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The math of media bosses who told Deadspin to ‘stick to sports’ doesn’t add up

latimes.com

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Re: The math of media bosses who told Deadspin to ‘stick to sports’ doesn’t add up

#2
So unfair! If only a sports publication left it's writers alone to wander off onto non-sports related politics[1], ignoring the publisher's plan & repeatedly digressing from the job they were hired to do, the world would be a better place.

[1]: https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/dont-doubt-what-you-saw-wi...

Re: The math of media bosses who told Deadspin to ‘stick to sports’ doesn’t add up

#3

So unfair! If only a sports publication left it's writers alone to wander off onto non-sports related politics[1], ignoring the publisher's plan & repeatedly digressing from the job they were hired to do, the world would be a better place. [1]: https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/dont-doubt-what-you-saw-wi...

Bootlicker

Re: The math of media bosses who told Deadspin to ‘stick to sports’ doesn’t add up

#4

So unfair! If only a sports publication left it's writers alone to wander off onto non-sports related politics[1], ignoring the publisher's plan & repeatedly digressing from the job they were hired to do, the world would be a better place. [1]: https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/dont-doubt-what-you-saw-wi...

Read their top ten most visited stories list [1] and tell me how many of those are 'sticking to sports.' You don't just get to assume reality...data is a thing and can be used to evaluate statements of what is true.

[1] https://deadspin.com/the-top-10-most-visited-deadspin-storie...

(A year I arbitrarily picked because it was on top of google)

Re: The math of media bosses who told Deadspin to ‘stick to sports’ doesn’t add up

#6
G/O Media has several brands that already do woke journalism. How many do they need for this? How many concentrate on sports exclusively? To use a sports metaphore, it's about zone coverage.

As I said on prior posts... Deadspin should stick to sports for the same reason Pizza Hut doesn't sell Tacos. Coverage across brand identities. Even if Tacos may make more money than Pizza in aggregate, they aren't there to sell Tacos.

In the end, it doesn't matter if Deadspin may individually make a little more money. How much less are they making by effectively turning away potential fans of sports by bringing in stories on identity politics? The population is roughly 1/3 left, 1/3 centrist and 1/3 right. As it stands they are alienating 1/3 to 2/3 of their potential audience.

Re: The math of media bosses who told Deadspin to ‘stick to sports’ doesn’t add up

#7

So unfair! If only a sports publication left it's writers alone to wander off onto non-sports related politics[1], ignoring the publisher's plan & repeatedly digressing from the job they were hired to do, the world would be a better place. [1]: https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/dont-doubt-what-you-saw-wi...

Oh goodness, they posted about non-sports related politics on their subsite dedicated to non-sports related "Culture, Food, Politics, Whatever"?!?

How dare they!?

Re: The math of media bosses who told Deadspin to ‘stick to sports’ doesn’t add up

#8
post #7

So unfair! If only a sports publication left it's writers alone to wander off onto non-sports related politics[1], ignoring the publisher's plan & repeatedly digressing from the job they were hired to do, the world would be a better place. [1]: https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/dont-doubt-what-you-saw-wi...

Oh goodness, they posted about non-sports related politics on their subsite dedicated to non-sports related "Culture, Food, Politics, Whatever"?!? How dare they!?

Yes! We really need ESPN writers' regurgitated opinions on "Culture, Food, Politics, Whatever", though the parent company owns different publications for all that. Instead of spending that energy on writing more sports stuff

Re: The math of media bosses who told Deadspin to ‘stick to sports’ doesn’t add up

#9
OK. Leaving aside that the whole article kind of smells of self-justification over the approach of the LA Times itself to reporting actual news vs. opinion, there's a mathematical issue here. If Deadspin were relatively unpopular with sports fans, their non-sports content would naturally be relatively popular due to it's general audience appeal. And even if this weren't true, most fans care about their particular sport, meaning that the non-sports articles will by the same logic have better viewership even if they are less popular with every given segment of the Deadspin audience. Thus, the content can be "well received" without actually building the site's target audience(s), the targeted audience(s) for which their advertisers pay an (assumed) premium.

Re: The math of media bosses who told Deadspin to ‘stick to sports’ doesn’t add up

#10
post #4

So unfair! If only a sports publication left it's writers alone to wander off onto non-sports related politics[1], ignoring the publisher's plan & repeatedly digressing from the job they were hired to do, the world would be a better place. [1]: https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/dont-doubt-what-you-saw-wi...

Read their top ten most visited stories list [1] and tell me how many of those are 'sticking to sports.' You don't just get to assume reality...data is a thing and can be used to evaluate statements of what is true. [1] https://deadspin.com/the-top-10-most-visited-deadspin-storie... (A year I arbitrarily picked because it was on top of google)

Every single one of the stories on that top ten most visited list is "sticking to sports", by the looks of it. My understanding is that the new owners are perfectly fine with stories that are even tangentially related to sports, they just objected to totally unrelated political activism like the story linked in the comment you're replying to.
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