What has happened to Around The Coast?

[Ubergeekian]

Yachting Monthly content no longer reflects my interest so have now cancelled my subscription. Rather sad after nearly 40 years of reading YM.
There now seems to be a poor attitude to readers by YM

I was reading through some 1928 and 1935 copies of "Yachting Monthly" at New Year. "Around the Coast" was in those, and losing it after 80+ year seems like a particular loss.

So I'm afraid I agree with you. When I started sailing in earnest, 20 years ago, I read "Practical Boat Owner" for hints and tips of fitting out and maintenance and "Yachting Monthly" for cruising inspiration.

PBO is still pretty good for that - perhaps a little more inclined to gadgets than do-it-yourself, but people have probably been saying that since it started.

YM, on the other hand, really seems to be losing its way at the moment. What's it supposed to be for? Who's it supposed to be for?

The old division was pretty clear:

PBO for people who worked on their boats
YM for people who cruised on their boats
Y&Y for people who raced on their boats
YW for people who gave cocktail parties on their boats

Now YM turns its nose up at anyone with a boat under 30 feet long and seems to be trying to head upmarket into YW territory ... which is already perfectly well catered for by YW! PBO is elbowing into the cruisng market and Sailing Today does a pretty good job in the old markets for both YM and PBO.

Sorry, Snooks. Your pictures are great but the words are irrelevant to me and there aren't nearly enough of them anyway. I'll keep on buying PBO and ST, but YM is barely worth leafing through at the newsagent any more.

 

[fergie_mac66]

I was reading through some 1928 and 1935 copies of "Yachting Monthly" at New Year. "Around the Coast" was in those, and losing it after 80+ year seems like a particular loss.

So I'm afraid I agree with you. When I started sailing in earnest, 20 years ago, I read "Practical Boat Owner" for hints and tips of fitting out and maintenance and "Yachting Monthly" for cruising inspiration.

PBO is still pretty good for that - perhaps a little more inclined to gadgets than do-it-yourself, but people have probably been saying that since it started.

YM, on the other hand, really seems to be losing its way at the moment. What's it supposed to be for? Who's it supposed to be for?

The old division was pretty clear:

PBO for people who worked on their boats
YM for people who cruised on their boats
Y&Y for people who raced on their boats
YW for people who gave cocktail parties on their boats

Now YM turns its nose up at anyone with a boat under 30 feet long and seems to be trying to head upmarket into YW territory ... which is already perfectly well catered for by YW! PBO is elbowing into the cruisng market and Sailing Today does a pretty good job in the old markets for both YM and PBO.

Sorry, Snooks. Your pictures are great but the words are irrelevant to me and there aren't nearly enough of them anyway. I'll keep on buying PBO and ST, but YM is barely worth leafing through at the newsagent any more.

couldnt have said it better YM being run into ground !

 

[sky7liner]

YM criticism

Let's not get this out of proportion. It looks as if 5 readers don't like YM. That's a shame but I don't suppose the editor will lose too much sleep over it. As for Around the Coast, I was mildly irritated to see it become part of the news pages because its previous position made it easy to skip in its entirety. I don't give a toss about what's happening in various bits of the coast I'm unlikely to visit.

When it comes to managing the content of any magazine, it may be worth understanding the situation. Somebody has analysed a copy from more than 30 years ago. I suspect that any hobby magazine from 30 years ago would have very different content which some will find much better and others will dislike. And it's inevitable that there will be a different amount of content. Costs have risen dramatically because everybody has higher expectations: what chance would a magazine printed in black and white have these days? They have to be printed in colour and that's far more expensive. Against that there is far more competition for advertising budgets now. It would also be interesting to know what the cover price was in 1976. Has that kept pace with inflation? Probably not.

In terms of editorial content, the only thing any editor knows for certain is that the readers will criticise the articles. Some will complain that there's not enough of interest to the newcomer. Others will complain that there's too much that they've read before. Some will just complain. As it happens I did write to YM to criticise the article about UKBA alledged successes in catching smugglers in the November issue. My point there though was that the journalist didn't do what a good journalist should: dig around for more information to see if the press release stood up.

Let's face it, we all change as do the magazines. In my time I have been an avid reader of a variety of different hobby magazines that I no longer see and do not miss. I'm currently still a regular reader of YM but it won't surprise me at all if I find myself rarely looking at it some time in the future. And from the magazine's point of view, it has to change: if it doesn't it will die.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Let's not get this out of proportion. It looks as if 5 readers don't like YM. That's a shame but I don't suppose the editor will lose too much sleep over it.

Anyone know what the ABC figures for now as opposed to, say, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago look like? The dramatic shrinkage in the magazine of late certainly suggests that the editor has something to lose sleep over.

And from the magazine's point of view, it has to change: if it doesn't it will die.

Yeah, that's what I think too.

 

[sky7liner]

YM circulation

Unless somebody's got old copies of BRAD, I suspect that IPC is likely to be the only source of that info. According to their online media pack, circulation is currently around 34,000 of which 91% are male, 84% own a boat and they have an avergae age of 56.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Unless somebody's got old copies of BRAD, I suspect that IPC is likely to be the only source of that info. According to their online media pack, circulation is currently around 34,000 of which 91% are male, 84% own a boat and they have an avergae age of 56.

Thanks. I couldn't find the media pack online, or even an advertising page ... unlike PBO.

 

[binch]

average age

56?
Given life expectancy, there must be more B.O.F.s among the readership than young live wires.
Why do advertisers all think that it is the young who buy boats and boaty things?
Who was the cartoonist who drew a yacht with a zimmer frame doubling as a pulpit?