So the figures finally found their way out – when Manchester Confidential goes (mostly) behind a paywall tomorrow, there’s believed to be 1,300 people who will have paid a subscription for that content.
In Ian Wylie’s report from Saturday’s NUJ conference in London, it emerged the site has got 1,000 people signed up as “friends” i.e. paying £2.50 a month, and 300 digging deeper to be “heroes” and fork out £8.50 monthly.
Update: As can be seen in the comments below, the source of the figures has since informed this blog that these figures were calculated a week before.
So that’s a monthly revenue stream of £2,550 from heroes, £2,500 from friends making a total of £5,050 each month. £60,600 a year.
(Explanations of exactly what readers get for their cash lies here).
Speaking at the conference, the LiverpoolConfidential editor Angie Sammons said the Manchester site currently had 122,000 unique IP adresses in Manchester with the email going out to 70,000 subscribers – 268,000 readers a month.
And the final number of pay subscribers she revealed is a far cry from the anticipated 50-80,000 predicted by publisher Mark Garner back in November.
But regardless of the number, is it enough? Will advertisers continue to find it a compelling proposition? Perhaps the key to how this will all add up in the long run, is exactly how much content remains outside the paywall to provide a large enough reach for advertisers.
Time will tell – and that time isn’t far off.
Dim Sum Digital 
Interesting. There’s always http://www.love-manchester.com 🙂
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Rob there is if you want rehashed press releases from the galleries and no opinion. Smart site but do you pay writers to do informed articles? Do you have interviews with the Council Leader or the head of the ID card scheme? No it’s a nice site but passive, taking things not generating them. That’s the appeal of Confidential. It’s a real magazine.
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It’s only been launched a month Terry. One step at a time. Give it chance, nothing great happens over night.
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How did you get the MEN permission to use all their headlines on Love Manchester?
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Hi Sharon, in case Love Manchester don’t see your comment and respond themselves I might be able to help. The MEN headlines appear to be simply the use of the RSS feeds. Like most big publishers, the use of RSS feeds to distribute content is very welcome. The site I work for, The Guardian, has even taken this a step further to allow for personalised RSS more detail on that here; http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds hope that helps and thanks for the comment.
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Why have you taken my innocuous observation off? That’s another difference with Mancon, jeez, I didn’t say anything nasty about lovemanchester
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Hi Terry, patience, patience! I didn’t take any of your comments off. At the moment I’m on a train so, at the very minute you posted the comment, I had no wi-fi access. Comments go into a moderation queue so have to be approved, tis all. Thanks for your comments though 🙂
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Ahem. Had Ian Wylie or anybody else asked me for an ON THE RECORD comment about the subscription figures, as of last Saturday, I would, in keeping with the usual standards held by professional journalists, have gone and checked them for him.
Equally, if I had actually known the latest figures when I spoke at Saturday’s conference, I would have happily shared them with the audience.
But I’m just the journo – and as the editor of the FREE Liverpool Confidential, have no consuming day-to-day interest in Manchester’s affairs.
Thus, my ball-park figure was, it turns out, around eight days old. Still not sure what the latest is, although they all seem very pleased with themselves and the number of people that have signed up out of bling faith in the brand.
Now back to work in Liverpool, where I will of course, be asking anyone I interview today if they mind their comments being used for publication – on a blog or for a paid news orgainisation.
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Hi Angie, hopefully the latest figures will be released soon then. Although I quite obviously wasn’t at the NUJ conference, (having picked up the detail from Ian Wylie’s blog post) I would have thought any editor speaking to a journalist at a conference would expect to get quoted!
As soon your organisation feels ready to release them, I’ll be happy to update this blog post with the most up-to-date figures. Sarah
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of course, that should be blind faith in the brand!
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Hi Angie – there was absolutely no mention of our exchange being off the record. Having been sat in the front row of the NUJ conference taking notes throughout the day, I approached you immediately after your presentation and asked the obvious question which, due to time constraints in the short Q&A, I hadn’t been able to put during your session – how many people have paid up, to date? You, in turn, immediately volunteered the information without any mention of it being off the record or, as it turns out, not up to date.
I have been a professional journalist for over 30 years and have always tried to maintain the highest standards, so it pains me to learn that you feel hard done by.
I wish Manchester (and Liverpool) Confidential nothing but the very best and hope those figures continue to rise. And I will, of course, amend my blog to reflect the fact that the stats were around eight days old.
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There is always http://www.manchestergossip.com 🙂
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Well, that didn’t last long did it? Thing is no one who has signed up seems to be questioning their U-turn. Everything is free to view, all comps are open and offers available. I’ve just got an e-mail telling me there are places on the pub tours that always sell out – obviously they don’t. I am waiting – not holding my breathe – for a least one person from the Man Con team to offer some sort of explanation. Seems Gordo is immersed in a 24 box set and everyone else just tweets about the Manchester Egg……………..
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Boy, are they paranoid. Four comments that expressed some negativity about the site were on ther at midnight last night – now they have all been removed by the ‘editor’. No feedback allowed then?
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