Programme Subscription

[Wiltshire Jag]

Nice surprise last Saturday when a complimentary copy of the Bristol Rovers programme dropped through the letter ox with a letter from Robert Reid asking ifI'd like to renew my programme subscription. Good to see someone being proactive at Firhill. If any Nomads are interested it's £2.50 plus 72p postage per programme for UK postage. Cheques for however many you want to be sent to Robert at Firhill. £48.96 for the league season.

Edited July 31, 2010 by Wiltshire Jag

[Kapiti Jag]

Is there an 'electronic only' option? I couldn't see anything on the OS but I seem to recall rumblings about this on .net. TtB?

[stolenscone]

Is there an 'electronic only' option? I couldn't see anything on the OS but I seem to recall rumblings about this on .net. TtB?

 

Don't think so. Reason given was that it would be difficult to prevent one electronic copy being bought and then emailed around the houses. Seems reasonable to me.

[Kapiti Jag]

Don't think so. Reason given was that it would be difficult to prevent one electronic copy being bought and then emailed around the houses. Seems reasonable to me.

Hmmm. That would be the Thistle version of 'reasonable' then?

 

I wonder how other magazines manage to sell and distribute electronic copy without collapsing? It's certainly do-able, just not Thistle do-able, at the moment anyway.

 

I can't really understand that reasoning anyway; it's not like there's massive demand for the print version, and every 'pirated' copy doesn't equal a lost sale. If the electronic version is not released until after the match (e.g. on the Monday) then it will likely make zero difference to physical programme sales.

 

At a time where every penny counts I think this would be a good way to get some cash for very little effort - once the single electronic version is produced, which I imagine has to be done already for the printer (so no extra effort), then it's essentially free to produce and distribute further copies (unlike the paper version). That's 100% profit on every sale.

 

I'd imagine the real reason is that it's perceived as too much bother, although I don't recall there ever being an attempt to discover what the demand might be.

[stolenscone]

10 people go to the game together every week. Half of them buy a programme every week and they share them around each other at half time. (They're young guys at Uni and don't have a lot of spare cash.)

 

The club brings out an electronic copy of the programme, so they agree that one of them will buy a programme each week and they'll email it round their mates on a Saturday evening.

 

 

I'm no IT expert, but unless that can be cheaply and easily stopped, then I understand why electronic programmes aren't attractive to the Club. I do, however, understand that this is more of a pain to Nomads, who are less likely to be the ones to abuse it, but any solution would need to apply equally across the board.

[Junior]

Setup a secure area on the website allowing it to be viewed online for a week after the game before you can download it. Sorted

[Woodstock Jag]

Setup a secure area on the website allowing it to be viewed online for a week after the game before you can download it. Sorted

 

Just the man I need to speak to. PM with you shortly.

[Paulo]

Junior's right, but there would have to be a bit of fiddling to make sure that multiple people can't share login details too.

[Kapiti Jag]

There's not a lot of faith being shown in people here, seems that everyone is to be suspected of doing their utmost to deny the club a couple of bob. I really don't believe that this would make a significant dent in the paper programme sales. I believe it's likely that the opposite would be the case - some people will buy both (depending on cost) as it's a lot easier to store (collect) an electronic copy than a paper one. And the opportunities for selling back-issues to complete collections should be obvious.

 

It's very easy to suggest that it will be copied around in place of a paper sale, but there's no evidence to suggest that this would be the case at all. Other clubs seems to manage.

 

Here's a radical idea: how about they just try it, even for half a season, and then look at the figures in the context of historical paper sales figures (which the club should have) at the end of the trial period? Then at least a position could be taken based on real evidence rather than this guilty-until-proven-innocent attitude.

 

In any event electronic versions of programmes from previous seasons are an untapped revenue stream at the moment and there can be no 'piracy' argument there.

 

Where's Tam the Bam? He should be making noises in this thread!

[Tom Hosie]

Where's Tam the Bam? He should be making noises in this thread!

 

Tam the Bam has long ceased to exist!

 

What I think Stolenscone has presented in this thread is my view on the availability of an electronic copy of the programme as opposed to the Club’s view on the availability of the same. I doubt the latter actually exists.

 

Aside from the advertising content the programme is pretty much my baby from creating the raw data to give to the printers to make something aesthetically pleasing to, in recent years, the setting of the print run for each game and the distribution of the programme on a match day. It’s an arrangement that works well. It’s one less thing for the Club to have to worry about and after 18 (yikees) years involvement with the programme I should know what I’m doing.

 

It’s not always possible to get the print run spot on but I’m pleased that the programme continues to make each season a four figure profit on sales alone which I’m led to believe isn’t necessarily the case at other clubs. My thanks, therefore, to the Thistle fans who continue to but the programme in healthy numbers. You could have bought a few more Bristol Rovers programmes though!

 

There’s not much in your post KJ that doesn’t make sense and it is worthwhile at least looking into the possibility of an electronic copy of the programme being made available.

Personally I do have some concerns some of which have already been outlined in other posts on this thread. There would be some practical issues, though not insurmountable, that would need to be over come too. The programme doesn’t go, for example, to the printers as a pdf file.

 

Key for me would be the profitability of it all. Trial and error would help but if you were to underestimate the number of people who would download an electronic copy then the print run of the paper copy would be too high and the result is unsold programmes which you have paid to have printed.

 

The current approach to the programme sales might be seen as the safe, unimaginative option but with the profit margins tight already there is a risk involved in altering that approach. How could we test the waters so to speak? Would be interesting to see how other clubs get on with this approach. Are there clubs at our level who do this? Dundee?

 

I appreciate that this isn’t perhaps the answer you were looking for. It is though well worth taking a fresh look at it which I will. As with all good ideas though it needs someone to flesh it out into something practical and workable.

 

In the meantime thanks for your interest in the programme and can I stress that the above is very much my thinking on things and not necessarily that of the Club.

[Kapiti Jag]

It’s not always possible to get the print run spot on but I’m pleased that the programme continues to make each season a four figure profit on sales alone which I’m led to believe isn’t necessarily the case at other clubs.

This, of course, just shows what a fine product it is!

 

There would be some practical issues, though not insurmountable, that would need to be over come too. The programme doesn’t go, for example, to the printers as a pdf file.

Yes, I thought that might be the case and this is the first obstacle really - just how easy would it be to get the programme into a downloadable format?

 

Key for me would be the profitability of it all. Trial and error would help but if you were to underestimate the number of people who would download an electronic copy then the print run of the paper copy would be too high and the result is unsold programmes which you have paid to have printed.

I don't see why you would alter the print run at all? I see the electronic option as an add-on, not a replacement. I don't think there'd be that many who would switch from paper to screen - you can't read it at half-time for a start, and your main audience for this would be those not at the game who couldn't have bought a paper copy anyway. You could always run a poll on here, and on the OS, this might give some initial-interest figures.

 

There are other options such as offering a discount for those who have bought a paper copy, sort of like the new DVDs that come with digital versions for the iPhone, etc. Of course this would require a way of uniquely identifying each programme, such as a bar code, and there are other obvious difficulties. However the key point for me is that these opportunities, however fraught they may be to implement, will never exist if we stick to print alone. What's that saying about it having been better to have tried and failed...?

 

How could we test the waters so to speak?

Aye, there's the rub. If we can get an electronic version with minimal effort, then you could run a small trial with PayPal and email - the Nomads would make perfect, and no doubt willing, guinea pigs (squeak)! If there's rampant piracy and paper sales plummet then you'll have an answer!

 

I think that this is something that has to be offered eventually - it's as inevitable as all-seater stadia, Owen Coyle on Firhill Road, and a Scottish Cup triumph in 2021.

[Paulo]

Yes, I thought that might be the case and this is the first obstacle really - just how easy would it be to get the programme into a downloadable format?

 

Converting to PDF is a doddle, and there are several free programs out there to facilitate. (depending on corporate licensing restrictions of course)

 

 

Edit- should it be 'dawdle'?

Edited August 3, 2010 by Paulo

[stolenscone]

Tom - I wonder whether there is merit in making programmes available as a pdf some time after the paper sales have run their course?

 

Nomads in particular are, I think, more likely to be willing to send a paypal payment for a soft copy, even if it can only be distributed some weeks after the game took place.

 

There will always be folk who are looking for the stray hard copy to complete their set, but perhaps this approach wouldn't have much of an impact on that, and any paper copies of the programme which are still left a few weeks after the game in question are, I suspect already written off as being surplus to requirements.

 

Finlly, my earlier posts on the subject were not intended to represent anybody's views - either the Club's or your own! Just my understanding of some of the thinking which has shaped the current approach. For my part, I'm generally in agreement with the approach currently taken, but there is perhaps scope to wring a few more pennies out of this and reach a wider audience, provided (1) it's technically easy to achieve at low cost; and (2) it's not too time consuming.

[German Jag]

For me, the programme is part of the match day experience. Something to flick through before the game, and read in more detail at half-time or on the way home! Whether it's a home or away game I'll always try and get a programme.

 

A subscription service for an electronic copy of a programme for a game which I didn't attend wouldn't be of interest for me.

 

Nowadays so much information is available on a multitude of official and unofficial web-sites, that a soft copy of the programme would more less be the same said information but with the adverts added!

 

Really like the Thistle programme but a subscription service ain't for me!

[Chicofan]

holy fook is it £2.50 for a programme these days?? Last time i bought one they were only about 10 bob

[jagaritis]

curiosity cals..........what percentage of programme sales to match spectators is their,and does the thistle match programme have higher ratio to spectators than other scottish clubs.I am sure i read somewhere Thistle have one of the better ratios in Scotland....What is your average sale figure for a run of the mill league game.

[Tom Hosie]

Nuch to take in but too tired right now to do so - will read properly later. Zzzzzzz. Time for bed.