Syracuse.com is a pay site now?

[Sherman20]

I don’t disagree with news organizations asking their readers to pay, at least something, for their content. But they should brace them for it first—and $19.99 (if that’s the cost) seems high for the Post Standard. The NY Times only charges $15 for online and you get way more bang for your buck.

 

[upperdeck]

i guess i dont get why people think they should get newspaper stories for free? $20 for a month less than a dollar a day. i used to get the paper just to read these stores long before digital but you cant get it delivered anymore around here.

when the paper is long gone where do people expect to get these type of stories anymore that so many like to complain about?

 

[pearl31]

shouldn't necessarily get for free (tho that can be debated), but $20/mo for the Syracuse Post/Standard is simply laughable

 

[Cusefan0307]

Ok if you haven’t paid yet, don’t...

This may be a test.

 

[bballbeadle]

I don’t mind at all paying for local news content, especially during bball and football season. But $20??? Yoinks! I pay for the NYT, and the WP. They are both less. Now I’m in a quandary. Yes, on the one hand, it isn’t much per day. And I imagine the higher price than the NYT is because there will be far fewer subscriptions. This is not a national product. And people like Donna and Mike need to be paid for their work. The paper product is going to go away for the most part. Digital is the future.

Damn, I’m talking myself into it. I keep seeing Donna not being able to put food on her family.

 

[cto]

I have long since paid for NYT, WSJ and Washington Post on line. More recently, I've paid for Hartford Courant and Boston Globe. Sales of hard-copy papers are in a spiraling nose dive, as are ads in hard-copy papers. The only way papers are existing is through on-line subscriptions and on-line advertising. I cannot fault syracuse.com for switching to a pay site. It is the national trend ... if you want to stay in business.

 

[Scooch]

Google and Facebook have utterly and completely destroyed the digital advertising business. They garner the vast majority of ad dollars. Everyone else is fighting for scraps.

We can debate the $20 price tag, and people should do what they want obviously, but know that if you don’t pay for news subscriptions these properties will be dead within a decade.

 

[mountaincuse]

They had an ad up that was basically "support local journalists" - they stopped doing that years ago when they canned all their reporters and went the click bait route.

 

[hungrychuck]

Ladies and gents, may I suggest the Daily Orange?

At times beats syracuse.com on stories, has journos talented enough that they will never work for syracuse.com, and it’s free.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I think it stinks as well, but how can they afford to be in biz or compete with like size / location market outlets?

I have a few ideas but not helping their bottom line especially bc u know they r reading this.

Assuming they haven’t been bought / sold recently more than likely they are going to be for sale and they need/want to improve their financials, the multiples are mostly based on users/subscribers pay per and top line revenue/gross margin dollars. Bigger competition who buys the biz removes all SGA day1. Seller focus is on the biz #s trailing 12 months, not 18 months forward as of purchase date.

It's a new model for the parent company. Syracuse.com is the Beta, due to market saturation, fwiw.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

i guess i dont get why people think they should get newspaper stories for free? $20 for a month less than a dollar a day. i used to get the paper just to read these stores long before digital but you cant get it delivered anymore around here.

when the paper is long gone where do people expect to get these type of stories anymore that so many like to complain about?

Can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.
That said, there is a whole generation of people who think everything should be theirs, for free.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.
That said, there is a whole generation of people who think everything should be theirs, for free.

Internet Pron has ruined everything.

 

[upperdeck]

people dont read the paper, but there are so many things the local paper does that people just take for granted,

stories on the dome, 81, SU sports, local hs games, current events,

just like people dont watch local tv, get their weather on an app, cant find out why a local shop is closed or a road is closed, when voting is, etc

when paper was 10-24 cents $20 a month seems a lot, not the papr is a $1-2 a day $20 isnt so bad, of course the amount of content has gone way down with the dumbing of society too.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Print subscriptions are $32.40/month (for Tues-Thurs-Sun delivery), so $20/month for just digital isn't too bad by comparison.

 

[Orijinal]

I was complaining about this on the football side. Guess I had to come over here and find this thread

Can't say how disappointed I am with this. Syracuse.com got multiple clicks from me every day. They are now getting none.

Say what you want about $20/month, but it's an outrageous price. I could make a list here of all the quality things you can get for MUCH less. Netflix and Hulu are on that list, as well as Amazon, and PS Plus.

Everyone wants a freaking subscription for their work now. Can't believe that some of you are paying for 3 different news sources every month ...that's what, $60/ month just for that? You guys must be making 6 figures. How did any of these companies survive in the past without subscriptions?

I'll gladly sift through advertising so these sites can get paid. But I'm not paying another subscription fee for anything else. And starting in the Syracuse market? It's one of the poorer cities in America. Must be because so many are willing to part with their money for stuff like this, I guess

Rant over

 

[Cusefan0307]

You DO NOT have to pay guys.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

How did any of these companies survive in the past without subscriptions?

Before there was an internet, you had to actually BUY a newspaper every day. Either you got home delivery, or you hit up a newsstand.

Nothing was ever free.

 

[Orijinal]

Before there was an internet, you had to actually BUY a newspaper every day. Either you got home delivery, or you hit up a newsstand.

Nothing was ever free.

I kind of understand that argument, but internet has been around for over 20 years. 17 years of which I have been reading Syracuse.com for free

 

[Orijinal]

You DO NOT have to pay guys.

There is no close out option on the subscription ad on mobile ...and probably won't be soon for any other device

 

[Cusefan0307]

There is no close out option on the subscription ad on mobile ...and probably won't be soon for any other device

You are doing something wrong because I just accessed the site through my phone and received no pop up.

 

[MSOrange]

I kind of understand that argument, but internet has been around for over 20 years. 17 years of which I have been reading Syracuse.com for free

And hard copy sales of the paper along with the advertising has gone down over the years until we've reached this point. Not that hard to understand. You can argue about the price, but the actual decision shouldn't be that shocking it doesn't seem.

 

[OttoMets]

They had an ad up that was basically "support local journalists" - they stopped doing that years ago when they canned all their reporters and went the click bait route.

Exactly.

I'm all for supporting good journalism (or whatever exact wording they're pushing on the website). But the P-S hasn't provided that for years. They've canned nearly all their best talent (their best food critic is gone, I haven't seen Don Cazentre's byline in awhile, and there are no local columnists anymore). This has left a small bunch of average writers, a whole lot who are below that, and a totally invisible editorial staff. The metro desk is extremely weak, and 100% of my SU sports news comes from this board. So the ship has sailed - any money given to them is just propping up a mediocre product.

I'm happy to support good journalism. Society's worse without it. So I'll continue with my New York Times, WaPo, and New Yorker subscriptions. Hopefully the unfortunate folks at the P-S can continue to do their best making "more with less" thanks to their clumsy management.

 

[FreakTalksAboutSU]

Successful sites figured out long ago how to monetize ads and provide content free. Like TV (which isnt dying) and radio (despite it being an older medium, 100% solvent). Somehow those reporters continue to thrive despite not having their content paid for. Yet newspapers still, 20+ years later, DO NOT GET IT.

 

[MG44]

Exactly.

I'm happy to support good journalism. Society's worse without it. So I'll continue with my New York Times, WaPo, and New Yorker subscriptions. Hopefully the unfortunate folks at the P-S can continue to do their best making "more with less" thanks to their clumsy management.

I havent decided which way I will go with the whole subscription thing, but ^^this^^ is a very true statement. Its kind of scary what could happen to society without a free and local press.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Successful sites figured out long ago how to monetize ads and provide content free. Like TV (which isnt dying) and radio (despite it being an older medium, 100% solvent). Somehow those reporters continue to thrive despite not having their content paid for. Yet newspapers still, 20+ years later, DO NOT GET IT.

Do you think newsprint paper rolls grow on trees?