craigdailypress.com

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

 Bump_in_the_road,

I think i get the concerns that are being shared here, via email and one on one conversations regarding charging for online access. I must clarify though that those conversations include both; readers in favor and against charging for online content.

I hope you know that I do listen to what our readers say and attempt to make changes that reflect that. I have always and plan to always listen and make decisions based on that information.

Thanks
Bryce

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

 Lonelyone,

That is a great question. The print product was free for about 3 years. The online product has always been free. However, the technology to charge for it is pretty new - I want to say about a year old for our software company.

Waterlogged31,

We are working on the pop up ads.

Thanks
Bryce Jacobson

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

Good Morning,

Thank you for your input over the weekend. Sorry I wasn't able to get back to you until this morning.

buff_bronc_fan, We are making changes to the “intrusive” advertisements. You should have already noticed that change and will see more in the future.

Nadja and OyveyCraig - you are correct the value of an advertisement on a website is the number of eyes that see it - that is very true. In the newspapers that have moved to a paywall the number of viewers continue to grow - maybe not at the same rate, but grow nonetheless - we will have to wait and see what happens with ours.

Nimrod - thank you for your analogy.

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

 DavidMoore,

Yes, you can get your news and entertainment for free from TV Stations and Radio Stations. They disseminate their news via government owned air waves and at this point the government doesn't allow that to be via a subscription (technology also is restrictive of that). However, I am aware of news and entertainment stations that charge for access via satellite and computer, and they still have commercials.

I think we are going to have to agree to disagree - I am not succeeding at sharing the the value proposition that we are offering with the CDP. I understand that you don't see the same value in it as I do. I hope that one day my team can convince you of that, but at this point I don't know what else to say to convince you.

My team does a great job, they work very hard to provide this community with news and information that matters to you, we will continue to do so and we hope that you will continue to be a reader.

Thanks
Bryce Jacobson

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

 Lonelyone,

Yes that is our subscription price to the print newspaper to be delivered to your home, and it also includes our online premium content. If you buy it annually your price is $70.00, yes, our price of our subscription has increased over the years, just as everything else that we purchase.

I believe that is a reasonable price, and very competitive if you compare to other newspapers our size and distribution frequency.

It is a value proposition - do you believe the product that we provide is worth that much money? That is up to our customers.

Thanks
Bryce Jacobson

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

Nimrod and Bump in the Road,

You are correct that the CDP has several products that it sells. We sell advertising, subscriptions, pictures, among other items and we have a commercial print shop.

The subscriptions and the advertising are directly connected in the sense that even if you buy a print subscription, you see advertising and now online subscribers will also see advertising.

Pandora is an interesting example of a site that is solely reliant upon advertising revenue at this time. It is difficult to discuss Pandora on a blog, but I would encourage you to look into their financial model and I would be interested to hear what their model sustainability looks like.

The other thing I would say about Pandora is that they aren't selling a product that they produce, they are reselling that product - to me that is different.

Thanks
Bryce Jacobson

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

 whispering_rain,

Thank you for your continued patronage and interest in the news product we provide.

I appreciate your comparison to Grand Junction and the market that it is. The paper's price point is definitely not cheaper if you compare. You are correct that they have more information - they have at least 10 times the number of people to report on - so that makes sense to me.

I don't understand your assertion that I am making this a “big city” newspaper. As I mentioned before newspapers in similar sized towns, smaller towns, bigger towns are charging for their online content. This was not driven by any desire to act as a “big city” newspaper - I assure you.

Lastly, i apologize for disappointing you with this decision. It sounds as though you see the product that we provide as valuable and I hope you will continue to utilize it to fulfill your news and information needs.

Thanks
Bryce Jacobson

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

 David,

Yes, the CDP is owned by the same company as the Pilot. However, our markets vary greatly. The Pilot has a paid print edition on Sunday and the Today is a free distribution product both in print and online the remaining days.

Traditionally, that is correct, the newspaper industry began in this online world offering online news at no charge, yet continuing to charge for the print edition. 100s of newspapers are now switching to the paid online model, to compliment their paid print edition. It isn't so much about the revenue that it will generate, as that is a small amount. It is about a value proposition.

I don't want to sound rude or condescending as I must have earlier - but I still ask you what other business gives their product away for free? Furthermore, what other business charges for their physical product and gives it away online for free? I can't think of one.

I know you listed a bunch of websites earlier that you can get online for free - much like you can on TV, you also listed products that you can download at no charge - but what business has a product that they give away? Online or otherwise? The CDP has websites that are available to our customers to use, however our product is news on this site - and that has value. In my opinion and I think you agree.

I appreciate your comments about the importance of the product that we provide to our readers. I agree it is valuable - and therefore I believe it should have a value - I think we agree on all points except for the fact that it is a bad business model to give your product away for free.

Thanks Bryce

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

 Lonelyone,

I will have Amy contact you regarding not being able to see the stories, that may be a technical issue that I quite frankly can't address.

You are correct, GJ is a much larger town than us and they do have another weekly newspaper in that community, however they too charge for access. My reference to Meeker and GJ was only because of geography. You can look at papers like Hastings Nebraska as similar in size, they charge and have charged for many years for their online content.

This decision was my decision. I believe in the product we provide and believe that we can't keep giving it away, it just doesn't make sense.

Thanks
Bryce

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

 Cory,

You may be right that other newspapers don't have ads that have sound effects at this time. However, many websites, many newspaper websites do have this feature from time to time. I will share your thoughts with the advertisers in question.

I will take the rest of your comments and opinions into consideration, however I would appreciate a conversation to better understand each of them.

Thanks
Bryce Jacobson