new mode of business chicanery.

When did the old method of having advertising pay for stuff go away? This new subscription thing is for the birds. I cannot believe it's a good move for any of these outlets. The few bike dorks (like us) that would pay cannot come close the relative masses of web traffic they'd normally get.

If we all just say no, they have to revert.

Plz don't give me the crap of supporting good work, and that not everything is supposed to be free. I do believe in paying for things. I do that by way of regularly buying a host of cycling and cycling related product. This new way of doing things is garbage.

Back to yelling at clouds.

[professerr]

Originally Posted by earlfoss

Not a fan of yet another subscription. I don't plan on purchasing if it goes that route. Will make Pez my go-to once again. Guessing that if you do get the subscription set up, you're still going to get hammered with all the annoying ads too. Meh.

Yep, and they will be "customized" based on what you read and follow you around to wherever you go on the web. Just cancelled NY times and Washington Post subscriptions in a fit of pique for just this reason -- got tired of blinking, targeted ads for days, everywhere, after researching something on Wirecutter from NYT. I would gladly renew subscriptions if they could manage to keep the ads at the overall level of obstrusiveness of, say, old print media.

[glepore]

Weird. Been a mag subscriber for years but didn't get the email.

[lavi]

Originally Posted by professerr

Yep, and they will be "customized" based on what you read and follow you around to wherever you go on the web. Just cancelled NY times and Washington Post subscriptions in a fit of pique for just this reason -- got tired of blinking, targeted ads for days, everywhere, after researching something on Wirecutter from NYT. I would gladly renew subscriptions if they could manage to keep the ads at the overall level of obstrusiveness of, say, old print media.

Isn't that the point of the damn thing...to REMOVE the ads if a person is shelling out for a subscription?!?

If I pay for a sub, and then get hammered with ads, it truly is a scam.

This new world order is really starting to piss me off.

[HenryA]

Originally Posted by professerr

Yep, and they will be "customized" based on what you read and follow you around to wherever you go on the web. Just cancelled NY times and Washington Post subscriptions in a fit of pique for just this reason -- got tired of blinking, targeted ads for days, everywhere, after researching something on Wirecutter from NYT. I would gladly renew subscriptions if they could manage to keep the ads at the overall level of obstrusiveness of, say, old print media.

^^^^^^^^^^ X1000!

It is truly astounding what they feed you as a paying customer. I’ve complained in writing about the pop-ups at WSJ. No satisfactory answer given. I have a subscription AND run an adblocker to keep the clutter bearable, but it won’t kill two pop ups in particular. I may not renew. I’ll miss it if I do but not that much compared to the subscription price.

As for the cycling media, I would much prefer some quirky little outfit with character over any homogenous corporate site. I am tired of being the customer second and product first. But it seems that the current model is the last finger hold before they carom off into the abyss and they are not giving up.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by lavi

I am wholly uninterested in this new mode of business chicanery.

When did the old method of having advertising pay for stuff go away? This new subscription thing is for the birds. I cannot believe it's a good move for any of these outlets. The few bike dorks (like us) that would pay cannot come close the relative masses of web traffic they'd normally get.

If we all just say no, they have to revert.

Plz don't give me the crap of supporting good work, and that not everything is supposed to be free. I do believe in paying for things. I do that by way of regularly buying a host of cycling and cycling related product. This new way of doing things is garbage.

Back to yelling at clouds.

There is no reverting. Starting around 2014, the potential revenue through online advertising started falling dramatically. An advertising-first business model just isn't sustainable for larger media enterprises.

As a reader, it would be nice to go back to the days when I could get all the content without paying for it, but these days that simply doesn't bring in enough money to generate the content I want to read.

Media organizations have gone to subscription models because that's what it takes to remain financially viable.

[Big Dan]

What content are we talking about?
The reviews that are actually ads?

[lavi]

Originally Posted by prototoast

There is no reverting. Starting around 2014, the potential revenue through online advertising started falling dramatically. An advertising-first business model just isn't sustainable for larger media enterprises.

As a reader, it would be nice to go back to the days when I could get all the content without paying for it, but these days that simply doesn't bring in enough money to generate the content I want to read.

Media organizations have gone to subscription models because that's what it takes to remain financially viable.

Ya. It's a bit nuts. And then to be left feeling like a crazy person.

The world has apparently moved on. It's not a better place as it relates to this topic...and many more. Time to ride a bike!

[jkbrwn]

A reminder for anyone who gets pissed at targeted ads:

Spend $30 on a Raspberry Pi Zero W and install Pi-Hole. It's a DNS based black hole for trackers and ads. That in combination with U-Block has me well and truly covered.

The only place I get targeted ads now is in my Instagram feed and I can deal with that. And that's not because they have access to my web activity, it's because of what I browse on Instagram itself...

[mcteague]

Originally Posted by lavi

Isn't that the point of the damn thing...to REMOVE the ads if a person is shelling out for a subscription?!?

If I pay for a sub, and then get hammered with ads, it truly is a scam.

This new world order is really starting to piss me off.

You pay for magazines and newspapers and yet they have always had ads.

Tim

[Hellgate]

Originally Posted by mcteague

You pay for magazines and newspapers and yet they have always had ads.



Tim

Ouch.

Target ceasefire. Driver back up. Gunner take over.