Formidable only if they adapt and develop what they have. Some will be successful. Some will not.

This whole subject is fascinating to me. I've always been a news junkie, but having worked with, and for, newspapers and magazines for a long time I was more than aware of the built-in biases of their reportage (especially newspapers). That was a big turn-off and I stopped really paying any attention to them for a long time. Then, along came the intertubes and my dreams of fair and balanced were answered.

This sea-change we're seeing is similar to what has happened to the music business over the last decade. The business model changed overnight, even though it took the entrenched dinosaurs years to admit it and eventually, accept it. Those who adapted and adopted are wildly successful- I read just last week that Apple passed the 5 billionth song sold on itunes.

Here's an interesting take from the economist:

Newspaper economics
Posted by: Economist.com | WASHINGTON

JAMES SUROWIECKI has an entertaining column this week on the business of news, riffing off the recent bankruptcy of the Tribune company. In it he writes, among other things:

People don't use the Times less than they did a decade ago. They use it more. The difference is that today they don't have to pay for it...

For a while now, readers have had the best of both worlds: all the benefits of the old, high-profit regime--intensive reporting, experienced editors, and so on--and the low costs of the new one. But that situation can't last. Soon enough, we're going to start getting what we pay for, and we may find out just how little that is.

Felix Salmon has a very good response to this, which concludes with a nice paragraph:

There's an old saying that you'll never understand newspaper economics until you understand why newspaper vending machines are designed so that you can take as many papers as you like for your quarter. Newspapers are, first and last, devices for delivering ads to readers. It's the ads which account for all the profits, not the cash coming from subscribers or people who buy their paper at the newsstand. Yes, news itself is free, nowadays. But it always has been. What we've been paying for all these years was never news, it was papers.

I liked both pieces, but I think they also miss something about the current market for news, namely, the fact that it's glutted. Technology hasn't just changed the demand for newspapers, it's also changed the supply of information. News used to be an oligopolistic business, now it's just about perfectly competitive. Barriers to entry are minimal, and plenty of suppliers are happy to provide content at next to nothing. That's a recipe for a big drop in price, and any organisation built on market power and rents is sure to fail in such an environment.

Does this mean that news, as a business, is dead? Not necessarily. Some papers will survive by selling things other than news—reputation, say, or exclusivity. Others will hang on until the print market shrinks enough that profitability is possible for a handful (or fewer) of national papers. Survivors in both groups are also likely to capitalise on the demand for news products that remain scarce—especially investigative reporting.

And that indicates one area where some public support for journalism might be absolutely necessary. Good, thorough investigative reporting is a non-excludable public good. If a good reporter digs up a major corruption scandal at City Hall, everyone under the purview of the city government benefits, even though far fewer will actually shell out to read the coverage. There's good reason to think, then, that investigative reporting is undersupplied, particularly in small markets.

I'm content to let many of the nation's newspapers go belly up, but I'm nervous about a world where many cities are entirely without a few seasoned reporters, who make it their business to ask hard questions and keep an eye on those in need of accountability. Some public support for investigative journalism is likely warranted.

So a company that has made its livelihood by selling advertising in print is now advertising itself for sale online in the free classifieds? Must be trying to avoid the commission they would have to pay an agent? I suspect their market too has become diluted with competition. Not only are sellers going online to advertise, readers are not buying the magazines either, because you can read all the stories, etc. online. Looks like a lose lose proposition.

nothing to do with hotboat but these newspapers make their money on advertising but their rates for ads are rediciously priced especially for a business related classified, I mean come on $250.00 for a 3 line 5 day ad for employment ! freakin geniouses, no wonder craigs list is KILLIN em. You would think they would see whats happening to their bread and butter and make adjustments but they just stick their head in the sand further and now I hear talk of Bailout !!

hustler mag owns Hot boat bogas ad!:grinser010:

There are no current LEADERS in the marine high performance industry. Just a bunch of firms trying to hang on and ride out these bleak times! Lets hope in a year or so there is even an INDUSTRY ? left!!

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

I guess I gotta get out more often. My girlfriend bought me a subscription to Hot Boat for my birthday in October. Finally sent her an invoice in early December with a November due date. Never did receive a copy. What a bunch of crap. :angry-smiley-055:

$5.99 for a copy is also a bit high. Personally, I would enjoy a boating mag that actually prints more than just fluff. Also do tests on used boats since that is a huge part of the market

I found this ad on craigslist...Now that Hot Boat has folded how much are the magazines worth?
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/clo/1010125959.html

LOL

Pasted:
Collectors Item Hot Boat t-shirts - $1000 (Sacramento)
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Reply to: [email protected] [?]
Date: 2009-01-27, 1:44PM PST

Hot Boat t-shirts are considered by some boaters as the rarest and hardest to find boating t-shirts on the planet! Although originally they were promised to everyone who signed up for a Hot Boat subscription, only a select few were actually ever given out. I have 3 of them. These are one of the very few left in existence after the hot boat massacre of December 18th 2007 where most were either burned or deficated on by angry forum members. With Hot Boat magazine now out of business these will only go up in value! $1000 for one or $2500 for all three.

They are saying here that the Regular Mail may start only being delivered 5 days a week to help save money!!

Time are tough.. Some hear about it but don't directly see it everyday...

That magazine may not be worth muchto many of us but if you were working there then it was worth alot to you.. I wonder how many lost there jobs there too..