Sporting News/AOL Fanhouse

I live within a 40 mile radius of 9 Patch sites. I've still NEVER seen or heard of Patch outside of media industry discussions (like this message board, job listings, Romenesko, etc.). If I were a civilian, I'd have no idea Patch existed. They're doing an awful job of marketing.

So how's that working out for you? Are you on call 24/7? What if something happens on your day off? What if something happens at 3 a.m.? What if you want to take a vacation?

I realize that Patch editors rely on freelancers to produce content, but I can't imagine freelancers have access to publishing systems. Is a freelancer going to call you at 3 a.m. to file that SWAT call-out?

 

A week ago, the FanHouse employees probably felt the same way about their operation.

Look at this staff list. In many ways, it really was the modern National.

http://www.fanhouse.com/writers/

And that's just the writers.

 

Why so bitter? No one knows what is going to happen anywhere in this business - newspapers, web, TV whatever. I'm not on call 24/7 and have taken two vacations so far, no problems. Freelancers have access to the software. It's the SUBURBS for crying out loud. The chances of a 3 am SWAT team call are slim to none. Everyone in town is reading the site. I am paid well and happy, what about you?

 

Dial 911 for emergency.

Dial 411 for information.

Dial 311 for city services.

Dial 211 for clueless self-regard.

 

I'm in a major city, so there's no patch here.

So, while I had only heard of it because of this site, maybe that's ok.

But I looked at the sites for some of the nearby suburbs as well as the town that I grew up in and the town where my parents now live.

I'm sorry, but other than for the guilty pleasure of looking at local mug shots, why would anyone read these sites?

"The Town Offices will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Day," isn't news and it's nothing that I can't get from the town' own website.

Spotlighting the local Taco Bell or Wendy's on the home page isn't the kind of restaurant coverage I'm seeking either.

And, while there may be 750 sites, they're still in less than 20 states. That means that you can't sell advertising to national advertisers. Everything has to be local.

The local outlets of national chains rarely have their own advertising budget. Trying to raise enough revenue from mom & pop retailers is incredibly labor intensive and is unlikely to ever raise enough money to pay the overhead.

Without major buys from the local department stores & car dealers, there's no way these sites survive.

And, not to get to personal, but what's the range that a local writer like yourself would expect to make? And, does it come with any benefits?

 

Yankee Fan - There is national advertising on some of the higher traffic sites. I am a local editor, not a freelancer. 50K and excellent benefits. plus expense account. plus equipment (paid iphone, MacBook Pro, etc)
I am thinking you must not have kids in school. Here is who is reading Patch: people who care about the community and what is going on in the schools.

 

No need to be hard on Anon. The Patch folks are making decent wages. I assume Anon is a local editor; the job pays 40-50K -- with benefits. The advertising puzzle has to be figured but with 775 sites in 20 states they can sell national or regional ad campaigns. Right now for most of the sites the traffic isn't big enough to sell anything.

This year is crucial for Patch to ramp up traffic in a huge way. It's always a problem when the expenses far outstrip the revenue -- unless the revenue appears to be gaining. That's the whole thing for Patch -- can it scale ad sales to match the expenses.

 

I don't mean to pick on Anon. I just hate to see people give so much loyalty to a company and not get it back in return.

I've done it, and I've seen too many others do it.

Then, when the rug gets pulled out from under them, there's no where to go because they felt so secure in their job.

While I don't have kids, the problem I see is that a dedicated blogger on the subject could still eat Patch's lunch on local school coverage.

Is a Patch writer going to be as dedicated to covering school issues as an involved mom with a keyboard?

The sites are so narrow, so local, that they're going to run into bloggers who can focus on single issues and cover the hell out of them. And, they don't need advertising, and they have no overhead.

As to salary, until I joined this site, I had no idea how low paying journalists jobs were. I grew up reading folks like Mike Lupica and I guess I just assumed that it was a well paying profession.

So, 50K plus benefits might be a good salary in the field, and in some parts of the country it's beter than a living wage, but it's still not a ton of money.

And, if that's what a local editor makes, then what can the local contributors hope to make?

In a better economy good reporters/writers aren't going to stick around to write for Patch. While the newspaper industry is down now, and probably not coming back, the overall economy has kept a lot of folks from changing careers. That will end when the economy comes back.

In a good economy, Patch won't be able to employ professional journalists. If it survives, it will be with bloggers, and others who will do it for fun, in their spare time, as a hobby.

 

The only reason I've heard of Patch is because I have a former co-worker who is desperately trying to hang on to her journalism career by working there.

I don't ever root for failure in journalism, but I don't see anyway Patch is around two years from now.

 

I hope Patch makes it, for anon211 and all the others. He makes a good case, and I hope he's right.

But the thing is, AOL has assembled more staffs based on great ideas and building for the future and the long haul -- and then changed their minds, or been forced to by market conditions -- than any other media entity out there. The number of buildups and pullbacks in sports alone has been absolutely astounding. And I'm not even sure its particularly sinister; I think they believe in things when they try them, commit to them, say the right things because they're sincere -- and then find out differently.

I certainly hope Patch is different, because I have friends involved.

 

Insanity.

As of six months ago, FanHouse was so busy hiring new people that talented writers were like airplanes circling around a busy airport. A.J. Perez landed there immediately after USA TODAY foolishly cut him loose.

No offense to The Sporting News, but given the traffic numbers and relevance in the modern market, this reads like recasting the lead role in the Bourne films from Matt Damon to Roger Moore. If they really buy FanHouse and don't keep a substantial part of the FanHouse staff, readers will see through that ruse in a hurry.

I saw on Ariel Helwani's Twitter feed that the MMA operations should remain unaffected. Not surprising -- that's one of the things FanHouse does best, and Ariel's interviews in particular are vital content.

http://twitter.com/#!/arielhelwani/status/25759212214689793

But would the new Sporting News/FanHouse operation really let everyone else go? FanHouse just started building up in soccer, hardly a Sporting News stronghold. Why buy FanHouse if you're going to give that up.

The whole situation just proves that the business/advertising people still have no clue, 15 years after the Web went mainstream. Particularly when it comes to quality content, an area in which AOL blows away the snark-bloggers at Yahoo.

And that's frightening.