There's a reason why almost every website down to local newspapers want you to subscribe to read articles these days. It's cause times are hard. It's a hopeless business model since who in their right mind would subsribe to something just to read one article, but I know why it's like that. Giving away content for free doesn't pay bills.
It's easier with patreon since it's a site that established itself on a very specific business model, and it caters very well to an audience interested in video content.
And there is another reason for a decline in written quality. People want videos, so the youtubers ate a huge portion of the cake. Being a good journalist isn't necessarily grounds for being good at making videos, and keeping up with changing market demands can be brutal.
I mean, just look at your own magazine examples. Gossip rags and garbage like that are the things that sell best, and it's pretty much the print equivalent of click bait.
I wish things were different. I've worked in media long enough to enjoy the glory days and lament the crash.
I know all too well what it's like to invest time and effort into creating quality content only to see it get no attention next to article 984 about random game going gold. It doesn't feel worth it anymore, I'll tell you that.
The content you miss is gone for a reason. Most likely it just didn't generate enough revenue to make the work worth it.
Yes, of course it is. Not my point. My point is that they wouldn't make that choice if their audience didn't teach them, time and time again, that that's the shit that sells.
I don't dispute 'print is dead' - people do watch videos but that doesnt mean traditional or alternative mediums are defunct. Podcasts generally have a more serious and reportative tone for example when compared to their video counterparts/peers. The audience for each is different. If it was as simple as video works then channels like Ginx or startups like GTV would command an audience as well.
If you look a Readly itself, it isn't just celeb, soaps or scandal. A lot of the hobby mags have moved there, and even Edge is/was available iirc. Technically the model of ads in print exists, just not in paper.
I also agree that the predominant market for online news or games news is clickbait or controversy. But sites like 'i', The Guardian and The Independent still exist while the tabloids do as well. The audience is still there so I disagree with you on that. Take a look at something like the paleblood hunt pdf for Bloodborne. There's no reason why teardowns of this quality and nature can't drive legitimate publications (abridged obviously). Your content will drive your audience, which is why Jim Sterling is losing subscribers. If you are targeting the worst and cheapest audience then you can't complain when that's what you attract.
I get what you're saying about creators having a hard path to upsell quality content when compared against low brow mainstream media and controversy but isn't that the underpinning theme of 'art' or creatives in general. How do people in indie startups keep going when they see something like the abomination of the GTA Remaster selling millions?
I think we fundamentally disagree on the audience still existing to be lucrative. I think the audience exists but the current delivery mechanisms don't work. The audience for clickbait is bigger, less lucrative and involves lowering standards and pushing the ego's of the writers rather than serving the needs of the audience. For example, Edge continues to run with a circulation of 13,500 in the UK. In around 2010, circulation was double that at approximately 25,000. They have leveraged brokers like magazinedirect, pocketmags and Readly to increase their digital readership and retained their standards (you could argue their review scores are clickbait I guess lol). If enough big and prominent voices came together to develop a platform that put standards ahead of trends and went back to original/exclusive content it would take off. Most of what is consumed is low tier speculation or assertions based on fairy dust - patreon etc. are confirmation platforms in that their audiences subscribe to validate their own opinions via personalities rather than have actual articles driven by general interest.
I assert that there is still a strong demand for written articles (not bound to the usual 600-800 word limit), albeit probably less lucrative than chasing click revenue, but can still be a vehicle for traditional advertising (centre spreads, page ads etc) but the industry has largely abandoned this market, despite it now being more affluent and having grown up with it. We're left to eat what we're served. And it tastes like shit.
most of the ps5 versions of games are selling 2-1 and sometimes 3-1.
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