[Magazines] Future of Motorsport Magazines

[ss_collins]

looking at the 2007 ABC figures released today motorsport mags have been suffering badly (something we have not experienced oddly - but I think thats due to our US circulation) Autosport which just two or three years ago had a circulation of over 50,000 has only 38,000 now. Meanwhile MN which used to be around 35,000 (in 2003 ish) is down to 21,000.

Its worth noting that classic and sportscar is at 80,000, Octane 34,000, Motor Sport 30,000, and F1 Racing 64,000

Are the readers of these publications turning to the net or is the way the mags are written just plain wrong and turning you lot off?

[Knowlesy]

I think some are just getting a bit worse in quality and turning people away.

I prefer to have magazines for reference and nostalgia value, yet I am on the verge of cancelling Autosport.

[LYNX]

I think that the internet is part of the reason - together with cost cutting of non-essentials due to the rise in the cost of living! There will always be people willing to pay for hard copy - past new inventions Vinyl v CD v Video v DVD v downloads? All have an effect on the previous medium.

[bickers]

Well the internet is a wonderful tool for information,that would be my first reason,second reason is £2.90 for a weekly magazine as AS is is a wee bit steep,I tend to nip in to the newsagents and read the national section!RCE I don't mind paying more for as it's more of an investment like a book that you can go back to.

[silver bullet]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I think some are just getting a bit worse in quality and turning people away.

I have to agree with this. I used to get several magazines regularly, but the quality and content was gradually getting worse and worse. Eventually the magazines started disappearing from the shelves, and I got fed up with the ones that were left that I just stopped buying them.
I am now down to just the old faithful Motorsport News. Mind you, I have noticed it has been very thin for the last few weeks. If it doesn't start bulking up once the season starts, I could be canceling it also.

[mountainstar]

The internet is the future.

I spend so much time on internet I still have magazines a year old I haven't read.

I like Motorsport News in Australia. Their emagazine is the way of the future and it appears to be working for them.

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by ss_collins

looking at the 2007 ABC figures released today motorsport mags have been suffering badly (something we have not experienced oddly - but I think thats due to our US circulation) Autosport which just two or three years ago had a circulation of over 50,000 has only 38,000 now. Meanwhile MN which used to be around 35,000 (in 2003 ish) is down to 21,000.

Its worth noting that classic and sportscar is at 80,000, Octane 34,000, Motor Sport 30,000, and F1 Racing 64,000

Are the readers of these publications turning to the net or is the way the mags are written just plain wrong and turning you lot off?

Autosport hasn't had a circulation of 50,000 for a very long time. In fact the 2007 ABC figure represents an increase of around 3,000 over last year, and that in itself was an increase over the previous year. Autosport's circulation had dropped as low as 28,000 a couple of years ago.

I predict another drop over 2008 though as a lot of readers are likely to follow Nigel Roebuck to Motorsport.

MN is a big drop though - it's lost 15% of its circulation in the last year. That's hardly surprising given that it has shrunk again and that the price has increased by nearly four times the rate of inflation. (the crazy "different prices in different places" experiment hasn't helped them either).

F1 Racing's figure is pretty static - but 40% of its sales are subscriptions, which means it is much less vulnerable than the others in this market.

[Super Hans]

I must admit that I've stopped purchasing Autosport this winter, and I haven't bought MN for a long time. The only mags I buy regularly at the moment are Motorsport and Autocar, though I suspect this will change once the season starts.

[Pete Fenelon]

I used to subscribe to MS and C&SC and religiously buy Autosport (in fact I've read MS and Autosport for well over 30 years). I stopped buying Autosport when the "100 greatest crashes" supplement appeared - although I was looking for an excuse to give it up. I stopped my C&SC sub when it started to be dominated by "shootouts" between 80s and 90s sports cars; these days I buy it if there are interesting articles although I do like most of the writers and the photography.

I even gave up MS briefly when it went red, as there were too many "Top 10s" etc, but it's picked up a lot after that particular doldrum.

So these days it's an MS subscription, the occasional C&SC or Octane if there's something I particularly want to read, MN or Autosport for the odd event report, and online subs to dailysportscar and autosport.com, plus a lot of good freebie sites. If I just want press releases and pictures there's always motorsport.com, too...

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Pete Fenelon

. I stopped buying Autosport when the "100 greatest crashes" supplement appeared - although I was looking for an excuse to give it up.

Yes, it's lowest point, I think. It's fair to say that most of the current editorial staff would probably not want to be associated with that.

[JamesRamone]

I think Autosport is a great magazine. I have been reading it since i got into motorsport, which was about 15 years ago. It is quite steep at £2.90 an issue, but i don't feel we have another strong all round motorsport magazine out. Motorsport excluded as it focuses on history, i'm not a fan of the Motorsport News.

Whilst the 100 greatest crashes article wasn't in the best of taste, i don't know why you have to hold it against them. It should have been called "100 most spectacular crashes".

Does anyone read RACER ?

[Pete Fenelon]

Originally Posted by JamesRamone

Whilst the 100 greatest crashes article wasn't in the best of taste, i don't know why you have to hold it against them. It should have been called "100 most spectacular crashes".

Does anyone read RACER ?

It shouldn't have been published, - it was an act of barrel-scraping, pure and simple. The title is irrelevant. And yes, Autosport has improved a lot from that nadir - a lot of the non-F1 stuff is readable and authoritative, but there's too much tabloid-style "fever" in there and too many "Why X Must Win Y" headlines - the answer's simple - X must win Y because if he didn't win Y someone else would and it would harm X's championship position ;P

It still smells a bit too much like Rally XS (remember that?) occasionally, but it's at least recognisable as a serious racing magazine most of the time.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by JamesRamone

Whilst the 100 greatest crashes article wasn't in the best of taste, i don't know why you have to hold it against them. It should have been called "100 most spectacular crashes".

It was shameful stuff. Absolutely embarrassing. It is Autosport, not Nuts magazine.

I remember the editor coming on here to defend it as well, there was uproar.

Amateur stuff.

[JamesRamone]

I know we are not meant to be discussing that article really, but i think you can take it two ways. As i said, it wasn't in the best of taste's and was a mistake, but i doubt it was done with any malice. They realised the mistake and have presummably susquently apologised on this forum.

I've seen Autosport take a lot of flack on this forum, and i just wish to defend it, as i feel it is very informative, has some good articles and is written by true motorsport fans.

Does anyone remember F1 News magazine ?

[Knowlesy]

I had a few issues of that possibly. I think I bought it for posters rather than content though!

I seem to remember a magazine from my childhood, 1993-ish, about F1. Chequered Flag?

[strider]

Originally Posted by JamesRamone

.Does anyone remember F1 News magazine ?

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I had a few issues of that possibly. I think I bought it for posters rather than content though!

Ahem, I wrote a few articles for that magazine! Not about F1, though.

[LYNX]

I read HMRN from cover to cover, the articles are relevant to my main interests and the editorial can be pretty entertaining and discussion provoking. Motorsport I flick through at the bookstall and buy if enough articles catch my imagination or I am stuck for something to read in-flight. Otherwise it is pot-luck and issue to issue - sometimes influenced by the cover photo or advertised features. The problem with the monthly magazines is that they are well behind the internet with the information and the weekly ones sometimes inaccurate. Still can't please all of the people all of the time.

[zac510]

I have various personal reasons for not buying as many magazines as I used to. However when I do, I still enjoy them and read them thoroughly so I don't think it is the fault of the magazine. There are only a few on my shortlist of purchases though.

I've found that in London it can be quite hard to get the niche motorsport magazines from the off-licences, they stock only the big magazines (hard to blame them, really).

[Pete Fenelon]

I just want a magazine as good as Competition Car was in 1973 - a splendid Ebay win that was... Back when Roebuck was young, witty and untainted by an excess of cynicism; some great driver columns, loads to read, and the whole thing had a self-deprecating sense of humour to it. Quentin Spurring's finest hour?

[Pete Fenelon]

Other magazines I like:

Track & Race Cars - the successor to CCC, without the Max Power/lads' mag rubbish that was creeping into CCC towards the end. Haven't seen it for a few months but always some good reading.

Grassroots Motorsports - an American mag which really covers everything from clubbies up to the Koni Cup (Grand-Am's touring car/small GT series). Most of the writers are competitors at some level (loads of stuff from the Nonnamakers for example). Sort of R&T for people who actually compete?

Vintage Motorsport - a good American historic mag, not quite MS but still highly readable with some good pics. Focus really on 50s-70s.

If I'm in the States I usually pick up Road & Track in an airport, but it's very thin both in terms of size and content these days.

I don't bother with Racecar Engineering any more - used to read it occasionally and it was a well produced mag with a lot of technical depth to it, but my interest in contemporary single seaters is.... less than it used to be, and I no longer work in the automotive industry. Same goes for Race Tech.

One of the best defunct mags was Graham Gauld's short-lived but excellent "Historic Motor Racing". Sadly only lasted five issues, every page was an education.

[manimal27]

When you are struggling for readers and things are not going well you will try anything to get them back believe me!

[MikeHoyer]

Originally Posted by JamesRamone

Does anyone remember F1 News magazine ?

Yeah, I used to love that magazine, because it had a nice dose of humour in it, which appealed to my own warped sense of humour...

[brands]

I subscribed to Motorsport News for several years until December 2007 when I cancelled it. Having suffered late deliveries every other week the final straw was the delivery of the WalesGB rally special edition on the Saturday, while I was spending my second day over the bridge at the event.

I buy an Autosport once in a while, usually after a special event, British GP, FoS but for the most part use the internet for information about motorsport.

[Craner Curves]

£3 for an Autosport as of next month. It's testing my resolve, having been a regular buyer for 15 years. I know this isn't supposed to be a 'rant about Autosport' thread, but the increasing number of uncensored f-words in it, really bugs me.

MN, I love reading, it's that bit more down to earth than Autosport, but it's very poor VFM, as the bloke in Shell station says every week when I buy it..."it costs that much for a paper?!".

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

£3 for an Autosport as of next month.

But what can you buy for £3 these days? It's nothing really. A packet of cigarettes, I understand, is more; a gallon of petrol is over £4, but you might get some change out of a pint of beer. A very, very cheap meal maybe? They are all gone in a flash. I've never really understood this concern over the price of mags; not at this price level, anyway!

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

..... the increasing number of uncensored f-words in it, really bugs me.

Yes, I agree. Just because someone says it, it doesn't have to be consigned to print. It's just further adding to the increased acceptance of this word in everyday language, more's the pity.

On the specific topic of the thread, there is no doubt that motorsport mags are under threat from the internet, but they share this with most other magazines. Personally, since I spend far too much time with my face in a PC already, I'd much rather be able to sit down in an easy chair and browse a mag, rather than yet another website, but I guess I'm a dying breed!