Comments on: Think niche – or why you don’t want to be Sears

By: Defense loses this ballgame | Tom Davidson

Defense loses this ballgame | Tom Davidson — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:06:36 +0000

[...] Daunting? Sure. Simply regurgitating your print product in digital formats won’t grow your audience ten times. No single product will, either. [...]

By: Michael Andersen

Michael Andersen — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:35:12 +0000

I very much agree, Tom.

One point you leave out: classifieds. Until quite recently (I’d estimate 2005 for the major metros, 2007 for smaller cities, still ongoing for the smallest dailies and the weeklies), the network wealth of the classifieds was still a very powerful centripital force, pulling all the various niches of content together into a single product.

Here’s my way of thinking about the advantages of niche content in economic terms: niche content is more valuable to its small number of readers than general content is. And because it takes time to consume content, every minute spent with general content is a minute that you could have been spending with niche content.

In other words, the value of general-interest content isn’t falling. But its consumers face rising opportunity costs.

By: Make The Local Business Community Your Business « GrowthSpur Blog

Make The Local Business Community Your Business « GrowthSpur Blog — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:11:37 +0000

[...] If you want to know a bit of geeky economics because why this works, check out our Tom Davidson’s blog post here. [...]

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By: tgd

tgd — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:29:21 +0000

I love that you’re paying more in ad commissions than content! Somewhere along the line, for many at least, the traditional “wall” between editorial and advertising turned into disdain. The symbiosis got lost, and we’re paying for it today.

And given that The Star is run by some of my favorite people, I’m confident it’ll make that favorites list.

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By: Mary Kate

Mary Kate — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:25:07 +0000

It’s a niche web site with a print edition. We paid out more in ad commission last month than we did for editorial content. 14 months old and growing.
And don’t forget our partner site/publication: http://www.pbartspaper.com.
Someday we’ll be one of your favorites!