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NPR (http://www.npr.org/ http://www.npr.org/) seems to be doing ok - they have a good mix of online reporting, audio from radio reporting, special features for
by knz 10y ago
NPR (http://www.npr.org/ http://www.npr.org/) seems to be doing ok - they have a good mix of online reporting, audio from radio reporting, special features for events such as the election, and a number of successful podcasts associated with their various shows.
- chakalakasp 10y ago"Alexa, tell me the news" Cue well-polished NPR briefing
- Others 10y agoNPR is a non-profit that offers all of it's reporting for free. (Their income mostly comes from donors.) Their a bit of a special case since they're happy to lose money on their online offerings.
- bitJericho 10y agoThat's the thing. I don't think they're losing money on the online offerings. I think people pay by becoming donors and then use the online offerings.
- 1wheel 10y agoMost of their donors are older and primarily use the radio.
- bitJericho 10y agoMost, but not all.
- snowwrestler 10y agoNPR is actually in a scary position. Yes most of their money comes from donors, but they are not direct donations. Most of the donations go to the individual radio stations, who then pay NPR for their content. This means that NPR cannot go around their stations directly to their audience. They simply don't have the infrastructure and resources to raise an equivalent amount of donations directly. And as a matter of preference they don't want to hurt the local stations. They like the local stations. It puts major restrictions on their product strategy. Everything they do has to have a way to tie back to a local station, and drive donations to local stations. If they just send everyone to NPR.org, they will go out of business. In this respect, the NYTimes is in a better position for digital. They directly own all their reader and customer relationships, so they have more freedom to innovate.
- xherberta 10y agoIs anyone else annoyed by NPR's ads for itself? Do all NPR stations run these things, claiming, "We're the only news source you need," and "We'll tell you everything you need to know."?
- heartbreak 10y agoI'm unsure which NPR promotions you're referring to, but yes, every news organization promotes itself. Local news stations, cable news stations, traditional media, etc. all do it. Why would you expect them to not self-promote?
- xherberta 10y agoEven sugar cereals have to self-promote as "a part of this nutritious breakfast." Do you not feel patronized when one news outlet claims to be the ONLY one you need? Part of being a responsible citizen these days is seeking out a range of sources.
- Gaelan 10y agoIs this during pledge drives or just all the time?
- briandear 10y agoI do find it interesting that they advertise in a backhanded way: "This was brought to you because of a generous donation from XYX Corp."
- ssully 10y agoCan I ask what you find interesting about that? That has to be one of the oldest forms of radio/TV ads. "This program is brought to you by -insert brand name, followed by slogan of the brand-".
- xherberta 10y agoThese are short ads that run every day promoting drive time programming. I hope this is unique to my local station.
- ascagnel_ 10y agoAlso, since it's radio (vs print or video), they can capture the driving to work market, which is gigantic in the United States (the US Census [1] has it at 85.8 million). The others would largely require your undivided attention. [1] http://blogs.census.gov/2015/08/13/majority-of-americans-drive-to-work-but-less-so-for-urban-millennials/ http://blogs.census.gov/2015/08/13/majority-of-americans-dri...
- knz 10y agoGood point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-listened-to_radio_programs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-listened-to_radio... reflects how significant that it. 1. All Things Considered - 13M weekly listeners 3. Morning Edition - 13M 6. Marketplace - 9M
- javiramos 10y agoGreat point! I love NPR podcasts. In particular (and relevant to the HN community), I like From Scratch and How I Built This.