Dirt Sports + Off-Road Magazine dead...

Chris Tobin

Chris Tobin

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I just received a subscription copy of Petersen's 4Wheel & Off-Road magazine with a letter on the cover explaining that Dirt Sports + Off-Road magazine has been discontinued as of the March 2018 issue...

Bummer for us desert and rock racing lovers!!!

I contributed to many issues of DirtSports back when Jim Ryan, Mary Ryan, Craig Perronne and Marty were running the magazine and enjoyed working with them on a semi-regular basis.

I was sad to see it sold to TEN, and then merged with Off-Road magazine and even more sad to see the title go away in its entirety!!!
 
y2kbaja

y2kbaja

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It is sad to see another off-road racing media gone to the wind but after the merge it wasn't a racing magazine any longer. I only had a subscription because it was left over but I barely skimmed the magazine, read the rear view story then tossed them.
 
Rennsport Group

Rennsport Group

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Honestly, this is a piece of bittersweet news. All of the hard work and hard core racing message that the DirtSports team put into the original magazines still reads well today. That all went away with the merger of DirtSports and Off-Road, but, by that time, it was time for me to move on to the next chapters of life anyway. Still very proud of the years and years we spent holding a mirror up to this great lifestyle and industry.
 
BANNED4LIFE

BANNED4LIFE

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i dont know how to break this to you all....but....magazines are OVER......just like when i told the yellow page salesman 15 years ago that his biz was DONE and he should start looking for a new line of work......
 
Chris Tobin

Chris Tobin

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BANNED4LIFE said:
i dont know how to break this to you all....but....magazines are OVER......just like when i told the yellow page salesman 15 years ago that his biz was DONE and he should start looking for a new line of work......
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Not ALL mags are suffering... At Diesel World and Ultimate Diesel Builder's Guide magazines the ad guys are still ADDING new advertisers and the vast majority stay in the magazines and are getting positive results. Our total page counts have increased over the several years that I have been working with them...

Of course I do not know the details on our profitability, but as of now we are still doing well... The other major Diesel performance magazine has been loosing pages through the years and seems to be struggling more than we are. They are also part of the TEN publishing group, and that staff seems to want to go digital and not support its own print as much...
 
Racing Ron

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But ...wait...TEN was here a few months ago and things were "solid", "growing", and I should buy $3k worth of ads each month. I'm sure it's got to be tough in the print biz today, but every owner of the off road titles after Petersen has dropped the ball in my opinion. When they DID have the readership and COULD have started moving them to digital, they Kodak'd it and buried their heads in the sand. And for perspective, I started advertising in these publications about '85.
 
Chris Tobin

Chris Tobin

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Racing Ron said:
But ...wait...TEN was here a few months ago and things were "solid", "growing", and I should buy $3k worth of ads each month. I'm sure it's got to be tough in the print biz today, but every owner of the off road titles after Petersen has dropped the ball in my opinion. When they DID have the readership and COULD have started moving them to digital, they Kodak'd it and buried their heads in the sand. And for perspective, I started advertising in these publications about '85.
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In my opinion moving the mags to digital is a mistake... Every consumer thinks digital is pretty much free and there is not enough income to justify the pay print photogs and editors make so they go with crap digital only guys that cant spell, proofread or understand basic grammar!!!!

I personally am happy that our website is old and outdated. We keep selling mags!!! Rather than giving everything away for free on the internet the same day or in some cases before the mags even hit the newsstands!

I think a web presence is needed and nice. But I think it should compliment and support the print side, not devalue it!!!

Fortunately with the sled pullers and diesel drag racers and enthusiasts that are many of our readers they still like to do it in print rather than a smart phone or tablet!!!
 
vegasloki

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Chris print is dying/shrinking because tastes are changing. You guys do well because it's a smaller pub with a dedicated fan base. The most impacted by the downturn are mainstream pubs, some niche pubs are still doing well. The problem isn't just that print it trying to move online it's that print is trying to move online using the same business models and formats that worked well in print.
 
Racing Ron

Racing Ron

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Chris Tobin said:
In my opinion moving the mags to digital is a mistake... Every consumer thinks digital is pretty much free and there is not enough income to justify the pay print photogs and editors make so they go with crap digital only guys that cant spell, proofread or understand basic grammar!!!!

I personally am happy that our website is old and outdated. We keep selling mags!!! Rather than giving everything away for free on the internet the same day or in some cases before the mags even hit the newsstands!

I think a web presence is needed and nice. But I think it should compliment and support the print side, not devalue it!!!

Fortunately with the sled pullers and diesel drag racers and enthusiasts that are many of our readers they still like to do it in print rather than a smart phone or tablet!!!
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Good luck. I don't think all mags will die, just as books have not, but it won't get any easier.
 
Ol' Curmudgeon

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'member when Fred Horton's OFF ROAD ADVERTISER had all the classifieds and all the pages?

'member when broadcast licenses were used to print money?

Them days are gone.
 
redrdr67

redrdr67

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Sorry Ol' Curmdgeon. I only "liked" the part when you mentioned Fred Horton. The other parts I don't like because it's sad but true.
 
Ol' Curmudgeon

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OFF ROAD ACTION NEWS, ON-DIRT MOTORSPORTS, SCORE NEWS, OFF ROAD AMERICA, CORVA NEWS, 3 & 4 WHEEL ACTION, ATV NEWS, THREE-WHEELING, CYCLE NEWS, and local newspaper sports sections like the PRESS ENTERPRISE covered off road racing as well as the slick monthlies like HOT VWS, HOT ROD, PICKUP - VAN & 4WD.

Now I guess everybody just looks at Facebook??? :(
 
nickybobby333

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Ol' Curmudgeon said:
OFF ROAD ACTION NEWS, ON-DIRT MOTORSPORTS, SCORE NEWS, OFF ROAD AMERICA, CORVA NEWS, 3 & 4 WHEEL ACTION, ATV NEWS, THREE-WHEELING, CYCLE NEWS, and local newspaper sports sections like the PRESS ENTERPRISE covered off road racing as well as the slick monthlies like HOT VWS, HOT ROD, PICKUP - VAN & 4WD.

Now I guess everybody just looks at Facebook??? :(
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Hot VWs was awesome!
 
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