It's the best staff we've ever assembled. It's the most comprehensive coverage we've ever offered. It's the best overall product, too, including the tech. And the Steelers' 9-0 start offers us all a burst of potential consumer excitement unlike any we've experienced in a while.
Turns out, though, the pandemic doesn't seem to care much about any of that.
DK Pittsburgh Sports, launched in July 2014 as the first independent media venture of its kind in North America, has grown in a way neither I nor my wife Dali ever could have envisioned. And even through this ongoing coronavirus crisis, as I've shared with you here weekly, we've maintained steady readership and subscription revenues, no small feat on either front. That's still true.
And yet, two factors, both very much beyond our control, are hitting us hard:
• Programmatic advertising has cratered.
The Google ads one sees here, almost always from national outfits, are populating the boxes, which is ideal. But they're paying a pitiful fraction of what they once did. The day we flew back from Texas, on what should've been a blockbuster ad-revenue day for us, it produced one-fifth of what it did for a Steelers Monday a year ago. And that's happening everywhere, not just here.
• Others connected to us have it tough.
Two of our biggest sponsors in 2020, businesses driven by in-person processes, had to be put on hold. Nothing they did wrong. Nothing we did wrong. But obviously, there was no way they could keep paying us to promote something that no longer was occurring. We worry about them, as well as a couple others. We're trying to help them as much as we can.
This is what leads me to appeal directly to you, the people who've built this place into what it is.
As mentioned above, we love our staff, love our coverage, both exactly as they are. We're already tightening the belt behind the scenes, but we've no wish whatsoever to lessen any aspect of what you enjoy here daily. We've heard you express satisfaction loud and clear, and we don't think you want that, either.
So, before we take any steps of that sort, and befitting the way I've always communicated with you, I'm here to put it in your court first. Rather than just pulling this plug or that plug and then letting you know about it after the fact, I'll instead put forth a few ways you can help prevent any reduction from taking place:
1. LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTIONS
We make a fresh round of 100 of these available each winter, so we'll do that again, effective immediately.
They're $299, they secure your subscription for life -- as in, all eternity -- and they'll come, as our current Lifetimers can attest, with random goodies, generally distributed when we have a chance to meet you in person. (And we can't wait for that to resume!)
There's one way to go Lifetime, and it's to email me directly, after which we'll process your upgrade by hand: DK@DKPittsburghSports.com
2. GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS
Same as they ever were. A click away. Ideal for the holiday season.
3. DONATE SUBSCRIPTIONS
We're proud of our programs for the military and first responders, but the most common request we have daily is from people who simply, legitimately can't afford to buy a subscription. This year, we've had more of those than ever, with all the job losses across the country.
So, we're starting a pool of half-price subscriptions that we'll distribute upon request.
Email Dali directly if you're interested in contributing: Dali@DKPittsburghSports.com
4. SPONSORSHIP
Help us by letting us help you!
We have availabilities to partner up on both the app/site and on our podcasts, and we're confident we can do right by your business.
Email Dali directly: Dali@DKPittsburghSports.com
5. INVEST
We've been blessed to have an investor going back to our earliest days, and that individual's additionally become a great friend. But we've never put forth a public offer to buy a minority stake in our company until now.
I'll be very, very surprised if this happens -- it takes a person who's genuinely passionate about what we're doing, not just a paycheck -- but we owe it to everyone to at least put this out there.
Email me directly about this, but please, only if seriously interested: DK@DKPittsburghSports.com
To reiterate, this isn't an alarm being sounded. We'll be fine one way or the other, as we'll just find a way to adjust, same as we always have. It's just that we -- and apparently you -- like things as they are, so trying to work this out together feels like the ideal solution.
I'll be in comments if you've got any questions at all.
Thanks in advance for considering this and, as always, for being here.
FOLLOWING PROTOCOLS
Dale Lolley and I are flying to Jacksonville, Fla., today, and that's permissible since it's for work. Our Morning Java studio is now limited to one individual using it at a time, and even then, it'll almost always be me. Our Mike's Beer Bar appearances are now being done just by me and Dali, including the one last night over there.
In other words, we're doing this right. No one's being assigned to go anywhere they don't want to, and all the rest of us are being as cautious as possible.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our daily page views averaged 44,538 over the past week. The most-read original piece was my column from Heinz Field on Ben Roethlisberger's big passing day, at 7,418. Broken down by team, the Steelers brought 36.6% of our traffic, the Penguins 7.8%, the Pirates 6.7%, Pitt 1.12%, Penn State 0.84%, and Duquesne 0.35%.
• Our podcast downloads for DK Sports Radio original content were 47,091, down 1% from the previous week.
• We're at 37,901 (+34) followers on Twitter, we're at 36,867 (+20) followers on Facebook, we're at 14,777 (+5) followers on Instagram. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
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