Practical Boat Owner

[ChrisB]

The Postman has just been delivering that once most read journal of the impoverished sailor.

Frankly it nearly went in the recycling. It was so thin I thought it was junk mail. Talk about a shadow of it's former self. I have cancelled my direct debit. Suppose I am getting old I remember Denny Desoutter.

[TheQ]

I've a feeling I may follow you, having been a subscriber for 30 years...

[JennyMorgan]

YM & PBO, once must reads, I rarely bother now. The same can be said of the Angling publications. An age thing I suspect, all magazines, other than VIZ & Private Eye, periodically regurgitate the same old topic, all are over stuffed with adverts that I have less than nil interest in. 

[JennyMorgan]

22 minutes ago, ChrisB said:

The Postman has just been delivering that once most read journal of the impoverished sailor.

Frankly it nearly went in the recycling. It was so thin I thought it was junk mail. Talk about a shadow of it's former self. I have cancelled my direct debit. Suppose I am getting old I remember Denny Desoutter.

Is it the editorial or advertising content that has been reduced? I'm afraid the helpful days of building the Den Ashton Longboat have long departed the pages of PBO. 

[ChrisB]

Looking at it I would say both. Remember the private ads in alphabetical order, columns of Westerlies, Macwesters, Hillyards, Corribees etc for sale, all gone.

Readership must have declined and that will send advertisers running away to find other outlets.

[LondonRascal]

The problem with these sort of publications concentrating on a specific market is trying to get people to firstly advertise with them and secondly buy the magazine when so much of the items shown, reviewed or explained in them are all available freely online - and increasingly so in video form on You Tube.

So often individual chaps are making content in a far more professional format. Need to re-core your deck, treat your Osmosis or re-build your galley among other projects then look no further than Mad's in Denmark as he re-fits his Warrior 38 Sail Boat.  https://www.youtube.com/user/madsdahlke

There are many others like him and professionals alike - all sharing their tips in a far more detailed way than print and photos can. I  found when looking at videos from YBW's own You Tube channel leaves much to be desired, sound and camera work to just getting over the point in question - all forgivable if an amateur, but these are paid journalists working in their chosen field - that of boating! In these times if you don't adapt and embrace new ways of making content you simply get left behind.

[ChrisB]

It still carries the banner " Britains Best Selling Boating Magazine"  So maybe it is just me, my age and failing memory.

Do you remember when a Mars Bar was as big as a Sand Faced Fletton and just as heavy? Always had one taped to the mast in my dinghy racing days.

[addicted]

I remember when a Topic was a great deal larger than it is now my favourite when settling down to watch Wimbledon on the TV

 

 

Carole

[VetChugger]

Also missing that claimed "hazelnut in every bite"!

[JennyMorgan]

In the days of Maurice Griffiths & Denny Desoutter advertising was additional to the editorial. Now the roles have been reversed and the editorial is no longer to be trusted, advertising clearly leads the editorial as editors pander to their clients. End result, a decline in readership.

[Poppy]

11 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

In the days of Maurice Griffiths & Denny Desoutter advertising was additional to the editorial. Now the roles have been reversed and the editorial is no longer to be trusted, advertising clearly leads the editorial as editors pander to their clients. End result, a decline in readership.

One only has to look ay the 'Archant' titles to see confirmation of that - and not simply in the boating world.  Journalism seems a profession near dead now.

[LondonRascal]

7 hours ago, Poppy said:

Journalism seems a profession near dead now.

It may well be in some quarters, but you see the reason is if you go back to say 1990 - there was no Internet and no 'content creators'. This meant if you wanted to find anything out, or had an interest in a particular hobby be it boating, HAM radios or model railways, you might have a local club and group to join and learn from, but you also relied heavily on magazines.

Fast forward to the present time and if you wanted to find out how to use West System, get the best finish with Varnish or see if a Danforth or Delta anchor was better at holding a 40ft boat in 30ft or water - you do not go looking for what someone employed in a magazine has had to say about it, or go to the 'Tips & Tricks' section where this month Fred Karno shows us how to use West System epoxy to repair the stanchion base aboard the Westreley Centor he owns.

No, you just head over to Google or You Tube and find out that someone in America has a hobby testing Anchors on various types of sea beds, conditions and depths with underwater footage - and a chap in Essex is showing you how to use West System on his sailboat repair. All there at your finger tips and all free. 

Now someone might say this is like doing research on Wikipedia, all might be well but then again it could be leading you up the garden path so best stick to the paid for 'experts' who contribute to magazines - after all they know best and would give the best advice to their readers.  The problem is these days there are several sources you can go to - several anchor testers out there and several West System guru's you can consult - put it all together and you come out with the complete picture with further dilutes the need to buy a magazine.

Even if it is about testing the latest boat, your sure to find footage and more online at no cost. So in this environment just how do you expect people to pay out for print media? How do you expect advertisers to pay out to try and sell their goods to an ever decreasingly readership when they can bung a few free products to some popular You Tubers - get many many thousands of avid boaters views in return and be 'associated' not with a thin magazine that might be a shadow if its former self, but with respected and 'trusted' creators. 

Just look at what this has done for the world of cosmetics and fashion with a few popular ladies showing what they have bought from shops to wear or comparing lipsticks in tutorial videos - so large was their influence they now have their own make up lines and labels in shops yet all they knew before was how to talk and show such in front of a camera.

 

 

[grendel]

then again where but on youtube, or to be honest on our very owns captains blog can you find out how not to open a tin of hotdogs with a screwdriver. that is something that you would never get in a magazine.

[TheQ]

One thing with the "New " PBO is they've gone over to very thin paper, like many American magazines. Comparing it with recent pre change versions the number of pages and content hasn't changed much. However comparing it with the magazine of some years ago I think the content is not as good as it was.

  I guess like many other areas of interest with Advertisers switching to internet, they can only increase prices to cover their costs or reduce content ( or in this case paper.)

Luckily my main other field of interest, Real and Model railways, (MSWJR & GWR, EM gauge 1940 GWR & N Gauge Highlands 1950s), has still held its advertisers and magazine sales.

[Poppy]

Just seen this on FB.  HILARIOUS !!

 

http://www.pbo.co.uk/dave-selby/coming-terms-dave-selbys-mad-boat-54034#tu9XrXm2CFuL0lQ6.01