Racing Post Charge

I don't mind paying for a service I can rely on, the problem with teh RP now is that they mend what isn't broken

I've looked at the cards tonight..and tbh if I had paid for a years subscription I wouldn't be happy..they haven't improved it.

Until they get a format thats consistent why would anyone pay?

If you buy a reliable car you don't get someone coming out every month to alter it how they think is better but you don't...the fact they keep changing the site tells me they will continue doing so..just get it right and leave it alone.
 
Have they said what sort of amount of money there thinking of yet, I don't think it's worth it unless your a pro. punter, and they are few and far between, the average race gower might, but less than 20% then the rest of the public very few add to that that they then wont want to pay for the paper as well, no I can't see it myself.
 
Would this be a good time to mention that RUK is going back to a standalone £20 a month after the collapse of Setanta?
 
I have no problems in paying the £20 because I think its worth it, as a business I think its perfectly alright for them to charge look how much effort has been put into creating the website and look how much information it gives but it just depends on how serious you are if you want the news just buy the paper if you want the whole chi-bang then fork up its not like £20 is a lot these days anyway and im not exactly rich either some of you own horses!
 
They won't have the nerve to charge £20 a month for it surely? Take away 2 or 3 aspects of it and it's no better than any free service out there.
 
Personally, I don't care if RUK's website sings, dances, and plays the ukelele, as I don't use it and I'm damn well not ante-ing up £20 a month on that basis. When I phoned up Virgin to say I wanted RUK taken off my bill, they dropped it to £9.99 and I imagine it'll be up to your service provider to work out a deal with RUK. I don't see that it has merits beyond the RP and ATR - come on, how much information do you need? If it goes commercial, like ATR, to save its subscription base, then fine - at least they'll be slightly more lively than the 5,976th showing of Pat Eddery's favourite race.
 
Of course they can charge whatever they think people will pay. That's their prerogative. I'd consider paying a coulpe of quid per month so long as it included everything. Any more than a fiver and I'd get my info elsewhere. I already pay over £30 per month for the form book, which I'm beginning to question in terms of value.
 
It doesn't give me much faith seeing what they are charging now for the little that is on offer though DO, they do charge now for something don't they?, is it replays? Seem to remember looking at the charge somewhile ago and thinking it was quite a rip off...then struck it from my mind forever.

What I don't like is how they are not being straightforward about how much, if it was a reasonable amount they would be spouting about it i would think....bit like adverts on telly where they lay out what they want to sell you but never mention cost, other adverts have massive £ signs all over the place when its a bargain or deemed good value by the seller.
 
Last edited:
Half of me is wondering whether they're going to try and cram it with as many members as they can and then look to sell it as a going concern within 12 months. In the longer term I suspect they'll experience difficulty recruiting new members.

People who've chosen not to subscribe who might have done, have made a conscious decision and once they've adapted to their new MO, or simply walked away from racing, won't be inclined to join up. Complete 'newbies' aren't going to be likely to sign up to something which they wouldn't necessarily understand and especially if there's free to view alternatives for them to gain their familiarity through, so it's difficult to see where new markets are going to emerge from if potential new users aren't given any exposure to it, and have been allowed to build up a sense of brand loyalty to something else that costs nothing.

It's inevitable therefore that through natural wastage, change of people's circumstances, poor connectivity and general pissed off customers, or an appreciation of no discernable benefit the flow of customers after an initial glut of registrations is more likely to be one way rather than the other as i really can't see that they're going to have the churn to replenish those who they will inevitably lose.

The other thing of course is that industry users will simply have it paid for by their employers who'll probably wangle discounts or favoured customer status

Presumebly it's going to be password sensitive to the point where you can't have more than a certain number of simultaneous log ons.
 
Just about sums things up.

My previous post on this issue was meant to describe my annoyance at the lack of any two way communication between myself who uses the RP data daily and the RP people developing a commercial IT product, their first personal email to myself is one concerning a future charge.

The only possible advantage to me would be an application that reduces my hobby workload i.e. a searchable, smart database or one and this does not seem forthcoming.

Think I'll be looking for alternatives - MR2
 
Not exactly the same but..

A good few years ago there was a messageboard..2001 ish...can't remember the name..someone may do... one of the main posters was called Grasshopper - not our Grassy by the way.

This guy used to post some really good information up..the board was just an ordinary one like this where people came and went. When it became clear that this guy was really good the site decided to go members only and try and attract similar people..from what you could read between the lines anyway...I never heard anyone mention that board after about 6 months after they went pay only.

It makes me a bit angry to see this sort of thing happening...why have they not just been open about it?..stuck something like a fiver or tenner up for anyone that wants to be a member...I'm sure that if they had done it that way it would have saved all this speculation and anticipation of some silly amount being asked for..as looks likely.

Maybe they keep mentioning the charge..looking around boards like this to measure feedback..and then making the charge fit what looks like being viable
 
They probably want to encourage speculation of £25 plus so they can announce a bargain prices of £15
 
I hope they go for the micropayments route, rather than the subscription route. However if I was a betting man then I'd guess that their micropayments for PDFs has been a failure and this will dissuade them. I'd like to think that was because it was a crap product though.
 
betsmate said:
I hope they go for the micropayments route, rather than the subscription route. However if I was a betting man then I'd guess that their micropayments for PDFs has been a failure and this will dissuade them. I'd like to think that was because it was a crap product though.
Click to expand...

the PDFS, that was it..yes totally unmemorable

i think you are right in your assumption..can see it being monthly or even a yearly payment

maybe we all ought to post we would be happy to pay a fiver..get all the boards doing the same..then if they are checking out feedback they might get the message
 
They've got to be very very careful with the pricing, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in meetings between marketing and management and see some of the email exchanges!
 
They clearly intended charging long before now, but made such a balls of introducing the new website that they've had to hold off. Way back in the thread I mentioned the market research session I attended at their offices; so many of the same points being made here were made to them there and then by myself and others, yet still they plough on.
 
I am of the opinion the RP don’t really understand where there website market is.
The thousands of leisure racegoers per day will want the RP hardcopy, for them ploughing through data on a website would be a waste of time.

That leaves two groups (1) the professionals ranging from tipster to owner and (2) the hobby form-analyser.

I would suggest that it is that latter group which the RP site needs to cater for in the new site, given professionals will use much more in depth analysis tools.

Will hobbyists stump up the cash? Probably 30% will immediately, rising to 50% over time. But this approach will almost certainly deter newcomers and lead to collapse of the RP business model.

So, common sense tells me that a cheaper form of Raceform Interactive using the RP dataset would be the carrot for successfully raising charges, attracting the interest of hobbyists who would see this as increasing value for money.

I would have thought putting a front end onto the RP dataset might be a bit troublesome but could be done fairly quickly and cheaply.

My thoughts, MR2
 
EC1 said:
I missed that about you attending that Gareth.

Do you think they look at racing forum threads like this to measure response..or would they not bother?
Click to expand...

Nothing was mentioned. Free and easy market research for them; although maybe not the answers they want to hear.
 
montyracing2 said:
So, common sense tells me that a cheaper form of Raceform Interactive using the RP dataset would be the carrot for successfully raising charges, attracting the interest of hobbyists who would see this as increasing value for money.

I would have thought putting a front end onto the RP dataset might be a bit troublesome but could be done fairly quickly and cheaply.
Click to expand...

Nail on the head as far as I'm concerned; I'd pay for that in a heartbeat.
 
Back
Top