I’d like to see the fine print on this claim:
The Times Co. said digital subscribers to NYTimes.com had surpassed 100,000, a figure that does not include print subscribers who receive digital access for free but does include readers who took advantage of a promotional offer.
The “promotional offer” I got, along with 200,000 others, was a free subscription until the end of the year. I have no idea about the redemption rate on that kind of free offer, but I have to imagine that a good fraction of the 100K “subscribers” the Times is reporting took advantage of that offer. Pinch’s $40 million paywall “investment” is looking dumber by the day.
bystander
Jay Rosen pointed to a way to begin to think about those numbers.
Downpuppy
& all along I thought mistermix was Snape.
SST
I’ve been away from the intertrons for a week or so. Dunno how new that byline is. But I like it.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian mistermix Dumbledore
@bystander: Yeah, and that guy took the 100K number at face value to do his revenue calculations, even though his commenters pointed out that the Lincoln promotion should have been figured in. So I don’t think that analysis bears much weight, and I think his bs detector is broken.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
This is not Professor Dumbledore! He would never give front page links to conservative Deatheaters and Dark Creatures like freemarket boggarts!
This a Dark Agent that has taken Albus’ form with polyjuice!
Expelliarimus!
"Serious" Superluminar
Just want to say totally awesome nym there, but WAI do you keep on pushing EDK’s bullshytte freemarketeerianarism?
ETA: DeathEater!
arguingwithsignposts
@Albus Percival Wulfric Brian mistermix Dumbledore: FWIW, there are reports that the development number is closer to $20 million, which is still a lot of scratch.
Could someone with a Harry Potter decoder ring help a brutha out here?
"Serious" Superluminar
OT, but I just checked my email spam filter and found the following Friday RedState briefing from EriksonofErik:
I have nothing to say.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@”Serious” Superluminar
check this out.
Not only is EDK a market-based libertarian and a JAFI, he is a secret Bush fellator.
mistermix! EDK is growing up to be Sully!
Aren’t you proud?
bystander
@Albus Percival Wulfric Brian mistermix Dumbledore: True. But, I thought the reminder that initial numbers do not equal the growth you need to sustain the operation over time a fair point to make. Had the author tossed the Lincoln promotion in on top, that point would have been amplified.
MikeJ
It does say 100,00 paid subscribers. The english speaker in me would guess that means people who have paid to read the Times online, but the cynic in me would point out that Lincoln actually paid for the subs they passed out.
It would be interesting to know how many people have access and have never paid themselves.
Janet Strange
Y’know, I pay Pandora to turn off the ads. Back in the day when I read the GOS regularly I paid to turn off the ads. Why don’t newspapers try that? I’ll pay to not see ads, but it pisses me off that the NYT wants me to pay them AND look at their stupid ads.
Downpuppy
Nah, they were specific that the 100,000 didn’t include freebies.
Thing is, at 99 cents a week, 100,000 only come to $5 million a year. Which, in Times terms, is like 38 cents in your pocket.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@SST:
nah. mistermix is Barty Crouch with a polyjuice potion.
Downpuppy
& Barty Crouch Jr was who?
They really padded out the new episode last night something awful.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@Downpuppy: from Goblet of Fire. Crouch took Mad Eye Mooney’s form to deliver Harry to Lord Voldemort in the Tri-Wizard CUp.
stuckinred
Cool article in the Travel section about Zydeco Trail rides.
stuckinred
@Hermione Granger-Weasley:
Please don’t dominate the rap Jack
if you got nothing new to say
If you please don’t back up the track
This train got to run today
New Speedway Boogie
"Serious" Superluminar
Yes. I agree.
max hats
They raised kindle rates to near-paper at the same time as this, so I unsubscribed. I just don’t get it. They don’t want me to pay them for the cheapest possible method of paid distribution for them, but they do want me to pay them for physical paper, and they’ll happily give me online access for free if I ask nicely, but not if I pay them for a kindle subscription. It’s. . .I don’t even know what to make of it.
Downpuppy
Moody, not Mooney.
Anyhow, BC Jr was David Tennant. I was trying to hijack this thread to Matt Smith in Nixonland, before Mixie decided to step on it.
jwb
I discovered by accident that you can walk right through the paywall if you have NoScript installed. I logged out from the site the day the Times put the paywall up but have had uninterrupted access. Some of the pages don’t work quite right without java, but it’s a small inconvenience.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@stuckinred: i do have something new to say. GaJo is a pre-fail. He is against everything liberals stand for. He is anti-union, a glibertarian crypto-racist that says racism is over in America because we elected a black man, wants to overturn Roe, want to repeal child labor laws, a freemarket fucktard, an AGW denialist, etc, etc.
Why two GaJo posts on the front page?
Apparently so that mistermix and EDK can concern troll Obama on his anti-war chops.
so fuck off.
And DIAF.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@Downpuppy: lol, my bad.
you are the Harry Potter scholar du jour.
;)
Bobbo
Linking to Krugger’s blog I got a pop-up, “this is your last of 20 free views.” Then I continued to get free views. Subscription fail.
stuckinred
@Hermione Granger-Weasley: Don’t talk that way to me.
Downpuppy
@Hermione Granger-Weasley: No, just the father of a 10 year old girl with an appallingly good memory.
Allan
Ha! I was offered the free subscription, and declined to redeem it. If by chance I exceed my limit of free views, I’ll simply move on to any of another million sites that report on the same news or repurpose their content.
uptown
@Allan: It sounds like clearing your cookies will probably take care of the $40 million firewall problem.
M. Bouffant
@Bobbo: Yup. I installed an extension for Chrome that defeats the paywall, which works just fine. A couple of days ago I got the “You only have X views left, but once you pass the 20 it goes away, I guess until you get close to their imaginary limit again.
Though I must admit, I get five or six emails a day from The NYT, w/ links to all their sections & stories; half the time I don’t even open the e-mail, & if I do I seldom look at any of the stories.