Pete's Solo Shows and the $10 tier

What does it matter what I do?

Also Dreams is a top 3 Disney travel agency.

The Dis is one of the earliest and largest Disney fan sites/communities on the internet. Yes there certainly is room for growth but it’s not like they are doing something wrong or hurting for business.

I think the integration of wdwinfo and disboards is fine as it is. They are integrated but not the same thing. The boards will be getting more updates soon enough.

You do bring up some valid points but I also think there have been changes already made and continuing to be made for the better.

My point is that I'm a sales and marketing professional that deals with messaging and branding for a living (do you?).

While your opinions are obviously valid, and as someone who also uses this site almost every day and consumes everything we are not the target audience for any of the changes I've mentioned. Those changes are about brand consolidation so you can grow your audience even more, for the people who rarely or have never come to any of the sites. I can go further indepth about site design, bounce rates, brand consolidation, message execution, training viewers/consumers of content to naturally consume more content but that's a long more boring conversation.

Short point: the way it is now, is good enough to maintain what they have (obviously) but it could be so much better.
 
My point is that I'm a sales and marketing professional that deals with messaging and branding for a living (do you?).

While your opinions are obviously valid, and as someone who also uses this site almost every day and consumes everything we are not the target audience for any of the changes I've mentioned. Those changes are about brand consolidation so you can grow your audience even more, for the people who rarely or have never come to any of the sites. I can go further indepth about site design, bounce rates, brand consolidation, message execution, training viewers/consumers of content to naturally consume more content but that's a long more boring conversation.

Short point: the way it is now, is good enough to maintain what they have (obviously) but it could be so much better.
I do get what you’re saying. I am not a branding professional.

There are certainly areas for improvement. I’m just not sure everything you mentioned is so simple. It’s a Disney fan/news site not CNN or something. I do like your idea of merging some of the YouTube stuff a bit. I think that is something they could do. In the end it’s all about how Pete and the rest of the team feel they should operate.
 


The hardest part of any of this is creating content. That's hard.
The second part is getting people to like your content and then come back for more. That's hard.
The third hardest part is sustaining the first and second part over time to create habits among your audience.
(not to mention the whole having a crazy successful travel agency to be the backbone)

My suggestions are easy and just take effort and organization and proper promotion. Nothing I suggested is actually hard compared to what they've done already.
 
The ads on this site are driving me crazy, they are embedding inside of a user’s posts rather then just in BETWEEN posts. I think people might not continue reading below the ad so I may try to thoughtfully share an idea but without seeing the rest of it, the idea might seem abrupt, confusing or unfinished. Some ads are partially text and so it does make it look like fellow users are actually authoring the ads at first glance. This is particularly disturbing to me with political ads that do not reflect my opinions since I assume ads vary by user and IP. I have become a worrywart about how the ads in my posts are reflecting on me. I wish they would get ads out of user’s posts so there is not that confusion.
 
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The ads on this site are driving me crazy, they are embedding inside of a user’s posts rather then just in BETWEEN posts. I think people might not continue reading below the ad so I may try to thoughtfully share an idea but without seeing the rest of it, the idea might seem abrupt, confusing or unfinished. Some ads are partially text and so it does make it look like fellow users are actually authoring the ads at first glance. This is particularly disturbing to me with political ads that do not reflect my opinions since I assume ads vary by user and IP. I have become a worrywart about how the ads in my posts are reflecting on me. I wish they would get ads out of user’s posts so there is not that confusion.
This might be off topic, but
Yeah, the ads are almost looking like signatures to me at times. There is also sometimes an ad that blocks the top (where I can click "new posts" etc.). I can't make the ad close or minimize and I can't navigate the site.
 


This might be off topic, but
Yeah, the ads are almost looking like signatures to me at times. There is also sometimes an ad that blocks the top (where I can click "new posts" etc.). I can't make the ad close or minimize and I can't navigate the site.
Yes, I agree and they are continuing to be so intrusive it's almost not worth the effort to fight through them to find the real DIS. Not sure where the problem starts, or rather who's responsible for them being there (and making money off them I'm sure) but wish/hope it's something that can be changed very soon. Doubt this site was originally intended to be mostly a big changing billboard with some Dis stuff underneath.
:goodvibes
 
Going back to the original topic of the thread, I think $10 is more than fine for the amount of information and content I get from the Dis Universe. Between, the boards, dvc info, vlogs, podcasts from all the sources, I am engaged for hours a week. If I can pay $10 once a month for a movie, I can pay $10 a month for multiple hours of entertainment here. I have planned trips for myself and friends, booked a cruise, bought DVC direct and resale, chosen restaurants, entertainment and more, all based on reviews from the teams and the vast knowledge of the peers here. And if I can get exclusive contents for paying for information that I'd pay $10 for anyway, even better. Keep up the good work Pete and Team, being a Patreon supporter, shows that I believe in the product and am happy to help it continue for years to come.
 
First, I want to thank everyone for the candid opinions, and I've read through them all.

Someone asked about our 'motivations', so let me be very clear. This is a business. The servers that are serving up the post you're reading right now cost $13k a month and while I wish that was my biggest expense, it's far from it. But, Patreon is not about supporting the boards, or the DIS. To produce the content we produce on YouTube/iTunes, I pay three full-time salaries with full benefits. That includes the vast majority of health insurance costs (employees contribute less than $100 a month towards a health insurance plan that we pay more than $1000 a month for per employee), not to mention all the other associated expenses that come with having employees. People seem to love our reviews, and they seem to love our willingness to be honest. I've stated frequently that we will not review anything that we're not paying a publicly available rate for. Every dining review has to be paid for. Every hotel review has to be paid for. Then there is the equipment - they need computers, cameras and other equipment to do the job. I do my best to put a premium on quality to the best capacity that I can and that costs money. In short, the podcast/video production is a cost center and its a cost center that has grown exponentially over the last 6 years - and well beyond what I projected when we moved into that realm.

I won't even go into the salaries and expenses that are part of running the rest of the site/Dreams Unlimited. Your heads would explode. I'm just talking about the shows and the video content here.

I hear comparisons being made to other podcasts and what they do on Patreon. I don't know what their business reality is, I don't know what their costs are, but I do know what mine are. For years, I turned away advertising in all forms (save for Dreams) on any of the shows. In looking at the costs to produce the shows last year, a decision was made that we needed to be more aggressive in generating revenue. Even in doing so, I try to curate the sponsors to make sure they offer something I think will be of real value to the audience. I can tell you honestly, I routinely turn away lucrative offers either because I don't feel passionate about the product, or I feel it's not a good fit for my audience.

Patreon was set up as a way to help offset the increasing costs of running the show. Last year, the show and video content we created cost more than $150k to produce. Patreon doesn't cover that, and while I don't need the entire amount covered, I do have to offset those costs because this is a business. In all sincerity, I don't begrudge anyone at all who feels that $10 a month is too much, and I'm as grateful for those people (who watch the show, enjoy our content) as I am to those who are willing to pay for Patreon. I will continue to do my best to produce informative, honest, entertaining content that has always been, and will always be - free to watch for anyone willing to give us their time.

Pete

I was on the fence about being a Patreon supporter of the show, but no more. You've sold me. :) Thanks for all the hard work. I thought it was expensive, but I had no idea that the costs involved were on that level. :thanks:
 
$10 is too much. PBS Passport, for comparison is $5. It has tons more content. Is TheDis a business or a non-profit? If a business, it's not unfair to compare against Netflix, HBO, etc. They are in the $10-15/month range.
 
$10 is too much. PBS Passport, for comparison is $5. It has tons more content. Is TheDis a business or a non-profit? If a business, it's not unfair to compare against Netflix, HBO, etc. They are in the $10-15/month range.

If you are making the comparison. Then $10 is not enough. I watch more of The Dis then Netflix, HBO (I don't have Hulu). I have cable with a sports package for DH.
 
The hardest part of any of this is creating content. That's hard.
The second part is getting people to like your content and then come back for more. That's hard.
The third hardest part is sustaining the first and second part over time to create habits among your audience.
(not to mention the whole having a crazy successful travel agency to be the backbone)

My suggestions are easy and just take effort and organization and proper promotion. Nothing I suggested is actually hard compared to what they've done already.
The fourth hard thing and this is where many internet sites are failing, is monetizing content. Everyone has become accustomed to web content being free and sites that are much more dependent on being reimbursed for content than us, your New York Times, your CNN are having a heck of a time balancing viewing numbers with producing revenue. Pay per view or click ads are just becoming less and less lucrative. People won't accept paywalls. With Patreon people can agree to pay 10/month to get specific additional content. Some people will think it's too much, others would pay more. All we can do is navigate the internet reality and try stuff. I think Pete has done a heck of a job of making this work
(full disclosure, yes I am an employee but only on the technical side, I have nothing to do with content, financial decisions etc except for drinking beer with Corey)
 
The fourth hard thing and this is where many internet sites are failing, is monetizing content. Everyone has become accustomed to web content being free and sites that are much more dependent on being reimbursed for content than us, your New York Times, your CNN are having a heck of a time balancing viewing numbers with producing revenue. Pay per view or click ads are just becoming less and less lucrative. People won't accept paywalls.
This is very true, Alex. I often wonder how a lot of sites make money when all of their content is free and they don't sell any goods or services. You don't even have to sign up so they don't even get personal data that they can market. Ads can't be that lucrative. I've never clicked on an ad in my life and never would.

The DIS is a bit different since they at least have an actual business - Dreams Unlimited Travel - that is behind the website. Obviously, the hope is that the website and podcasts drive customers to the travel agency. We've used Dreams ourselves but never would have if not for the podcast. They aren't fundamentally in the website or podcast business; they're in the travel business and also run a website and podcast. But a lot of other providers only have a podcast or only have a website. I can't imagine how they make enough to support it all.
 
As a tangent, we've given Dreams a couple of opportunities, with credit due to the podcasts, for our cruise only vacations. The response time was not in alignment with my expectations based on the criteria of the cruises we selected. To be clear, this is only my limited histogram of a limited data set and on a weekend. So we forged ahead, on my own, with Celebrity and NCL for our most recent travel itineraries.

Back more on topic, I have jostled with my "donation" to a Disney fan-based website for a couple of years. To me, it was about latest and consistent content (without fear of being removed from Disney media lists), response time, and accuracy % to rumor posted vs. waiting for a Disney PR. If I just wanted a "cut and paster" then there are gobs of sources out there of which I don't personally value. Give me a wide breadth of a news corporation, focused on pioneering non-media sanctioned Disney news, then that's where I'm at.
 
The fourth hard thing and this is where many internet sites are failing, is monetizing content. Everyone has become accustomed to web content being free and sites that are much more dependent on being reimbursed for content than us, your New York Times, your CNN are having a heck of a time balancing viewing numbers with producing revenue. Pay per view or click ads are just becoming less and less lucrative. People won't accept paywalls. With Patreon people can agree to pay 10/month to get specific additional content. Some people will think it's too much, others would pay more. All we can do is navigate the internet reality and try stuff. I think Pete has done a heck of a job of making this work
(full disclosure, yes I am an employee but only on the technical side, I have nothing to do with content, financial decisions etc except for drinking beer with Corey)

Respectfully, do you foresee ad playing as a more major thrust into content or less? If one streaming service leans towards one direction, it could teeter-totter the other to "test the markets" on the other end.
 
Respectfully, do you foresee ad playing as a more major thrust into content or less? If one streaming service leans towards one direction, it could teeter-totter the other to "test the markets" on the other end.
My crystal ball is a bit foggy on this one. I think net neutrality is going to play a part in all of this as well. No question many websites are overvalued based on their view numbers. What good is a view if there is no business purpose? Not sure what the net will look like in 5 year.
 
I would be way more likely to support directly if they did a twitch show and you could subscribe there and also do additional donations. Possibly something like top donation in the first 10mins is the closing topic of the show as well.

I see some twitch channels then give access subscribers additional content.

I like the content but couldn't see dropping $10. Others are welcome to though and I think the orignal post was well thought out on the pricing even though others are fine with it.
 

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