The founder and CEO of the daily publication of beer and business news read more read on the Internet said coVID’s annihilation of public events and advertising dollars forced him to move from loose shipping to a paid subscription model. Brewbound, read through 3.5 million exclusive visitors a year and released since its inception in 2014, has traditionally relied on the production of beer conferences and educational meetings so its leader says it represents “a significant part” of its annual income. But since widespread social estrangement orders closed virtually every media for face-to-face meetings, Brewbound and its affiliates canceled six live events.
“This is the pivot we must make. In fact, this is not something that should be taken lightly. It’s a necessity,” says John Craven, who also operates Brewbound’s parent company, BevNet, and sister company Nosh. Both followed a subscription style in May.
Brewbound’s subscription service starts in mid-August and will charge $375 according to the year, with multi-tiered features for users. Early subscribers can benefit from another two months of content, discounted advertising, and special rates for BevNet and Nosh subscriptions.
“With Nosh, we use the subscription style to expand offers with new content types for subscribers,” Craven explains. “That way, you don’t just pay for what you got for free.”
Instead of live events, the site introduced a series of loose weekly videos with industry opinion leaders and eliminated fees from the upcoming Brew Talks forum, which will run in virtually rather than the previous IRL format. After subscription, Brewbound will continue to provide loose content. Job offerings from the beer industry, podcasts, press releases, titles, and some “key” pieces will remain outside the paywall.
“We’re looking to figure out what the balance is,” Craven says. “We seek to exclude people.”
This resolution leaves fewer and fewer opportunities for quality brewing journalism. Brewbound’s main B2B competitors, Beer Business Daily and Beer Marketer’s Insights, have long operated under a subscription model. And while there are still some reputable loose news sites, blogs, newsletters and podcasts, most exclusive American beer magazines have succumbed to declining advertising revenue and have been retired or only published. In addition, customer magazines have shown less interest in publishing beer stories since spirits began to decline the share of the beer market in the recent past.
I am the beer and spirits collaborator of Forbes, an independent professional who basically covers lifestyle trends with a focus on craft beer, alcohol and culinary tourism and that have an effect on economic development. My writings have been published in Food Wine, Wine Enthusiast, USA Today and many other media, which has earned me the first place in ad writing and observation of the North American Guild of Beer Writers; a first award for the writing of announcements from the Society of Professional Journalists of New Jersey and the name of Food Writer of the Year at a festival organized through the Philadelphia School of Wine. I co-founded Ferment Your Event to conduct craft beer chords and seminars (the specialty is chocolate with beer), and I’m a co-host of a weekly radio exhibit called “What’s on Tap”, as well as teaching the Craft of Beer course at Wilmington University. I volunteer as an archivist of the International Pink Boots Society for the Advancement of Women in Beer and founded the original NJ Women’s Beer Education Group. I am an official beer judge, a Cicerone-qualified beer waiter and an urban pioneer on the scenic waterfront in Camden, New Jersey. Make a stop on my website, www.taranurin.com.