It was interesting reading between the lines of your introduction paragraphs about the current state both of local news and of the balance between getting the user experience of an advertising-funded nationally-coördinated local news platform right.
I think every Birmingham Mail reader appreciates that the Birmingham Mail needs advertising in order to pay for the journalism and for the infrastructure, and that indeed it needs to publish a lot of clickbait non-stories which bring the ad revenue in.
But surely somebody in Reach Plc must be able to see that the way the platform works is ultimately self-defeating — after all, it will generate no ad revenue if readers just stop bothering to read the articles, and thus create the impressions, because the experience of trying to is just too darn frustrating?
I’m interested to see that this project is something you’re doing independently of the Mail, and for that reason my heart would want to join the paying subscriber base. But my heart has already committed to joining Kate and the team at the Dispatch’s paying subscriber base, and whilst there’s always room for more journalism in Birmingham, I wonder how much room there is for multiple competing reader-supported publications in the city — I wonder if some kind of Inside Birmingham Dispatch partnership might actually be much more valuable to readers and a much more powerful force than the two of you chasing essentially the same limited pool of people willing to pay?
Good points Simon. Tbf I don’t see this newsletter as competition with the Dispatch at all - the price point here for paying subscribers is very much lower (£40 a year with regular £20 a year offers) and that reflects it’s not dependent on paying subscribers to pay wages and overheads, nor is it claiming to be a standalone. Your £8 a month or whatever paid to the dispatch is their main income stream (along with donations and grants etc) and deserves supporting. I also don’t touch the cultural long read content that the Dispatch has made its main offer and does so well, alongside its summaries of other people’s journalism/stories about the region. We are a city of 1.1 million people, a region of 2.2m, with profound issues and my work tends to focus on politics and social affairs. There is plenty of space and stories for all media to co exist. I love the idea of collaborating with fellow journalists anywhere and everywhere (and already do so with outlets like the brilliant Bureau of Investigative Journalism) so this is not such an outlandish idea.
As for BL readers - they shouldn’t have to work so hard to read our online content, I agree, but there are ways and means to improve the experience significantly - via the news app for example, which is a much nicer experience. Or buy a newspaper, like in the olden days :-)
It was interesting reading between the lines of your introduction paragraphs about the current state both of local news and of the balance between getting the user experience of an advertising-funded nationally-coördinated local news platform right.
I think every Birmingham Mail reader appreciates that the Birmingham Mail needs advertising in order to pay for the journalism and for the infrastructure, and that indeed it needs to publish a lot of clickbait non-stories which bring the ad revenue in.
But surely somebody in Reach Plc must be able to see that the way the platform works is ultimately self-defeating — after all, it will generate no ad revenue if readers just stop bothering to read the articles, and thus create the impressions, because the experience of trying to is just too darn frustrating?
I’m interested to see that this project is something you’re doing independently of the Mail, and for that reason my heart would want to join the paying subscriber base. But my heart has already committed to joining Kate and the team at the Dispatch’s paying subscriber base, and whilst there’s always room for more journalism in Birmingham, I wonder how much room there is for multiple competing reader-supported publications in the city — I wonder if some kind of Inside Birmingham Dispatch partnership might actually be much more valuable to readers and a much more powerful force than the two of you chasing essentially the same limited pool of people willing to pay?
Good points Simon. Tbf I don’t see this newsletter as competition with the Dispatch at all - the price point here for paying subscribers is very much lower (£40 a year with regular £20 a year offers) and that reflects it’s not dependent on paying subscribers to pay wages and overheads, nor is it claiming to be a standalone. Your £8 a month or whatever paid to the dispatch is their main income stream (along with donations and grants etc) and deserves supporting. I also don’t touch the cultural long read content that the Dispatch has made its main offer and does so well, alongside its summaries of other people’s journalism/stories about the region. We are a city of 1.1 million people, a region of 2.2m, with profound issues and my work tends to focus on politics and social affairs. There is plenty of space and stories for all media to co exist. I love the idea of collaborating with fellow journalists anywhere and everywhere (and already do so with outlets like the brilliant Bureau of Investigative Journalism) so this is not such an outlandish idea.
As for BL readers - they shouldn’t have to work so hard to read our online content, I agree, but there are ways and means to improve the experience significantly - via the news app for example, which is a much nicer experience. Or buy a newspaper, like in the olden days :-)