From a Seeking Alpha email to contributors
We’re excited to let you know that the start of 2018 brings with it several big changes that should positively impact your experience as a Seeking Alpha contributor. These include: (1) a new contributor payment system, (2) access to PRO content content, and (3) new tools on the quote page.
Payments
In the new contributor payment system, we are introducing the ability to measure and reward article quality. Our current system does not account for quality, which is the factor Seeking Alpha contributors care about most and have the greatest control over. Measuring and rewarding quality is also extremely important to achieve our objective of building a larger subscription-based business.
The new system went live on Jan. 1. Here's what you need to know:
- The new system will only impact payments going forward. Payments on articles published before midnight on Jan. 1 will continue to accrue earnings under the old payment system.
- Calculation of article payments will be as follows:
PVs (greater of actual PVs or 'minimum pageview guarantee' (MPG) if it exists) x CPM x quality score (QS)
- On Jan. 1, the CPM (currently $10 per 1,000 PVs) rose to $13.00. The CPM is locked down on a monthly basis at midnight of the first day of the new month.
- The MPG is a way to fix minimum payments by guaranteeing a minimum number of PVs. There are currently 3 tiers of MPG:
- Tier 1: Primary ticker articles on most stocks. MPG = 4,000 PVs.
- Tier 2: Articles with no primary ticker. MPG = 3,000 PVs.
- Tier 3: Primary ticker articles on i) high-coverage stocks (see current list here), and ii) mutual funds. MPG = 0 PVs.
In the case of two primary tickers, we take the one with the lowest MPG. Secondary tickers are not considered in this calculation.
- The QS will be fixed at 1 for January with one exception: authors who currently don't receive the $35 fixed payment (there are a small number - if you don't know then you're not on the list) will have a fixed QS of 0.5. We expect to launch an initial quality score in Feb. We will provide transparency about the type of factors we're measuring as the QS evolves.
- Article payment factors are locked down at time of publication, with the exception of QS which is locked down 10 days after publication.
- We’ve provided a tool for authors to look up MPGs for specific tickers.
Access to PRO
All active authors (defined as authors who have published an article within the past 90 days) will now have free access to all PRO research they encounter on the site. No article is hidden from active SA authors behind a paywall.
This change provides our author base with a full suite of Seeking Alpha research tools to generate the best articles possible - we certainly hope you’ll take full advantage of it!
Quote page tools
We have added some powerful filters to our new Quote Page. You can filter “Analysis” by PRO Picks, Long Case, and Short Case. The "News" column can be filtered by Dividends, M&A, Press Releases, Partner News, Transcripts & Slides, and Filings. (Click the arrows to the right of the column headers.) These tools will be rolled out gradually, and are currently visible only to a small percentage of users and all PRO subscribers, including active Seeking Alpha contributors.
Equipped with access to our full content library and tools to filter quote pages, we hope you’ll find it easier than ever before to produce top-notch investment content on SA, for which you’ll be duly rewarded under the new payment structure!
Wishing you the best of success for 2018 and beyond,
George B. Moriarty
VP Content, Executive Editor
