2 points.
1.
Somewhat under Russell, but especially under Rutherford, WT became a sales company.
(Letter from WT to sister in 1923 - in Letters to BOE)
WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY
( 31 FOREIGN BRANCHES)
18 CONCORD STREET, BROOKLYN, N.Y, U.S.A.
Miss R D Goodrich
Hattiesburg
Miss
Jan 16, 1923
Dear Sister:-
You are engaged in the most blessed service of any creatures on earth. The Society wishes to encourage you to continue joyfully in that work. For some time we have been aware of your difficulty in making expenses, considering the selling price of the books and the commission allowed therefor. We believe the Lord is arranging to overcome this difficulty, to permit a wider distribution of his truth.
Having established a plant at Brooklyn to manufacture the books, and having sent a number of competent brethren here to do the work, it seems that the Lord is preparing for a wider witness ; and we must be ready for the occasion. It will be your part to put the books into the hands of the people.
We are pleased to advise you that the Society is arranging to ship all books to the colporteurs freight prepaid, thus making the price of books to colporteurs uniform all over the United States. The Lord has made it possible for the price to be reduced; hence after February 1 the price of the Harp Study Course and the seven volumes of STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES to the public will be $2.87. The regular colporteurs in cities will be allowed a commission of $1.22 for such sales. Colporteurs who will undertake to canvass isolated territory be allowed a commission of $1.52 for the above set. Like favorable prices will be made on all the books, as will be seen from our price list, to be provided shortly. Four sales per day will net you a comfortable income, enabling you to meet all expenses.
Since the apostles urge us to greater diligence and energy, and since it is our privilege to aid others to get into the service, we suggest that if you know of any who could enter the service, you encourage them to engage quickly in the colporteur work. Such will be for their spiritual welfare. We hope to see at least a thousand colporteurs in the field during the New Year. 1923. Let us ask the Lord to increase this army. He has invited us to pray the Master of the harvest to send more workers into the field. Let us all with gladness strive to make this the most wonderful year for the advertising of the King and his kingdom.
Praying the Lord's blessing may continue with you richly, and with much love and best wishes, we remain
Your brethren in Christ,
Watch Tower B. & T. Society
Letter: WTBTS to Mrs. Roy D. Goodrich, 1 / 16/23
The Jimmy Swaggart case had a definite impact: conversion of sales of material to donations, begun in 1990, and completed globally by 2000.
That conversion notwithstanding, the digital reality lambasted every single print media. Efforts to monetize digital are an investment in a dry hole.
Watch Tower is no different.
The Jan 1976 KM, page 8 (on WT Library), contains the US Branch letter boasting of Jehovah's backing:
The Watchtower has obviously had Jehovah’s backing since its first printing of 6,000 copies in July of 1879, when it was known as Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. Although the magazine has not been supported by financial aid through commercial advertising, the annual subscription rate has always been very reasonable. At the start it was a monthly magazine and the subscription rate was $.50. This was increased to $.60 in 1891. Then in the November 1891 issue there appeared a notice that, beginning with January 1, 1892, the magazine would change from a monthly magazine of 16 pages to a semi-monthly one of 28 pages with an annual subscription rate of $1.00. The subscription rate remained unchanged until August 1, 1971, when increased prices of paper and mailing caused the subscription rate to go up to $1.50 a year.
Because of the effectiveness of magazines as instruments to get the truth into the hands of the people the Society’s equipment is geared to increased magazine distribution. Three new M.A.N. presses are being installed at Watchtower Farms. These, along with a large Cottrell press recently transferred from the Brooklyn factory, bring the total of presses at Watchtower Farms to fourteen. These are used exclusively to print magazines, and so we are ready for even greater increase.
How about paper? There is no shortage at the present, and so we are ready to do our part in the thirty-eighth annual Watchtower subscription campaign. We are confident that Jehovah will richly bless this campaign as he has all others.
Your brothers,
BROOKLYN BRANCH OFFICE
Jehovah's backing had meant that The Watchtower and Awake! were each being produced semi-monthly, with 32 pages each.
In addition, each convention would have new releases of at least 2 books, or else 1 book and a number of new brochures, tracts, videos, musical or dramatic cassettes.
Fast-forward to 2016.
The Watchtower and Awake!, public editions, reduced to monthly editions, and then again, to bi-monthly, as well as down to 16 pages.
2016 Convention releases - zero, nothing, nadaa.
2.
There is no question that WT has profited in selling their assets in Brooklyn. ( 2 billion according to this article ( Recently, Jared and a group of partners acquired several vast properties
in Brooklyn from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, for two billion dollars; http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/22/ivanka-trump-and-jared-kushners-power-play ).
This includes the fact that WT did not blast the Brooklyn real estate market with all of their properties at once, but instead, staggered their listings.
That having been said, Brooklyn has been undergoing a renaissance, unparalleled, probably on a global basis.
What shrewd real estate investor holds properties for decades, and sells at the beginning of a boom?
Summation: These f'ers are having their hedges called.