4 ms·
Great example. I delivered newspapers for a summer, and I realized that the cost of the newspaper was about the same as what I made for delivering it, as I got
by wuputah 16y ago
Great example. I delivered newspapers for a summer, and I realized that the cost of the newspaper was about the same as what I made for delivering it, as I got paid per subscriber. This doesn't factor in the fact that I was working for a third party company, whose goal was to made a profit on the operation.
So, it seemed the paper actually pays more just to get the paper delivered than the subscriber paid for it. Advertising pays for everything else.
(I'm curious how newsstands and other outlets work, but I'd have to guess that the papers/magazines are provided at very low cost as well, with most of the price on the sale going to the stand operator.)
- _delirium 16y agoI recall reading somewhere that this is one reason there's so many ways to get magazines for free via various promotions and third-party deals and frequent-flyer miles and such. Magazines charge mostly as a way of convincing advertisers that their readership numbers are legit, rather than for the actual revenue--- if you ship 100,000 copies to people who actually shelled out $30 each, that's more convincing evidence to advertisers that people are actually reading it, versus if you mailed out 100,000 free copies. But magazines are always trying to game the system by finding various ways to get magazines to people while having them still count as "paying subscriber".