How TV talent shows make money when nobody buys singles
Talent shows stopped depending on winners' record sales years ago; format licensing, premium-rate voting, sponsorship and live tour rights…
Rachel Stone
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Rachel Stone
Personal Finance Editor
Rachel Stone writes about borrowing, budgeting, credit and consumer rights, with a focus on clear, practical guidance and pointing readers to trustworthy help.
Grassroots football: who actually pays for the pitches
Grassroots football is funded by a patchwork of Premier League levies routed through the Football Foundation, squeezed council leisure…
Rachel Stone
2
Why gig tickets sell out in seconds: bots, presales and dynamic pricing
Presales, holds and sponsor allocations strip out most tickets before general sale opens, so the queue is fighting over a rump while bots…
Rachel Stone
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Why your favourite cafe takes card only, and what it costs them
Card-only tills trade a visible percentage fee for the hidden costs of cash, and the arithmetic now favours cards for most small…
Rachel Stone
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How supermarkets decide what you pay for a basket of groceries
Grocery prices are set through known value items, margin mix and loyalty pricing, a system designed around how shoppers judge cheapness…
Rachel Stone
How Olympic host cities are chosen and why fewer want it
The IOC scrapped its seven-year bidding contest after a run of referendum defeats, replacing it with private targeted dialogue that…
Rachel Stone
How books get to number one: inside the bestseller lists
UK bestseller charts are curated samples built on Nielsen BookScan tills data, and publishers engineer number ones through pre-order…
Rachel Stone
Panto: the strange economics of Britain's Christmas cash cow
Around six weeks of pantomime generates a third or more of many regional theatres' annual income, a cross-subsidy that drives the celebrity…
Rachel Stone
The promotion and relegation economy: why the Championship gambles
Promotion to the Premier League is worth upwards of £200m, parachute payments hand relegated clubs a tenfold revenue advantage, and the…
Rachel Stone