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Seems like these were the same people who owned WME when it made it's last legit movies around 2001 or so. Maybe means there's some hope for a return from the corporate bullshit? I'd love to see more stuff like trips to Morocco again, instead of the same destination resort/Nature Valley/Jonny Moseley circlejerk.
I think the magazines are going down hill with the amount of media we can access on my phone. Also, every time I picked up one of those magazines I felt as though the content focused more on the resorts, not the actual sport. As far as advertising is concerned, the opportunity lies on sites much like this one.. as much as I hate to say it. There is no reason to buy a magazine with the same content as NS, when I can access NS for free with less ads more quickly.
This isn't entirely true. As people in the industry, we become jaded towards watching silicon-valley type people kill it in a 'real industry'. I've myself fallen into this dream trap.
However, there is a great deal of power within a niche. Especially one that is as wealthy as the world of skiing.
First off, there's hardly any competition all things considered. When we're at SIA duking it out for coverage, there's maybe... 8-12 other media there? If you were at E3 or CES there's probably 30,000 including bloggers.
Second, you can sell an idea more in a small niche. Print is far from dead in the snowsports world, currently it is by a landslide the gross revenue leader in the space. Newschoolers wouldn't have been anything at the start without some folks who just believed that a bunch of skiers together was a good place to advertise. With a cool concept, you don't have to get stuck dealing with ad agencies and people that 'don't get it' and are just there for a buck. You can talk from one skier to another and show them the value of your product.
Third, I've changed my tune and the fact isn't that there's no money in print magazines... there's money and there always will be. What will happen is the ad-filled rags of yesteryore that were drunk on the fat-cat spending of brands will evaporate or evolve, and we'll be left with a smaller subset of super high-quality coffe-table books that celebrate a wonderful sport.
Of course, to ignore the rising world of the internet is irresponsible. So you're also seeing companies shed some titles when they are more print-focused and it would be better served with a digital component.
I'll tell you one thing - the next 10 years of media should be pretty interesting to watch unfold.