Newspaper magazines and the golf industry

[cary lichtenstein]

I keep reading about newspapers and magazines either closing or in financial trouble, and I can't help but notice the shrinking size of the variety of golf magazines I get each month.

Not only are there far less advertising pages but there seems to be a noticeable shrinking of content as well.

What is the future of our indurtry's publications? Will they survive?

[TEPaul]

cary:

I'm 64 and I've been around long enough to have seen the beginning of the extreme competition newspapers and magazines have gotten from TV (and all the information and advertizing via that medium) through a number of decades and now the extreme competition they have gotten also from the Internet et al, therefore I'm sort of amazed they have survived to date even as well as they have.

Were it not for a particular type and presentation of advertizing perhaps somewhat peculiar and unique to some types of magazines I doubt they would be doing as well as they still are which isn't very well at all I'm afraid.

[Phil McDade]

Cary:

As a former ink-stained wretch, I used to think I'd live long enough to see newspapers survive in their current form (more or less). (I'm 47.)

Now I'm doubtful. There are lots of reason for the industry's demise, but Craigslist, Apple, and the internet (broadly considered) are the main ones.

Interestingly, I think specialty publications aimed at a devoted, niche audience in some form have a chance of hanging on. But they need to be tied to some kind of solid revenue stream, and I'm not sure golf (or golf travel and equipment, which is most of the ads in golf mags) has that right now. It'll turn around, but I'd expect to see some fallout in the golf publishing world.

[Chris Garrett]

My soon to be father-in-law was in publishing for a number of years, mainly editing outdoors magazines and books.  He always says that the sure fire test to see if a magazine is doing well is to simply pick it and feel how heavy it is. 

I would tend to agree with Phil, that the niche magazines will survive a bit longer than others.  I've yet to see a website that does a respectable job reproducing what we see on Golf Magazine and Golf Digest.  Until that happens, golf magazines will survive in some form.

[Tim_Cronin]

Reportedly, the only magazine at Conde Nast (New Yorker, Vanity Fair, etc.) to be up in ad pages from a year earlier is Golf World. Even CN's Golf Digest is down.

[Ken Moum]

One of the general rules of thumb is that a magazine needs to be at least 50 percent ad pages to survive.

That's why you're seeing page counts dropping.

Earlier this year I counted pages on a golf mag that was under 25 percent two issues in a row.

Times are tough.

K

[Joel_Stewart]

It's not just the newspapers and magazines but also TV and movie industries as well.  Just look at Disney's earnings and you'll see the decline in TV advertisments especially at ESPN.  Part of the problem is the auto industry and their need to cut back on advertising.

K:  Thats an interesting ratio.  One of the magazines (I think Golf Magazine in December or January) was only 100 pages but I didn't count the ads.

Does anyone have Golf Channels earnings?

[Matt_Ward]

Cary:

Great point.

Guess what I do each month?

I feel the "weight" of a magazine and after I tear out all the planted cards that have been enclosed -- I also pull out each page that has ads on both sides.

Guess what the final result is?

The so-called "heavy" weight of the magazine then becomes far less.

Digest used to be a ground breaker with so many fascinating articles in the distant past.

Now, the magazines are simply regurgitating the same pablum over and over again. Many times it's tied to certain elements they have a hand in promoting or cross-promoting.

One final point -- I always love when golf mags tout their "new" look -- but often times it follows the same pattern of cereal companies -- less total for a more "improved" sleek look.

No doubt there will likely be casualities because I can't see the market supporting all those currently involved now.

 

[Jeff_Brauer]

Cary,

Not all will survive, especially those aimed at those in the industry.  There probably are too many, just as there were too many golf shows.  I would think general interest golf mags would survive, at least until computers are standard fare in bathrooms, but stats/current news oriented ones will give way to the internet.

Years ago, prognosticators mentioned the cashless and paperless society and while not universal, it strikes me that we get closer and closer to that all the time.  (and some said clueless society, which has also made a lot of progress!)

Currently, the "cashless" part is not quite because we are using electronic transfers as much as it is we aren't making any cash.....(frown) 

[Dan_Callahan]

With some of the top newspapers in the country ready to collapse, it wouldn't surprise me to see at least 50% of the magazines disappear. This list from Time was eye-opening:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1883785,00.html

People who live in New England know that it is almost unimaginable to think of the Boston Globe shutting down. But losing $1 million a week . . . ? Hard to see how they survive that kind of loss.

[Scott Warren]

Back home I was working for News Corp, and a big push among its stable of consumer magazines was for opinion and in depth features. The theory was that people can access information so many different ways, they needn't pay $7.95 for it once a month. But what they will pay for, and pay well for, is insightful and well-delivered opinion and features.

A good example here in the UK is Golf International. Instruction - which is grossly over-represented in golf media, IMO - is kept at a low and there is lots of opinion from its columnists on all matters related to golf and features on the pople making the headlines. When it's intelligent, informed and well-written, it will always prove popular. It's just a pity their subbing is so poor.

The challenge for newspapers remains, but they have been predicting our doom for a decade now without any great armageddon, so I don't fancy the end is as nigh as some predictions suggest.

[cary lichtenstein]

WOW, 1 day after I post this, Travel and Leisure announces it is done. 

[Carl Johnson]

The only general golf publication I subscribe to is Golfweek.  Given the apparent desperation with which they've been coming at me with mailings and phone calls at supper time to extend my subscription, I wouldn't be surprised if they folded soon.  In any case, I don't plan to renew after my current subscription expires this summer.

[Mark Alexander]

These are certainly hard times but hard-copy Journalism has been up against it for quite a while, and I'm not sure we've come up with an adequate solution to our plight.
Like many golf clubs, I think this recession could force change on the industry, hopefully for the better.
For what it's worth, I've always loved sitting down with a copy of Golf Monthly or Golf Digest to enjoy the high standards of journalism and photography lavishly reproduced in a perfect-bound magazine. You just can't get that feeling from a website, and I think this could be a route out.
Rather than being a staple medium, golf magazines could become luxury objects to be enjoyed during a quiet moment away from the kids. Given time, and a new banking system, I'm sure subs will pick up again. Here's hoping anyway.

[Tim_Cronin]

Details on Travel + Leisure, from the Folio.com website:

American Express Publishing has decided to shutter the print edition of Travel + Leisure Golf. The March/April issue, on newsstands now, will be the final issue.

"While the award-winning editorial product has enjoyed a loyal and passionate following, the current advertising climate has severely impacted the magazine’s bottom line to where the short-term and mid-term prospects for the magazine are not viable,” president and CEO Ed Kelly said in a statement.

[David Druzisky]

These are interesting times and challenging times for all.  All is exaggerated when related to golf I am sad to say.  All aspects of business related to golf got well beyond logical market means.  There are far too many folks out there trying to make money in a business that has limited margin.  For many this has been compounded by an evolution of media and information dissemination.  A fast paced one at that.

As an architect I have been effected by it all.  There was a time not long ago that you could exist as a small firm in your region of the country with timely access to projects and opportunities in your area.  Now with the internet, projects are more easily found by everyone.  While it is available for everyone, the larger firms are set up to take advantage of this new form of information as compared to the smaller guys.  Instead of a young design apprentice I will first hire or bring on a business development manager!

As for the media it really seems odd to me that I can get a magazine in the mail that I pay for yet on the same day if not sometimes earlier I can go to that magazines web site and get the same articles.   They all went to the well long ago on advertising and the current economy exposes that as short sighted.

We have really seen things fade for the writers over the last several years with the apparent demise of the local golf staff writer at the major newspapers.  I used to specifically purchase the Thursday editions of the paper in Phoenix because it was golf day.  They still have more on golf that day but in a town like Phoenix there should be a bunch more to write on of interest to keep my interest.

And we wonder why golf play is waning.

The key though is that things are evolving and not just outright going away.  We all need to think a little more outside the box and find those new ways of doing old things.  For those of you disappointed in no longer having media in paper form because everyone has been busy figuring out how to make it digital, maybe turn that back around and be the ones figuring out how to gt the stuff from the internet back on paper for those that still want to feel that which they read.