The Paine of Measurement
Three years ago we published the very first issue of The Measurement Advisor. At the time, charging for content was still a pretty novel idea. The Financial Times and The New York Times had launched their paywalls just two years before, and there was no evidence that it would work.
Today, the former is making more money from selling its content than it is from advertising—a first for a major newspaper. And here at The Measurement Advisor we now have several hundred paid subscribers and thousands more that take advantage of the free content we provide.
We and all other professional journalists are incredibly grateful to all of you for helping prove that quality content is worth paying for.
What you’ve told us, through both your loyalty and your comments, is that you like our how-to stories. We listened—and we’ve published 114 of them so far! From our analytics we know that you also like the more general stuff: our predictions on the future of communications and measurement, stories about which press release distributor is more effective, and even our view on the most recent election.
Keeping our lens narrowly focused on measurement isn’t just a passion of mine, it’s a niche that needs filling. As data, analytics, and metrics continue to play an ever-larger role in all of our activities, we want to be there with the answers. Looking at the world of communications from the admittedly narrow lens of measurement means so much more today than it did when we started. The impact of data and metrics on media, on consumer behavior, on thought leadership, and indeed on every aspect of marketing and communications is overwhelmingly apparent.
You, O Best Beloved readers (to borrow from Rudyard Kipling), have responded with great feedback and great loyalty. To say “Thank You!” in the spirit of the holidays, all articles in this edition of The Measurement Advisor are free. We hope you enjoy them, and your holidays,
