Motors and Motorcycling:
In my research I hope to produce a clearer outlook on the ever-developing world of the consumer magazine into new media such as the Internet.
Having been assigned the category ‘Motors and Motorcycling’; here is a list of current related publications distributed throughout the UK along with their publishers. The information was obtained via the ABC’s website (
www.abc.co.uk).
“ Cross-media publishing also reduces some of the old certainties about who the competition is. Simple ABC league tables now tell only a sliver of the overall story”
The magazine industry is rapidly evolving. League tables aren’t the only reflection of readership as online use is ever growing.
There is such a sheer number of titles I have listed them in categories:
Motorcycling
Bike (EMAP Consumer Media PLC)
Ride (EMAP Consumer Media PLC)
Cars (general):
Car (EMAP Consumer Media PLC)
Evo (Dennis Publishing Limited)
Classics:
Sports:
Trading:
Miscellaneous:
Websites:
The majority of magazines in the UK now have their own website to run along side their publications. Here I have selected random magazines from the list and reviewed their websites.
Top Gear is most famously a Television program shown on the BBC. Both TV show and magazine have a combined website via the BBC. This includes videos, picture galleries, news, blogs as well as an easy to use car review search box (road test search) on the main page with easily to navigate drop down menus.
The website is up to date, easily accessible and coincides perfectly with the TV show and magazine. However, the flash popup ads can be annoying at times.
The website makes the magazine almost obsolete. It’s free to browse, easy to use and updated very frequently. With Internet access available in the majority of UK homes now, it seems there is no need for the magazine. Only exceptions are the small minority without Internet connection. Also, it may be useful to pick up and read on the move.
The website is easy to navigate around and searching for a car can be narrowed to down to a very fine specification thanks to the detailed search system on the site.
This website features a very useful ‘Car Chooser’ application. This enables the user to search for cars in existence, both new and used, to fit their budget, leisure and transportation needs. Categories to refine the search include ‘Budget’ (where you can type in the amount you want to spend on the car in total), ‘What will the car be used for?’ (Tick boxes include ‘transporting kids’ and ‘commuting’) as well as other very specific search details. At the end of the search it gives you a list of cars with pictures and the expected price.
This is very useful for people who have no idea what kind of car they should be looking for and can give a good indication of the price that is expected.
Similar to the Top Gear website, this offers an almost identical car review search box. Again this is easy to use but Top Gear’s model looks more modern with its exciting colour schemes, separate categories of review (not all the information is in the same box) and crisper, more exciting images of the car in question. What Car’s page looks too busy and the white and red colour on the pages may be simple but it is too dull to look at.
Overall, the website may contain interesting content but the layout, text and colour scheme make it very dull to look at. Pages are too busy and interest is lost quickly.
This is a site focused a lot more on user contribution. Users can submit photos of their customized cars and if they are female, can send pictures of themselves for the ‘Girls’ pages. It features a main, easy to use menu list at the left-hand side of the home page and the site is generally easy to navigate around.
The theme fits in with the magazine and there is a quantity of good quality images to keep the site interesting.
Having a lot of material submitted by users, this is a cheap and but effective way of getting images. The company doesn’t have to worry about pay royalties to use the images as they would with some professional photos. Plus, the users get the benefit of seeing their images published on the website and possibly in the magazine.
This site is similar to Max Power although the content of both magazines are also very similar. This site also features a ‘Girls’ page built by reader contributions. A difference is that this website looks a lot more basic, containing a lot less information on each page but at the same time this gives a ‘clean and simple’ look.
News with video content or images is listed in a vertical column down the page, which is also easily scrolled through and locatable by date of entry.
This provides regular website views a quick view of what’s been happening without having to navigate round the site.
There are also free wallpapers to download giving the users something for free and therefore identifying the magazine and website via the logo on the wallpaper.
Bike (http://www.bikemagazine .co.uk)
This website is very similar to Redline in appearance, even the colour scheme looks the same. Again, it is very simply laid out with a menu on the left but with details of next issue near the bottom of the page. There is however, a ‘Search’ box, a very useful tool for navigating round the site or just searching for leisure.
There is also a forum where members can sign up and discuss a number of different motorbike topics.
Classic Bike (http://www.classicbik e.co.uk)
Classic bike is also run by the same publishers as ‘Bike’ (EMAP Consumer Media PLC) thus the website is similar in layout. The colour scheme is different and the website focuses more on advertising the magazine in order to encourage more people to buy it. The home page features a large image of the latest issue of the magazine, which is very attractive to look at as well as a ‘search’ box.
In the menu there is a ‘classic club directory’ where there are lists of ‘classic clubs for the UK and overseas’ where bikers can meet. A ‘parts and services directory’ also helps bikers who want to find somewhere local to get the right parts for their bike. Free wallpapers are available and readers are encouraged to send in photographs of their bikes to be featured on the website.
There is a competition to win a Suzuki classic bike and advertising your bike in the magazine is free and easy to do online.
A dull site. The quantity of images and text is overwhelming on each page and the stark red colour scheme is very uneasy on the eyes.
Not much to offer, nothing new or inventive. The website looks a lot more amateurish than others.
A simple looking website. Not too bare and its easy to navigate around. There is an obvious link on the left-hand side of the home page to a ‘Press Pack’. This contains information for potential advertisers, deadline dates, circulation figures, contact details and more in a downloadable PDF.
How do magazines generate an income?
Magazines are heavily reliant on advertising for their income. The greater the circulation, the more advertisers will benefit from advertising with that magazine. However, better selling magazines will be able to charge advertisers more for space.
The image of the magazine is to appeal to the readers’ needs, however:
Editors may continue to see themselves as providing focused, relevant information for readers, but publishers are really supplying a commodity to advertisers.”
(Morrish 2003, 8)
If a magazine is heavily dependent on the income from advertisers, isn’t it more aimed at appealing to the advertisers and not the reader’s interest? It could be argued that advertisements are tailored to the reader’s interest. In this case, I came across a lot of advertisements for automobiles, parts, and fuel in both the magazines and online advertisement.
The same applies to online advertising, the greater the number of website ‘hits’, the greater the demand for advertisers to buy space will be. On the Internet these advertisements come in the form of banners, sponsored links and flash advertisements.
Advertising is also evolving a great deal with talks of new technology for magazine advertisement:
“The secret, according to a report in the US magazine Media Week, is a special electronic paper that powered by a mini-coin-sized battery, would project an animated black and white image on to a printed page. Coloured ads could come in later”
I emailed the editors of several magazines on my list asking ‘Where does your main source of income come from?’ and ‘Why are so many magazines also shifting into new media such as the Internet?’
Andrew Baxter, Web Editor of Max Power replied:
Where does your main source of income come from?
Online, the main source of income is from banner and skyscraper ads. We have also recently introduced the option of having sponsored text links.
These ads can be for anyone from motor manufacturers to computer game makers
As far as the magazine is concerned, our biggest advertisers tend to be alloy wheel distributors
Why are so many magazines also shifting into new media such as the Internet?
The increased move to 'new media' (although interestingly bodies such as the BBC for example, have actually stopped referring to it as 'new media' as it's actually 'here and now' media), is an inevitable result of the dominance of digital devices in people's lives - and especially the ubiquity of broadband in people's homes.
It's fair to say that pretty much all print media has taken a knock in terms of sales to digital media, although for what it's worth, I think the total demise of print media is a very long way off, and probably, won't ever happen.
Forward thinking media brands, and certainly we at Max Power, realise the market now dictates that there needs to be seamless integration between your print and online offerings.
The smart money is on fully utilising the strengths of the respective platforms: magazines allow for beautiful imagery and in-depth features, that people can take their time over and luxuriate in. The publication of a new issue should be seen almost as an event in the reader's month.
Whereas the online proposition allows for immediacy and lots and lots of bite-size, disposable content, it is also infinitely achievable, and so can be the perfect reference tool for 'useful' content - in our example, say a product guide or practical 'How To' guide.
Khal Harris, Staff Writer for Bike Magazine said:
Our main income is still advertising revenue, followed by
subscriptions, then newsstand sales.
As for why there's a shift to the Internet? Because everyone is doing
it. Not following suit leaves you at a disadvantage. It doesn't bring
in new readers, but it retains the old ones.
In Conclusion…
I feel that the progression of the internet-side to magazines is a welcomed development, especially by the consumer. Although online sites have negatively affected print media sales, I agree with Andrew Baxter of Max Power that magazines won’t become obsolete in the near future. Online magazines are mostly free, easily accessible and entertaining. They offer moving images, which magazines don’t (although video advertisements for print magazines are in the works) and features such as blogs, forums, search tools and are interactive.
So what do magazines have going for them? Again, like Andrew Baxter, I feel that magazines are a luxury item to be taken time over reading and absorbed. It is a physical item that the consumer can hold and look forward to sitting and reading at their own leisure.
Although both magazine and online site are linked closely together in some cases, they are separate entities with different purposes. The online version is designed for quick access, interaction and fast, small chunks of entertainment. The print version is for absorbing and enjoying on a much deeper level, something like an image on a computer screen can never replace.
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