Now that we're selling an additional 100 Lifetime Lunatic subscriptions -- 79 remain now -- we'll eventually have 600 total, combined with the original 500.
That'll be a lot of people stuck with us for all eternity.
So what do we all do together from there?
Usually on a long flight or car ride, I'll start thinking about abstract stuff like this. I'll wonder about ways we can, on one hand, keep growing the subscriber base and, on the other, keep the one we've already got as vital and involved as possible. But anytime I do that, invariably, the ideas get so scattered I never come up with anything concrete.
Is there something special we could or should do for a certain set of subscribers based on ... I don't know ... Lifetime status, three-year status or how long they've been with us?
Anytime that crosses my mind, I toss it out because we value all our subscribers equally, as any business would, and we respect that not everyone's got $299 to drop on a Lifetime. We're also aware that many of you stay at shorter levels of commitment on subscriptions because it ultimately results in more revenue here, which blows my mind but that's awesome.
Again, then, what can we do?
There has to be something that isn't too labor intensive, a way to make this community come together even more and, simultaneously, a way to illustrate the strength of what we've all built here.
Is there a common cause behind which we can all rally?
(No, don't suggest buying the Pirates.)
Is there a program we can create, similar to the one we've already got for military men and women, that gets subscriptions into deserving hands?
Or for younger readers?
Help me out here. I'll be in comments. I'm a blank slate on this.
And, upon serious consideration, we're now open to adding another 100 to the club.
A SECOND LIFETIME
Repeating from above, we've sold 21 Lifetimes in this second phase, so 81 remain.
Here's how it works:
• The subscription to read this site/app, forever and ever, no matter what becomes of us, is $299. Buy it right here.
• If you're an existing subscriber and want to go Lifetime, do the same thing. Buy it right here. Then, email us at Help@DKPittsburghSports.com to let us know you did. We'll refund the remainder of your existing account.
FROM THE EDITOR
John Perrotto's lede on the Friday Insider on Josh Bell's response to an anonymous scout ripping the Pirates' first baseman's work ethic drew a lot of response from readers, most questioning Sports Illustrated's use of an anonymous source.
While we do use such sources on this site -- everyone does -- just know that we try to vet things beyond just trusting one source, unless, of course that source is one we trust beyond the shadow of a doubt. It's our unwavering standard.
Now, there are times when you hear something that you just don't necessarily trust or think that there's something more to the story than just what you're hearing. As we've seen in recent years, there are times when reporters have run with a one-source story and that source has proven to be wrong.
It happens. And it has happened not just to news reporters, but on the sports side of things, as well.
We'd rather have the story right than be first with something that later proves to be dead wrong. It's a standard to which we hold ourselves and hope you do, as well.
Does that mean stories won't sometimes be wrong? Nope. Organizations change their mind on things all the time. For example, just a few weeks ago, I was told the Steelers intended to allow Ramon Foster to test free agency and were going to keep Marcus Gilbert. Doesn't mean what I reported about that wasn't true at the time. They just changed their mind when Foster's contract demands lessened.
But we will always strive to get the story right. -- Dale Lolley
FROM THE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Want to become one of our business partners?
Our ability to reach people has never been as high as it is, and that extends far beyond our actual readership here on the site/app:
That's an average of 425,205 impressions per day on our company's official social media accounts, not including any of our various individual accounts. Now, add to that the average of 81,066 page views on the actual site/app, and it's roughly a half-million per day.
This is our brand new, updated 2019 media kit with all our essential data. If you're interested, contact me directly at Dali@DKPittsburghSports.com. We can communicate that way, by phone, face to face, or whatever works best for you. -- Dali Kovacevic
WE'RE LISTENING
• We keep working to speed up the site/app. And that almost always means the home page. The best way to do that, we've been told, is to be more selective about what we put out there, both in terms of quantity and image size. As a result, you'll see this morning an even leaner home page that compacts our What's Brewing, Live Qs at 5 and Morning Java -- or our WPXI programs on the weekends -- all under the Coverage That Connects banner. Hunter Homistek's Prowl, Campus Chatter and other elements are all conveniently collected inside Brewing, which becomes even more of a one-stop shop.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• New subscribers for 2019 are at 375. You can now track this figure daily at the bottom of the desktop and tablet versions of the site.
• Our daily active app users, averaged out over the past week, are at 12,833, broken down as 10,043 on Apple, 2,790 on Android. That total's minus-32 from the previous week. This figure will always fluctuate with the seasons and the news, so the goal is a steady, gradual increase, initially to 15,000, a number we've never achieved.
• Our daily page views, averaged out over the past month, are at 78,938. That's minus-1,710 over the same rolling figure from a week ago. The goal with this figure is also about a steady, gradual increase, first to 100,000, a number we've achieved only during the two Stanley Cup runs.
• Our most-hit article of the past week -- exempting live files -- was Dale Lolley's NFL Draft analysis at 8,376. The Penguins accounted for 98,703 of our page views, the Pirates 94,818, the Steelers 38,683.
• We're at 31,344 (+168) page likes on Facebook, we're at 31,082 (+124) followers on Twitter, we're at 10,422 (+88) followers on Instagram, and we're at 803 (+7) followers on YouTube. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
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• We make mistakes. If you see one, email Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• This is our new 2019 media kit. If you're interested in connecting with our large, passionate following, email my wife at Dali@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email us: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
