We’re Fighting Just Like You Are
I usually try to keep my column on a higher plane than the typical "Letter from the Self-Interested Publisher" type thing, and don’t really talk about streamingmedia.com itself very much.
This week, I’m making an exception. Please bear with me.
You may have noticed that, over the holidays, we introduced a new registration page on the streamingmedia.com Web site, and are requiring readers to fill out quite a bit of demographic information before getting to one of our articles. For the most part, this has been a smooth transition — almost 90 percent of the people who have seen this page have chosen to register. I have received a handful of complaints (three, to be exact), and it occurs to me that an explanation for this move is in order.
Like all of you, we here at streamingmedia.com are applying our brains, our energy and our budgetary resources to what we do. Like most of you, we are obliged to justify our existence based on good old capitalist principles. If we bring in money, we survive and thrive. If we don’t … well, you’ve seen what has happened to other B2B media enterprises in the tech market. Many of last year’s largest online and offline publications serving this space either don’t exist anymore, or are hollow mockeries of their former selves, biding time until they either wind down completely or the miracle of an economic recovery saves them.
Top quality writers aren’t cheap. While there are a handful of Web sites and publications that pretend to cover the streaming media space using press releases and non-paid writers (many of whom are executives at the companies the publication is supposed to be covering), we at streamingmedia.com have always believed that in order to achieve the kind of coverage that our industry needs, we must seek out the top quality talent — freelance and in-house — and pay them enough money to insure that they do their very best, and that they remain committed to our publication, our industry and our standard of objectivity. The proof that this is the best route is our record of achievement and our archive of content.
To water down our coverage, or to discontinue publication, is not thinkable. We will survive, and we will maintain the quality, objectivity and depth that you have come to expect from us. These are non-negotiable facts. In order to do so, and to remain true to the fundamental laws of capitalism, we are obliged to make more money, frankly, than we’ve been making lately.
That’s why we’re asking you to register. The more demographic information we have about our readers, the more likely we are to sell advertising in this very tough market. It’s as simple as that.
Next week I’ll be back to my non-partisan self. I promise. This week, though, I’m asking you a favor: If you haven’t already, please register now.