What Australian publishers can learn from The Athletic and why I’m willing to pay for it
Patrick Whitnall, head of content and sport at Publicis Media, resisted paying for journalism until he came across The Athletic. And he suspects its subscription-based, ad-free model may be what Australian publications need to convert readers into subscribers.
I admit it: For the first time in years, I’ve paid for online journalistic content. Until now, I, like most, have refused the paywalls, or reader donation models, despite paying for Spotify, Play Station and Netflix for years.
So, why the change after years of resistance to paid-for, written content? The majority of my consumed content is sport via video or podcast, predominantly the English Premier League and my beloved Arsenal. And I’d gotten tired of clickbait stories: so much was offered in the headline, but the story was shallow. And there were more and more ads breaking up the content – making it impossible to read without interruption.
Then, along came The Athletic.
Great article, Paul. I have to agree. The quality and depth of content in The Athletic is beyond any sporting editorial that currently exists. There is no equivalent and as such I found myself going to pay for a subscription much faster than something like SMH or NY Times. It has re-shaped the way I engage with football as I feel more connected to the stories of each player, the managers and the politics that surrounds each match.
You’re on the money. Except the part about the Arsenal “resurgence”.
(Sorry)
The marketing we were fed is “people will pay for quality content”.
Nice to see someone actually putting that to the test rather than saying experimenting whether people will pay for the rubbish we used to give them for free.
I find the Athletic to be over indulgent. 4000 words when 400 words would do. The correspondents appear to be trying too hard to produce “quality” content. It’s already starting to look like an exercise in navel gazing (with some exceptions).
Also, the quality of journalism is iffy at best. You want me to pay to read some blogger like Andy Mitten express his views on football?
Nah.
The Athletic is were Arsenal fans go to read about football… because they sure as hell can’t stand watching the dross the team is at the moment.
And herein lies the problem. Patrick, do you really think The Athletic will ever be profitable? Or like so many digital startups just raise a bunch of cash, come out with grand plans and burn through it, costing established publishers in the process by suckling at the VC test?
Those other examples you mentioned are all also investor subsidised and in the case of PlayersVoice only ever weeks away from closing down.
This is such a great example of someone in the industry assuming they are a regular consumer (500k in the US is not even close to 1% of the population) and that media companies can survive with these kind of utopian ideals.
Its going to be a mix of as revs and people paying for content, as it always has been since the newspaper started.
You should embrace and push that idea, given you clients will soon run out of ‘quality’ publishers to spruik on…
With an agency leader spruiking ad free editorial environments as the future. I guess you can say good bye to the media dollars
I’ve signed up to the Athletic, and I feel the same way. I actually dabble in some sports writing myself (you can find me on This Is Anfield) so maybe I’m biased, but I can’t stand short, click-bait style pieces. Part of the joy of following football and EPL is for me the high quality sports writers the UK produces, I hope (probably foolishly) one day the level in Australia approaches those heights. One thing is for sure though, the current models won’t produce it.