Magazine's a dying breed?

I was looking on Malakye’s message boards today and there was a question from a user asking if his/her business idea of starting an Action Sports Travel Magazine was viable. The answers came pouring in; and as one person said, “bet on black, you’ll get better odds”. Everyone was against the idea, saying it wouldn’t make money, and that most importantly, magazines are dead. Here we go again—this is the same line that everyone said in the dot com explosion, and where are those digital magazine’s now? Swell (now only an online store), HardCloud, BlueTorch, MonsterSkate, and CrossRocket; to name a few. This is a small sampling of those who insisted that magazines are dead, but yet, the newsstands still exist. In my personal opinion, I don’t think magazines will ever die—nothing replaces the feeling of sitting on the beach, an airplane, a doctor’s office, or to be crude, the bathroom, thumbing through a magazine. The user’s idea of a magazine or business plan may not have been the best, but magazine’s are here to stay.

Comments

[wassabi]

I doubt magazines are dead. The problem with the aformentioned niche pubs is that they're all chasing the same demographic. How many subscriptions can you sell to tweeners and teens.

The mags for the most part are poorly wriiten. And it's apparent there is no fire wall between the marketing dept and the editors. Making the objectivity and quality of the "content" questionable.

Sadly much of the best writing on action sports is written by outsiders and non core types with solid foundations established elsewhwere. And action
sports titles suffer because of it, they're all so mired in the bro-braness of it all they often fail to see the big picture.

So I'd have to agree there isn't much room for new magazines that persist
in doing things in the same old manner.

However, Outdoor's and National Geopraphic have proven there's a niche for older, more affluent readers. The guys that created action sports industry are now well into their late thirties and fourties,50s. They're raising famiies
and God forbid even have grand children. Boomers didn't stop paddling out, climbing, and snowboarding just because they have a 401 K plan and a mortgage.
More likely than not they're the ones footing the bill for jr's extreme lifestyle. How about a magazine for them?

[BJ]

I don't know that I entirely agreee with action sports magazines suffering because of their writing. I'd guess that 80% of the "readers" are really just looking at the pictures and may read a few small articles. I don't know that any of the major mags are dying out either, although I do think that there probably isn't enough of a market for any new players out there.