Autosport magazine to stop printing magazines at the end of the year

[andy97]

I prefer reading a magazine but bought Autosport sporadically in recent years. I used to have a subscription and that came with the digital edition, but I really hated the mock magazine electronic format where I had to electronically “turn the page”. If I have to use my iPad or lap top to read articles I want to do so in a web site specific format.

IF, the new version of Autosport is optimised for reading on an IPad or lap top, and IF it continues to have the National/ club Autosport section and Marcus Pye etc, ironically I may return to being a subscriber. They will then have achieved their aim, I guess.

[coppice]

I read the editorial , thanks for posting .

If nothing else , its contents confirm my long held suspicion that as soon as a long established magazine ( or car manufacturer, race team , or even pork pie maker ) starts portentously calling itself 'a brand ' it has not only lost touch with its own history , but also with its customers . And ,as often as not, it's FUBAR too.

[S griffin]

I do it through online subscription. At least they don’t leave it all day Thursday before they can bother to put the online mag up like they used to

[Peter Mallett]

Two points. Print copy is not online and second, I don't need the other info.

[S griffin]

Well I just feel that’s the only good thing about it

[dwh43scale]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

At the moment, there is a way to read the print copy without having to pay that cover price, but on a tablet or PC. It requires a monthly subscription (that is less than the cost of one week’s edition). The app gives access to hundreds (maybe thousands) of other magazines from around the world as well......

I suspect you are talking about Readly - a useful way to read a huge international range of mags online - so no inky fingers from MN - and I get to see my occasional Readers Photos contributions in decent resolution !
If you OK reading online (and I know some prefer the hardcopy) its good value at less than a tenner a month.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Two points. Print copy is not online and second, I don't need the other info.

What do you mean? The full magazine is available online. Here’s the IOS version. I've used this since I went back to them, now I'm 'foreign' to the UK it does also mean I get it on time.

EDIT: A pdf version is available too if you subscribe.

I read the website, which with plus gives you the biggest articles that are in the mag. and the news.

I don’t listen to the podcasts or watch the videos. I’m after well written articles. They could be better and I wouldn’t describe them as great quality, but I don’t know a source with better of the up to date stuff. The bar is low. Motorsport has some, but it’s not it’s main bit. Actually the best of Motorsport now for me is the road car reviews!

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by dwh43scale

I suspect you are talking about Readly - a useful way to read a huge international range of mags online - so no inky fingers from MN - and I get to see my occasional Readers Photos contributions in decent resolution !
If you OK reading online (and I know some prefer the hardcopy) its good value at less than a tenner a month.

Yup, that's the kiddy…...

[andy97]

Out of interest i bought a digital copy of this weeks magazine to see what the format was, whether it had changed from when i held a subscription and to see whether i enjoyed the user experience.
To be fair there were a couple of articles that i thought looked interesting in the “performance section” but the whole “reading experience” is hideous.
To my mind, you cant replicate a page turning magazine experience on line, it needs to be in a format optimised for the tablet, phone or lap top. Lets call it, i dont know, a web site!
I wont be buying a digital subscription.
For those that read magazines on line regularly, are they all like this? In particular is “Motorsport” like this as i was considering a digital subscription to that, too?

[Fiorentina 1]

Autosport online is a joke. I bought the SPA issue, when for some reason it arrived a week late in the USA. Autosprint (Italian weekly), which I buy every Monday (yes, 24 hours after the GP) for 1 have a brilliant online (iPad) format. Autosport is complete junk....

[Mike Bell]

I’ve only experienced the previously mentioned third party App version of the printed edition, and that works fine for me on an iPad, as do all the other mags I read via it...... And no delays to speak of.

[hoffman66]

Lets face it, the print world for motrsport died a long time ago, if these publications were independent they would have died a long time ago, MN's circ has been under 10k for about that time and even when I contributed a long time ago Autosport was well under 50k, and that is 20 years ago.

Print still has a market, but it is well heeled, rich people, hence the proliferation of classic car mags. Then you have a small market for niche marques and modified cars, and the biggest market has always been road cars, Top gear, Car etc. Modified stuff like Max Power had it's day but that all died when that market died too, and has moved into marque magazines, either sub or print based.

Autosport was basically a glorified F1 weekly, was stupidly pricey for a flimsy rag as was MN. If you were buying it, really you were either habitual or an uber fan, most of my racing fans stopped buying either 10 years ago. The content was skimpy at bets, full of ads, and most articles were so quick to read it was juts not worth the paper it was printed on.

The online version I don't know, will never sub to online, just not me, never downloaded a song, just not me, and the same for reading magazines online, I have tried it, didn't like it, it is simply a media that has passed me by racing wise.

The only thing I ever buy now is Private Eye! I used to buy maybe 3 or 4 mags a month.

[Paradise City]

Autosport does well when the pages aren't sucked into a Grand Prix weekend. They have strong bits n' pieces on a quietish weekend when their staff can breathe. It's quite annoying they won't let the title go to someone else.

But anyway. If you're gonna axe it, axe it overnight. This tripling of the price is not making me a happy bunny, folks. 23 years going into the same shop just to get it. I'll have to remember not to bother next time.

[hoffman66]

I thin they reply on people like you, if you think there are probably a few thousand who do this every week.

Far play to anyone who still did it, when it was so overpriced.

[Adam43]

Was overpriced? What was it before the price hike?

[hoffman66]

I am fairly sure it was something like 4 quid ish a week, that is a monthly mag price for a weekly.

Just silly and fairly unsustainable.

[John Turner]

Anyone who thinks that it is just a glorified F1 weekly, clearly doesn't read it and at £3.99, it was roughly the price of a pint, so neither silly nor unsustainable. However, I would agree that what is silly and unsustainable is the price hike but then it would appear to be intentionally so, ostensibly to drive everyone to the internet/digital side.

For the record, notwithstanding what you may read officially, my understanding is that the mag remains profitable, since sales are not the only source of income, as like most mags it has advertisers and sponsors. Despite the inevitable downward trend in printed material, it actually registered a small increase in sales numbers in 2018, the first time to do so this century. With this latest price rise, I imagine that is not likely to be emulated this year!

Kev has always suspected that he might be the last editor of the printed version of this magazine, although I imagine he won't be so appreciative of the manner of its likely passing. I am, however, personally, grateful to Rob Paterson for writing this week's editorial since Kev was understandably disinclined to do so.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by hoffman66

I am fairly sure it was something like 4 quid ish a week, that is a monthly mag price for a weekly.

Just silly and fairly unsustainable.

Ooo, I have a new business model. Bring out a magazine once a year and charge 12 times the price of Motorsport.

[hoffman66]

You are right I don't read it, and only did very briefly. But I did buy it periodically in the 90's, but was always more and MN person.

But the times I did pick it up recently it was full of masses of pictures, a lot of F1 stuff (you are in the minority thinking otherwise looking at other forums and posters) very little text and was utterly worthless to me to read, I like to spend a few hours reading magazines and that has not been the case for quite some time.

4 quid for a weekly when most monthlys cost a fiver is utterly out of the park.

[Adam43]

Print edition costs:
Motorsport £5.50
Autosport £3.99 (before the real outrage)
Motoring News £3.60
Loaf of bread £1.20
Pint of beer £3.00
Gallon of petrol £5.45

Considering the printing costs I’m not really sure it could be anything else.

Of course if you don’t feel it is worth it fair enough.

[hoffman66]

Really for MN to be that expensive is even more crazy.

People seem to forget these weeklies?

I don't mind paying that for a monthly, but a weekly?

Seems I am very out of touch if people are prepared to pay that for about an hours reading, when you get 90% of that info online before Thursday!

I guess the people owning it knew they could get away with it as enough people would buy it regardless.

[Adam43]

What would a fair price be for a weekly?

[Aysedasi]

Not a clue.

The only thing I'm wondering about is the two issues I buy every year. The Le Mans preview edition (so is that the end of the preview supplement?) and the Le Mans results edition......

[Adam43]

I know it’s not the same, currently the supplements appear on digital. Of course, does that mean they are worth doing for that format if there is no print. No reason why the content can’t be digital. Not the same I know.

Would you pay £10.99 for them!?

[Aysedasi]

Twice a year - yes, I admit I would. But I wouldn't buy an online subscription for them....