Flying Magazines; The Future
 

I found myself clearing out a couple of decades of Pilot,Flyer and Flight last year and scanning through them all they were dumped because of outdated content and repetition.

Years ago Pilot and Flight were the magazines for classified adverts and content.

James Gilberts Pilot had some wonderful regulars.

These days I never buy a magazine or newspaper. All I need it out there on the internet

So the question is how or can the monthly magazines and daily newspapers adapt and will they survive?

To ask the question is to answer it.

JS,
There were a couple of threads on here (not necessarily this sub-forum) last year to do with the relevance of magazine publishing in today's 'electronic age'.
The first one concerned 'Aeroplane Monthly' in particular and the second, 'Australian Aviation'.
Both threads received input from the respective magazines' managing editors.
A quick search didn't turn anything up for me but a little more time and patience might work for you.


p.s. I owe you a PM on a related subject and, 'as soon as I get my PM box sorted...'.

Having read Pilot for 30+ years, yes it's repetitive. But I still need to keep up to date, so having found a cheap subscription, will keep taking. But they have lost their free landings, so Flyer often has something more appealing. Can gain the value of the magazine and more by using these - and it suggests somewhere to go.......

The new readers are not into the old profile of buying an expensive glossy every month.

I happen to be a Land Rover fan so get my fix here
https://www.landyzone.co.uk

No need to pay for a print mag every month and my tech questions are answered in hours.

I bought Flying decades ago for Len Morgan and Gordon Baxter now both sadly departed.

Wonderful writers.

I adore the expensive glossies and I grew up when I was a youngster with a subscription to Flying magazine here in the US. I will always prefer a richly illustrated paper magazine and some time to sit down and read it front to back. It puts you in a different mindset and improves the experience, IMHO.

That said, purely from an objective point of view, monthly paper is inferior in almost every way to the internet, and I expect paper aviation publications to go the same way as the rest of them.

Have always been a fan of the American "Flying" magazine, for over 50 years its been a buy. A few months ago they went for an overhaul and spoilt the whole thing for me. Pages are "busy" with non relevant material, and look as though they have been assembled with a catapult from 200 paces. It appears that the regular authors have been issued orders to change their approach to subjects as well. Great pity because I loved the material and approach they took. Goodbye "Flying". On the upside, more money for beer.

I don't really get the internet reading malarky. I get 'Flypast' every month and the sound of it dropping through the letterbox is exciting enough in itself (I know, sad old git). There's nothing like stretching out on the sofa in the conservatoire with a mag and turning the pages. It even smells nice. I used to get Flyer as both a mag and internet download job; I don't think I ever once looked at the internet version. Mags, books etc are all not only visual but tactile objects to be savoured.

I still get my copy of Private Eye delivered in print every two weeks to my post box and look forward to its arrival. However my postman delivers very little these days as my bills etc are paid online.

The electronic media world is moving fast and these days there are content aggregators ,that deliver all the topics you are interested in, direct to your screen free of charge. This means the scatter gun approach used in old fashioned advertising is replaced by targeted adverts focussed on what the consumer is interested in.

Google were the first to latch on to this method of making advertising more efficient. Youtube generates huge income in the same way.

Those paying for the advertising can achieve a more focussed approach at a much lower cost over a broader spectrum.

The advert money is what keeps a publication afloat or sinks it.

The content is the other key issue.

National newspapers in general print the same news as each other every day. Most comes from their own long time historical aggregators such as Press Association, Reuters and Associated Press.

The opinion and columnists slant makes a big impact on the readership model. They employ very well paid journalists that set out to ignite comment.

The TCT thread here on Ppprune is a good example of what a successful media model needs. Over 50,000 page views and not a penny spent on content providers.

The adverts are targetting their spend on your eyes.

The days when publications made big money out of classified adverts has long gone.

These days the consumer or reader is the editor and that goes for all media.

The worm has turned.

OK
But where do I go to read about, and to advertise an aircraft or a share?
Where do I find those wonderful articles that ignited the flame of the adventurer?
What about poring over Harry Mendelssohn's averts for gizmos that you can only dream about?
The buy and sell - that's a real question.