Here’s my latest Chicago Tribune column. To access the link, click on my Twitter feed.
This week, I wrote about the unfortunate demise of Pro Football Weekly. What started as modest enterprise in 1967 by Arthur Arkush, whose only employee was his mother, Rose, blossomed into a popular magazine and more through the work of his sons, Hub and Dan.
From the post:
At its height, Pro Football Weekly became an iconic brand during the soaring popularity of the NFL in the 1970s and ’80s. Before ESPN and the digital age, the magazine provided quality inside information and analysis for a faithful legion of football fans. It also evolved into long-running syndicated radio and TV shows.
Ultimately, though, Pro Football Weekly fell victim to a media climate that is claiming victims on a daily basis.
“It’s not just us,” Arkush said. “It’s The Sporting News, Newsweek. It’s happening all over.”
The downfall occurred despite the enterprise making dramatic changes in its platforms. In 2010, Gatehouse Media, which earlier acquired the Riverwoods-based operation from Arkush, invested $2 million in a new digital plan. Arkush said Pro Football Weekly actually exceeded expectations as it tripled traffic on its site; registering 1.3 million users for its mobile service; and generating 15-18 million page views for its videos.
However, Pro Football Weekly encountered the same obstacle as many other publications.
“Nobody wanted to pay for it,” Arkush said. “Nobody was willing to pay for those mobile phone apps. They’ll pay for games, but not content. (With video), we had the same numbers all the big guys are trading on. You would think advertisers would line up. We sold 10 percent of what we were projected to sell.”
I’ll more from my interview with Hub Arkush later this week.
Note to all prospective web-startups with sports content:
It’s going to be tough to charge for ANYTHING! There’s so much free info. available elsewhere. Also, consumers would much rather sit through a 15 or 30 second advertisement and get something for free than pay for something additional.
With home internet service now up to 60 bucks a month, and family mobile phone packages with texting fees and data plans around $200.00, people with bills and mortgages have got to draw the line somewhere, and paying for internet “insider info.” is on the outside of that line in 2013.