What the Hell is Up at Scout, Sign of Things to Come for Paysites?

Submitted by State Street on

So...Scout writers have been sending out blasts on Twitter that they are giving away 9 months of subscription for the price of one.  9!

Obviously business can't be booming over there.  Does this mean the pay-for-content business model with regards to recruiting is on its way out?

 

Mad flurry at end of flash sale has prompted an extension! 9 Months for Price of 1 Deal EXTENDED until midnight - http://t.co/Drv7Z0F3aa

— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) January 31, 2015

Magnus

January 31st, 2015 at 8:35 PM ^

MGoBlog is superior in some ways, but not all.

There's more information disseminated over there than makes its way here. MGoBlog is fine for casual fans, and I'm not suggesting that more people should pay for it. But for those of us who spend a lot of (a.k.a. too much) time on football/recruiting, it's not a bad deal to pay for it. There are way more expensive hobbies that people could have instead of $10/month for this stuff.

DomIngerson

January 31st, 2015 at 8:49 PM ^

I hear ya. Between Twitter and MGoBlog I don't feel I miss much though.

Also, I think some of the reporters on rivals and scout leave much to be desired.

For example, I was listening to Michael Spath discuss Kelly Lytles book "From Kelly To Dad" on their daily podcast and he repeatedly stated Kelly was a female. Over and over and over. How do you not know Kelly Lytle is a man when you're promoting the book and upcoming interview?

Just a small example but the kind of stuff that makes the pay sites seem dense and misinformed often.




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Magnus

February 1st, 2015 at 7:03 AM ^

To be quite honest, I think the guys at The Wolverine are mostly idiots now. I liked Josh Helmholdt, I like John Borton, and Spath is okay sometimes. I wouldn't mind losing the others, though. I think the guys at 247 are pretty solid most of the time. TomVH at ESPN is/was good. I've never been a member of Scout, but obviously Sam is pretty good and lots of people don't like Tom Beaver.

ken725

February 1st, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^

I agree about The Wolverine.

After Helmholdt left, Rivals is always slow getting recruiting news. They had good info during the coaching search because of their sources, but recruiting news is lacking.

It seems like Lorenz at 247sports is quicker to get info.

Tater

January 31st, 2015 at 11:59 PM ^

I am tired of seeing people who follow recruiting called "creepy" and tired of being reminded that recruits are 16 and 17 years old.  After hearing it 1,000 times or so, most people have duly noted the whole "creepy" or "find another hobby" thing and declared it invalid.

Is someone who watches a video of an 8 year-old being asked to play on stage with Buddy Guy "creepy?"  Is everyone who watches any TV show with kids in it "creepy?"  

I think it's time to retire that tired old meme.

Wolverine Devotee

February 1st, 2015 at 12:04 AM ^

Don't mind Bando, it's his schtick to play holier-than-thou/high horse guy.

Goes with everything. From people who follow recruiting to people who wear jerseys or like to get autographs. 

If it's not something he's into, he knocks it. 

Magnus

February 1st, 2015 at 7:07 AM ^

I don't think it's as ridiculous as you make it sound. We're interested in what teenagers do in all of the sports world. Gymnastics, figure skating, swimming, tennis, baseball, when they're 17/18/19 years old and start their college careers, etc. I don't see much of a difference between following a kid's recruitment vs. watching/reading/following some 15-year-old gymnast's foray into the Olympics.

Shop Smart Sho…

January 31st, 2015 at 9:13 PM ^

Probably should use "and" instead of "/" between football and recruiting.  Not sure why anyone would ever pay someone to get news about football.  Especially not from Scout or Rivals, as I've seen better written stories by 10th graders.

Maybe there complete lack of editing and quality writing ability is why they are discounting their rates so much.

Shop Smart Sho…

February 1st, 2015 at 9:47 AM ^

You are quite correct about me using the "there" instead of "their".  Now, what is your excuse for not knowing where the shift key is to capitalize words or that you are supposed to use punctuation at the end of sentences?



The big difference between me having a typo and a writer at a pay site is that I'm not claiming to be a professional writer who is backed up by an editor.

DennisFithian

January 31st, 2015 at 8:26 PM ^

Let's hope. It's pretty obvious that Twitter is the outlet for everything in real time regarding Crootin

I Like Burgers

February 1st, 2015 at 8:44 AM ^

This is your answer here. Twitter has killed their model. Kids list top schools, offers, visits, pictures, commitments, etc, etc on social media. There's becoming less and less of a reason to pay for the information. Wouldn't be surprised if this is the last year for some pay sites unless they drastically change their business model.

M Fanfare

January 31st, 2015 at 8:27 PM ^

I wonder if the rise of Twitter has anything to do with it. Well-known recruits now have a national platform to release updates on and no one has to pay for it.

pearlw

January 31st, 2015 at 8:37 PM ^

I also wonder if twitter hurts free blogs like this. Let's be honest..most of the recruiting topics on the board here are just some twitter user posting it so that the non-twitter users can see it...new RB offer going out, Lavert Hill to PSU and all of the topics of past few days are just tied back to tweets. It used to be that there was info on boards like these because no one had a source for info. If you follow a wide assortment of michigan beat writers and recruiting analysts in twitter, then you really dont get any other info on these boards as most just are reporting on a recent tweet that you would have definitely seen by following that group.




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1464

January 31st, 2015 at 9:20 PM ^

I disagree.  Seeing "X committed to Z" is one thing.  Having a drawn out discussion about it is another.  In a way, twitter actually funnels people to sites like this so that they can get some context regarding why X committed to Z, and what it means for Y.

ghostofhoke

January 31st, 2015 at 9:07 PM ^

That's nonsense. Twitter is F'n stupid. A 140 character snipit of info is far from an informative column written by a reporter. Granted, paying for the info is stupid too but thinking of Twitter as a source of news is just stupid. It might alert people to events as they happen but there is no context and no analysis unless you're an individual who happens to follow that particular issue closely. Otherwise it's useless.




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ghostofhoke

February 1st, 2015 at 3:01 AM ^

So incessant swiping on your iPhone is the wave of the future? Having to be instantly connected to every action that happens even though it has almost zero affect on your life? Constant compulsion to find out what someone thinks the world wants to know from their brain in two sentence spurts? Yeah I'll stick with my stance. I have a bunch of friends in media including sport reporting and it's absolutely obnoxious to have a beer with them because they're constantly in their phones hoping they'll catch something important. Maybe one out of 5000 is actually interesting enough to relay to even the people around them at the time. Yeah, reading four paragraphs of digested and synthesized information is a terrible waste of time, especially in light of the new alternative. I'm not debating the fact that Twitter has drastically changed the world and its role will expand, I'm just saying that it's pretty sad and stupid.




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ccdevi

February 1st, 2015 at 1:20 PM ^

That Twitter and/or the digital age is a good thing. As someone addicted to my phone (for work and personal reasons). I acknowledge as a real problem. But to deny its power and pervasiveness (which you seem to have done in the first post and are coming off of in the 2nd post and just saying you don't like it) is silly.

But you're still really wrong about Twitter to the point that I question whether you've spent any real time with it. For one thing you keep focusing on the 140 character thing, ignoring that writers link to their articles constantly. Twitter is an alert system and a portal.