Personally I am tired of Doom and Gloom... I applaud the magazines for doing their best to survive, because we all know It truly is tough out there.

That is why I re-upped my subscription!

Keep up the good work, I also look forward to reading more articles, but like other magazines, the pictures are really why we look...:evilb:

More positive articles, people moving forward in the industry and who knows, maybe someone will come up with a new idea that can get the imagination as well as breathe some life and fun back into the sport!

Hmmmmmm, I actually have an idea, will let you know.....

Boy is everybody cranky or what! Must be that health care bill rubbing everyone the wrong way!! The purpose of my post was not to complain or start a negative thread but to just vent at how one if the things I enjoy reading is being hit so hard by the economic down turn. I really hope powerboat is able to survive these hard times and end up coming out on top. I am also glad to see and hear that the magazine is looking for other ways to keep the content alive. If powerboat is listening I would love a digital version of the magazine formated for the upcoming ipad, just my opinion.

How about the new ILMOR ad? Our best yet imo!!

Buzzed through that issue in 25mins...

I just ordered a 2 year subscription. Still the best boating mag out there in my opinion.

Print material is now OLD SCHOOL for starters ...... Every NY newspaper is suffering and ad money is way down. Laptops on the train into NYC have replaced newspapers ..... Same for Magazines ... and within that medium it is totally industry driven. It is much much cheaper to run online ads vs print ads ...... and many industries have taken a beating in the current economy. NOW take the magazines the wife gets .... and reads ...... well "on the throne" which is a laptop free zone for many women ..... lol COSMO, IN STYLE, REAL SIMPLE etc. have Doubled in thickness the past 2 years. Jewelry, shoes, cosmetics, fashion and of course "why my husband or boyfriend sucks articles dominate the pages ----- some 450 pages of BS .... so go figure :lolhit:

Yeah I agree; just got mine today. disappointed for sure and its a may/june issue. I guess there investing more to the website rather than the magazine itself or has the economy affected them that severe.

You're right on all points, except one: The advertising dollars that were being spent in magazines are not going to the Internet in any meaningful way. If they were, this site would be loaded with ads from Cigarette, Skater, MTI, Outerlimits and so on. Don't take my word for it. Find the display ads from go-fast boat companies and aftermarket product companies on this site. Not many

So where are those ad dollars going? Nowhere. They're simply not being spent, or spent at extremely low levels.

Three years ago, Powerboat was doing better than it had, in terms of ad sales, than it had in its 30-year history? So what happened between now and then?

The economy tanked. I don't think that's news to anyone. Has the Internet take a huge bite out of readers' time, energy and taste? Without question. I've been with Boats.com since 1999, call that Internet 1.0, and like you I've watched it grow. But the steady decline in print has been just that, steady for many years. The recent radical decline?

The economy.

I've been in printing for 13 years now. It's not just PBM it’s the whole industry. There are a number of contributing factors. Print will never go away, but a percent will be and has been replaced by other forms. As Matt stated, it’s been a gradual decline for years. The recent turn in the economy has greatly sped up the inevitable. The industry was gradually working its way to the balancing point. It’s just going to get to that point a lot quicker now.

All the mags I see are getting thinner and thinner.

One has even decided to not print for a year.

Tough times all round.