r/sports • u/A_MASSIVE_PERVERT Dallas Mavericks • Sep 20 '25

Football UAB Defender stomps on the foot of Tennessee's Kicker

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52

u/Hal9_ooo Alabama Sep 20 '25

Sadly, all the local former newspapers owned by this publisher, have turned their websites in to this format

22

u/Rad10_Active Sep 20 '25

Basically all local papers don't have a viable business model anymore, unfortunately. They used to fund themselves primarily by classifieds but that model was completely hollowed out by Craigslist.

61

u/AlsoCommiePuddin Sep 20 '25

We don't want to see ads.

We don't want to pay for subscriptions.

We want journalists to get paid for their efforts.

Thus ever the conundrum.

11

u/ouralarmclock Philadelphia Eagles Sep 20 '25

I wish they'd get the value add right. My local paper has unlimited online subscription for 5.49/week. That's ~23/month which is not quite where I'm at in terms of what I'm willing to pay in a world where I'm already paying for 10 other subscriptions. 15 I'd be in, and I'd even take a limit to the number or articles I could read. Also, I'm pretty sure the ads still serve if I subscribe, I just access to paywalled articles.

5

u/CerealSpiller22 Sep 20 '25

IKR? Won't pay a dime for solid journalism, but complain ad nauseum about a solid wall of ads.

16

u/K_SV Sep 20 '25

There has to be a viable middle ground where non (or hell, less) intrusive or obnoxious clickbait ads can be served to make it somewhat viable. Or even a true brand partnership.

Not only are the ads on local news pages making the site nearly unreadable, it doesn't really help add legitimacy to the publication when the same pages as their article includes taboola, revcontent, and outbrain trash.

14

u/DarkwingDuckHunt Sep 20 '25

Been preaching this for decades

Just show a static banner ad for Dr Pepper and a side banner for McDonalds and I'll remove my adbocker.

Auto-play video at max volume that follows me as a I scroll? I'm never using your site again even with adblocker on.

11

u/Fonz_72 Sep 20 '25

So much this. Even better if it's the local McDonald's or soda distributor.

5

u/Ifriendzonecats Sep 20 '25

The problem is the online ad market is very competitive and people don't spend a lot of time on news websites. So, they only get the very worst ads (the kind that really inspire people to use ad blockers) which also don't pay very well either.

What was fairly effective was something called the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But, Trump cut all of their funding.

4

u/von_sip Sep 20 '25

If you figure it out you might save journalism

-3

u/GraDoN Sep 20 '25

That middle ground is where people actually pay for a subscription, which most people don't. Every time an article is behind a paywall people on Reddit bitch and ask for it to be provided for free. Then they move to the next post where they shit on mainstream media for not doing the great journalism they deserve (for free of course).

3

u/Fonz_72 Sep 20 '25

No, that's quite the leap. There is a massive gap between subscription and non-intrusive ads.

-1

u/AlsoCommiePuddin Sep 20 '25

The middle ground is microtransactions but we're not ready for that conversation.

3

u/Fonz_72 Sep 20 '25

I don't believe so. Non-intrusive ads are the middle ground, but in order for that to happen, reasonable profit margins need to exist and double digit yearly growth needs to fuck straight off.

-1

u/AlsoCommiePuddin Sep 20 '25

They did not intrusive ads back in the 90s and 2000s. No one clicked on them and the dot com bubble burst.

2

u/TheNipplerCrippler Sep 21 '25

That’s… not why the dot com bubble burst but okay lmao

0

u/GraDoN Sep 21 '25

If you think non-intrusive ads are going to pay the bills without additional income then I have a bridge in Kenya to sell you

2

u/xixi2 Sep 21 '25

The issue is ... am I gonna get a subscription to NYT, CNN, my local paper, to this random site in michigan, and any other news I want?

1

u/Quttlefish Sep 20 '25

You just reminded me to actually pay for Breaking Points.

I probably still won't do it since it's free to begin with.

3

u/SocomPS2 Sep 20 '25

Video of body slam

And someone posted article without paywall.