This duplicating features business in yottie mags.

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Peppermint

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I understand that equipment reviews will be all much of a muchness as the PR's do their dark deeds. I understand that seasonal themes will hold sway resulting in a bit of a same'ish look to the mags. But when two mags do the Southampton Patrol boat at the same time it seems a bit disorganized. I don't suppose Sailing Today did it as well did they?
 
Happens in all media. Just look at the competing regional TV programmes. It's easier to sift through the press releases and imagine you've found something unique and interesting than go and find something unique and interesting.
 
I commented when this item was touched uppon earlier.

If you take the adverts out, then the duplicated features you are left with very little. In fact the only bit which is unique is readers letters.

Hang on! Readers letters? Thats what we do here is'nt it? OK thats it cancel subs, dont need yacht mag anymore!
 
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Happens in all media. Just look at the competing regional TV programmes. It's easier to sift through the press releases and imagine you've found something unique and interesting than go and find something unique and interesting.

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That's fair enough if it's say, two competing TV stations who happen to have similar content. But these two mags are from the same publisher, a fair amount of the product must be handled by the same people. I can't check now but only one of PBO or YM gave a by-line to the article. Perhaps the same author? In any case, this cannot be a coincidence, can it?
Hmm, this magazine looks too skimpy to last the flight, I know, I'll buy two copies, that should do the trick.
 
The editorial teams of Yachting Monthly and PBO are entirely separate.

We're constantly competing with each other for your readership.

The upside of this is that it keeps us on our toes and prevents any complacency. The better the magazine we produce, the more readers we'll attract – from PBO and elsewhere. The same goes for PBO competing with YM.

The downside is that occassionaly there will be some repitition.

The Southampton patrol story appearing in both magazines was pure coincidence and proves there is no collusion. It was not prompted by some PR initiative, it was just one of those things. The articles written by different authors and both carried bylines.

Miles Kendall
Deputy editor, YM.
 
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The upside of this is that it keeps us on our toes and prevents any complacency. The better the magazine we produce, the more readers we'll attract – from PBO and elsewhere. The same goes for PBO competing with YM.

Miles Kendall
Deputy editor, YM.

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So uncomplacent in fact that both boats reviewed in this months YM were from the same Broker. I find it hard to believe, in boat show month, that was the best option.
 
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The editorial teams of Yachting Monthly and PBO are entirely separate.
We're constantly competing with each other for your readership.


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I would have thought an occasional meeting or conference call just to check that such "coincidences" don't happen might be a good idea. Apart from any other consideration, you are telling us that the company paid twice for the same article to be researched and written.
There are very few magazines in this sector, in fact ST is the only alternative of the type, IPC should be able to sell BOTH their titles to the same readership, as long as they don't treat them as off-handedly as this coincidence suggests they do.
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The upside of this is that it keeps us on our toes and prevents any complacency.

[/ QUOTE ] Doesn't the duplication being discussed here suggest complacency, and what, exactly is the "upside" for us, the paying readership, if we perceive the products as being competitors as opposed to complementary?

Alistair
 
[ QUOTE ]
The editorial teams of Yachting Monthly and PBO are entirely separate.
We're constantly competing with each other for your readership.


[/ QUOTE ]That would maybe be the line the advertising "executives" use to convince advertisers that they will be reaching different readers by advertising in each mag.
 
Re: If this sort of coincidence happens....

and we know it does. Do you see it as a desirable thing or are steps taken to avoid it?

If both titles are operating behind "chinese walls" to enhance them, and that causes problems of duplication, why is that considered a good thing?

You can compete with full disclosure. Boxing isn't enhanced by blindfolds.
 
Re: If this sort of coincidence happens....

I've seen these duplicated articles too many times over the years, small outboards, gps's or whatever. I can't believe it is a coincedence. I used to buy 3 mags a month, but now am only an occassional buyer partly because of this reason, and partly because the tests do not really tell me much more than the manufacturers websites.
 
Re: If this sort of coincidence happens....

I agree, I buy all except yw. The duplication happens nearly every month in one way or another, the other thing that gets my goat is the never ending boat handling articles, which are getting more and more ridiculous, the one this month about stringing a rope from one side of a marina to another while you drop back with the tide (whilst making sure that it can sink to allow another vessel to pass over) would have most people looking sideways if you tried it. yes I know it would probably work - but really
 
There does seem to be less and less to actually read in the IPC mags, especially when you've filleted the three-page features with 18 numbered step-by-step pix on how to come alongside a pontoon.

A monthly magazine is touted to the advertisers as having a long use period, not capable of being read (as I did the latest PBO) in a single lunch break.

We have not yet (quite) reached the position where, to quote the UK Press Gazette's comment on the old London Evening News, 'it could be read in its entirity on a long tube escalator'. But we're close.

Every publication hits stale periods. That's why the really successul proprietors fire the editors on a frequent but irregular basis: to encourage the others.

I write as a former hack of long standing (and when did you last see a hack standing?)

Chris

(hic)
 
Re: If this sort of coincidence happens....

I'm really glad you mentioned the 'one-rope' marina tactic! I tend to skim over these pages because they're, like, sooo boooring and was just doing exactly that when I double-took, backed up (without stringing up the entire marina) and actually read the text accompanying the barmy pictures.

"They've gone completely bonkers," was my initial reaction.

Then I stopped and thought it over, and realised that the article must have been written by someone much more experienced than me, and who knows, maybe they're right.

But your message has reinforced my original snap judgment. The idea is either the most bizarre one ever published - admittedly there are now so many articles with pictures and diagrams of marina berths that new ideas inevitably have to be scraped out the bottom of the barrel - or it was planned for the April issue and somehow there was a mix-up and it ended up in the October issue.

What next: 50 ways to pull that rope thingy that makes the sail go up the mast?
 
Re: If this sort of coincidence happens....

Well I'll disagree with some on this....

I think the boat handling articles are great.... I enjoy reading them, and think that they encourage me to think a bit more laterally, and intelligently about how I handle my boat in marinas.....

I also really like the 'scenario' stuff in YM... where the answer is a few pages on....

I do however agree, for two publications from the same stable, the duplication is a bit dim.....
 
Re: If this sort of coincidence happens....

I agree with you entirely on the benefits of "Learning from experience" and similar items. After all, I would much rather learn from some of their experiences than have to go through the same experiences myself. I don't think that excuses the acres and acres of pages full of bl***y marina pictures though. We all have our private demons when it comes to marina handling, but surely there comes a point when the market for articles on berthing becomes saturated: I know my interest in the subject is now fully satisfied, thanks all the same.
 
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In fact the only bit which is unique is readers letters.



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On at least two occasions I have seen the same letter in two different magazines. Isn't that like posting the same thread on multiple fora?
 
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