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Interesting article on how they're landing the writers they are. Very dot com...
Sports Site The Athletic Expands Aggressively, Betting on Subscriptions
Premium salaries lure writers; skeptics caution business model is risky
Stephen Curry, the star point guard for the Golden State Warriors, looked puzzled at a news conference last fall when a journalist introduced himself and identified his employer: the Athletic.
“The who?” Mr. Curry said, teasing the reporter. The journalist, San Francisco Bay Area editor in chief Tim Kawakami, repeated himself and offered Mr. Curry a free subscription.
Since then, the website has raised its profile substantially in the sports-media world, becoming a familiar name among players and fans. It is using $30 million in venture financing to expand quickly and lure prominent journalists with premium salaries and multiyear contracts.
The Athletic’s investors are wagering that people will pay for analytical sports writing that goes beyond box scores and headlines. The site charges $5 a month, or $60 for an annual subscription, and says it has more than 100,000 subscribers.
Its ranks include baseball writer Ken Rosenthal and veteran Warriors reporter Marcus Thompson. For the National Basketball Association playoffs, it has dedicated three reporters to chronicling Mr. Curry and the Warriors’ run.
The site is entering a crowded and cutthroat niche of the media market. Consumers already have plenty of options for getting sports news free of charge from sites such as Yahoo AABA 0.14% Sports, the Ringer and ESPN.com. Along with television networks, these outlets compete for a slice of the roughly $16 billion in advertising dollars spent on sports media a year, according to Kantar Media.
The Athletic, based in San Francisco, is among media companies turning to paywalls as a remedy for online-advertising woes. The company, which doesn’t disclose detailed financials, told The Wall Street Journal that some of its earliest markets now reach more than 25,000 subscribers and are profitable.
Ken Rosenthal, left, interviewed San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum after a 2012 World Series game in Detroit. Mr. Rosenthal is among the sports journalists who have joined the Athletic.
Ken Rosenthal, left, interviewed San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum after a 2012 World Series game in Detroit. Mr. Rosenthal is among the sports journalists who have joined the Athletic. PHOTO: BRAD MANGIN/MLB PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES
But skeptics say the Athletic’s focus on subscription revenue is risky. They question whether the company can bring in enough long-term subscriptions to fund its aggressive expansion, while competing with more established sports news sites that offer free content. Also, covering sports can be expensive, requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars and considerable travel.
“Their scale and talent is incredibly impressive. My only concern is the business model,” said B.J. Schecter, the editor and publisher of Baseball America and a former editor at Sports Illustrated. He said it is difficult to build a media business on subscription revenue alone.
The Athletic has shown flexibility around its paywall in attempts to hire big-name writers. When it tried to woo National Football League writer Peter King away from Sports Illustrated earlier this year, it offered Mr. King the option of putting his Monday morning column outside the paywall, a person familiar with the matter said. Mr. King eventually opted to take a job at Comcast Corp.’s NBC.
Still, startup sports sites generally haven’t had much success in the subscription business. Scout Media Inc., another subscription-backed sports-media website, sought bankruptcy-court protection in 2016 before being purchased by CBS Corp. in February 2017 for $9.5 million. Rivals Network burned through millions in venture capital from investors before being resuscitated by new owners who sold it to Yahoo in 2007 for a reported $100 million.
Media consultant and former media executive Vivian Schiller said the Athletic “makes sense” for sports consumers who want in-depth reporting. “And it might make sense to pay premium talent a premium salary,” she added.
The Athletic, which now has 150 employees, has recruited top talent in markets such as San Francisco and Boston with premium salaries. An editor at a competing company said the Athletic offered his employees between 15% and 36% markups on their six-figure salaries to join the company.
In a departure from most media outlets, the Athletic is asking staffers to use their social-media accounts to promote discounted subscription offers and then giving them a small cut of subscription revenue from their local markets, people familiar with the company’s policies say. Journalists also get a small stake in the firm.
A company representative said the Athletic is providing journalists with competitive pay packages that correlate with their level of experience, and added that many of the journalists it recruits come with followings that help build the site’s subscriber base.
Sports Site The Athletic Expands Aggressively, Betting on Subscriptions
Premium salaries lure writers; skeptics caution business model is risky
Stephen Curry, the star point guard for the Golden State Warriors, looked puzzled at a news conference last fall when a journalist introduced himself and identified his employer: the Athletic.
“The who?” Mr. Curry said, teasing the reporter. The journalist, San Francisco Bay Area editor in chief Tim Kawakami, repeated himself and offered Mr. Curry a free subscription.
Since then, the website has raised its profile substantially in the sports-media world, becoming a familiar name among players and fans. It is using $30 million in venture financing to expand quickly and lure prominent journalists with premium salaries and multiyear contracts.
The Athletic’s investors are wagering that people will pay for analytical sports writing that goes beyond box scores and headlines. The site charges $5 a month, or $60 for an annual subscription, and says it has more than 100,000 subscribers.
Its ranks include baseball writer Ken Rosenthal and veteran Warriors reporter Marcus Thompson. For the National Basketball Association playoffs, it has dedicated three reporters to chronicling Mr. Curry and the Warriors’ run.
The site is entering a crowded and cutthroat niche of the media market. Consumers already have plenty of options for getting sports news free of charge from sites such as Yahoo AABA 0.14% Sports, the Ringer and ESPN.com. Along with television networks, these outlets compete for a slice of the roughly $16 billion in advertising dollars spent on sports media a year, according to Kantar Media.
The Athletic, based in San Francisco, is among media companies turning to paywalls as a remedy for online-advertising woes. The company, which doesn’t disclose detailed financials, told The Wall Street Journal that some of its earliest markets now reach more than 25,000 subscribers and are profitable.
Ken Rosenthal, left, interviewed San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum after a 2012 World Series game in Detroit. Mr. Rosenthal is among the sports journalists who have joined the Athletic.
Ken Rosenthal, left, interviewed San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum after a 2012 World Series game in Detroit. Mr. Rosenthal is among the sports journalists who have joined the Athletic. PHOTO: BRAD MANGIN/MLB PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES
But skeptics say the Athletic’s focus on subscription revenue is risky. They question whether the company can bring in enough long-term subscriptions to fund its aggressive expansion, while competing with more established sports news sites that offer free content. Also, covering sports can be expensive, requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars and considerable travel.
“Their scale and talent is incredibly impressive. My only concern is the business model,” said B.J. Schecter, the editor and publisher of Baseball America and a former editor at Sports Illustrated. He said it is difficult to build a media business on subscription revenue alone.
The Athletic has shown flexibility around its paywall in attempts to hire big-name writers. When it tried to woo National Football League writer Peter King away from Sports Illustrated earlier this year, it offered Mr. King the option of putting his Monday morning column outside the paywall, a person familiar with the matter said. Mr. King eventually opted to take a job at Comcast Corp.’s NBC.
Still, startup sports sites generally haven’t had much success in the subscription business. Scout Media Inc., another subscription-backed sports-media website, sought bankruptcy-court protection in 2016 before being purchased by CBS Corp. in February 2017 for $9.5 million. Rivals Network burned through millions in venture capital from investors before being resuscitated by new owners who sold it to Yahoo in 2007 for a reported $100 million.
Media consultant and former media executive Vivian Schiller said the Athletic “makes sense” for sports consumers who want in-depth reporting. “And it might make sense to pay premium talent a premium salary,” she added.
The Athletic, which now has 150 employees, has recruited top talent in markets such as San Francisco and Boston with premium salaries. An editor at a competing company said the Athletic offered his employees between 15% and 36% markups on their six-figure salaries to join the company.
In a departure from most media outlets, the Athletic is asking staffers to use their social-media accounts to promote discounted subscription offers and then giving them a small cut of subscription revenue from their local markets, people familiar with the company’s policies say. Journalists also get a small stake in the firm.
A company representative said the Athletic is providing journalists with competitive pay packages that correlate with their level of experience, and added that many of the journalists it recruits come with followings that help build the site’s subscriber base.
