tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8841356013250880291.post7715635493046475461..comments2024-03-15T17:03:45.018-07:00Comments on Las Vegas Blog: Steve Friess' VEGAS HAPPENS HERE: More on the CityLife-Sun DramaTHE STRIP PODCASThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593322167326380577noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8841356013250880291.post-64297210696261805032010-01-30T18:32:54.875-08:002010-01-30T18:32:54.875-08:00Curley was tasked with doing the impossible: Makin...Curley was tasked with doing the impossible: Making a web news site profitable. I'll cut him some slack there. The question is... once he started to see the writing on the wall, was a misstating the numbers just to save face? To keep his cronies in jobs?<br /><br />No question they went way to heavy into streaming video and if I recall, many of those jobs were cut months and months ago.<br /><br />---------------------------<br /><br />702.tv was a bad move and I don't say that as Monday morning quarterback. Somehow they have overestimated the celeb/Vegas appeal. Yes... people around the world are curious when an interesting celeb situation happens here. BUT... you can't make a nightly newscast out of Vegas fluff (whether advertorial or not).<br /><br />The public has a limit to how much info they want tossed at them. I found that out when I expanded my newsletter to twice-weekly for a while 5 years ago. Too much.<br /><br />Here's the direction that 702.tv should have been taken, and why I'm in shock that they didn't: Las Vegas One should have been turned into 702.tv as a 24/7 tourism information channel. Like those that run in other destinations. The same pieces (many of which are evergreen) run over and over with a little bit of new content added each week.<br /><br />You can do these things with a bare-bones staff. Literally one full-time videographer/editor, one full-time air talent who does research and writing, and a handful of cheap but good, eager freelance air talents brought in for various pieces. I won't go further into the mechanics or why Channel 19 would be successful at the above because I'm not here to give GMG (or anyone else) a free business plan. But the model works successfully (done properly) all over the nation.<br /><br />---------------------------<br /><br />I have no disagreement that the Greenspuns are to be lauded for doing all they have done out-of-pocket. Shame for them (although I'm not crying any tears) that their goals with the Sun website and 702.tv could have been accomplished at a fraction of the cost. And... when you keep costs low, you make money. Somehow they (as a company) seem to think that every venture they get into requires millions to get rolling. They think wrong. And that led to the downfall.AccessVegas.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10690960084492647250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8841356013250880291.post-76764416824820696372010-01-30T18:29:32.455-08:002010-01-30T18:29:32.455-08:00For length, I have to split this into two posts. I...For length, I have to split this into two posts. I trust my treatise will be worth the read:<br /><br /><br />Not dismissing the newsroom side of this, but I saw this article much differently. GMG went about the new ventures entirely the wrong way, spent far more than they had to, and had people who didn't deliver as promised (Rob Curley, Michael Carr, etc).<br /><br />Before I'm seen simply as spouting off, my credentials are: 1. Running a profitable (and at times very profitable) internet tourism venture since 1997 and 2. Long time acquaintances with staff and air talent of a tourism TV network that covers and is broadcast (over-the-air) in six popular destinations including Atlanta and New Orleans.<br /><br />---------------------------<br /><br />Per RJ vs Sun web traffic, that is hard to find out. However... of interest is that The Sun evidently was participating with third party web traffic service Quantcast and apparently opted out:<br /><br />http://www.quantcast.com/lasvegassun.com<br /><br />That is very fishy. Quantcast doesn't lie, and they only reason you'd opt out (in my view) is if you have something to hide. (Ours is at http://www.quantcast.com/p-62wJ-qxCB0TcU and under-reports because we don't track our co-branded sites for tickets and more).<br /><br />Alexa.com will let you compare sites (although their sampling method isn't that great) and the RJ and Sun sites seem to run pretty much neck-and-neck:<br />http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/lasvegassun.com?p=tgraph&r=home_home<br />and use the Compare box under the graph by entering lvjr.com<br /><br />---------------------------<br /><br />Curley seemed to go nuts with the budget. Fixed the place up like romper room, hired former cronies. You don't need video games to get people excited about working on Las Vegas projects. Are you kidding me? People beg to be involved in this stuff both because it looks good on their resume and the VIP status GMG employees enjoy on various levels. <br /><br />Plus... I bet Steve will admit that doing journalism and new media here is a lot more fun than doing it somewhere else. I know that wouldn't move from Las Vegas for double what I make now. You may have to pamper new media employees in D.C. But not here.AccessVegas.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10690960084492647250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8841356013250880291.post-87579007223968796512010-01-30T01:44:30.486-08:002010-01-30T01:44:30.486-08:00hey steve, i was just thinking that comparing lasv...hey steve, i was just thinking that comparing lasvegassun.com to lvrj.com in terms of web hits or advertising or whatnot doesn't seem to be the point because the real issue in this story was the amount of money spent on other things from the interactive team, such as 702.tv. i think it's clear from the story that despite all the economic forces (and amy does point out that those exist) if the company had just stuck with making its existing brand websites really great it would have been in better shape than it is now. you can say hindsight is 20/20 but that's a pretty undeniable/uncontroversial statement, and then the question becomes how did we get here, and that's the tale she tells. that's what I got from this story, anyway.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8841356013250880291.post-64615707854457488972010-01-29T23:41:28.417-08:002010-01-29T23:41:28.417-08:00wow. this completely undermines the entire premise...wow. this completely undermines the entire premise of the piece. congrats. she picked and chose what parts of the greenspun story to tell with a clear agenda of making gmg look bad for investing in new media while the r-j has...hired Bowtie. Without examining the broader problems facing the company and its unsustainable premise, CityLife has really told us nothing. Well done.David Eliasnoreply@blogger.com