Motorsport Fans - The Fringe Dwellers

twinwebbers · 2 Aug 2006, 00:03 (Ref:1670485)

I happend to be on the ACP magazine site the other day and was interested in looking at the circulation figures published for the different magazines.

AutoAction: 13,862 weekly
Wheels: 60,232 monthly
Street Machine: 62,665 montly

Womens Weekly: 615,139 monthly
Burkes Backyard: 93,425 monthly
Take 5: 257,663 Weekly

I'd be interested to see the figures for Motorsport News but going on those figures (Yes I know weekly vs monthly but its all I have...) Motorsport is a pretty fringe interest even among the 'motor' set.

A good friend of mine is the editor of a Hot Rod mag and they publish about 18,000 mags monthly. I though Hot Roding was a pretty fringe interest in the 'motor' scene but even they outsell auto action on a per issue basis.

Any thoughts?

TSR · 2 Aug 2006, 02:36 (Ref:1670520)

Does not really suprise me ( So much for VE$A publicity push ), as you said motorsport is a small section in the public & newsagency's

BAZzzzz c · 2 Aug 2006, 02:46 (Ref:1670525)

I couldnt believe those figures for AA 'twin' so I had a look at my latest, July 19th 2006 and sure enough exACTY as you say, 13, 862. I then yanked a 'random' copy from my rather huge pile of AA January 10th 2006. Circulation quoted at 14,707.!!??

Delving even deeper into that gorgeous pile of info, I came up with one of the old shape.. October 1st 2003. Circulation figure of 15,309...............
wait a mo Lads n Lasses, Circulation is going down as we speak.

I am astounded. Isnt it the goal of magazines to increase circulation as time goes by? Who isnt buying. Who is getting their info elswhere, who cant keep up with the rest of them, Who.... is ... the weakest link.

Those that buy off the shelf or subscribe would have noted with dismay the passing of the grid girls and the strutters from this mag. Maybe the publisher should start having a look at whats not catching peoples attention at the bookstands. (and what IS)

Might go and find my earliest copy and see what that one says. Its sooooo far down that pile though..

DAVID PATERSON · 2 Aug 2006, 03:54 (Ref:1670543)

I guess it could be considered as proof of what i have believed for a while. "The majority of car enthusiasts aren't particularly interested in circuit racing."

Phase3 · 2 Aug 2006, 05:03 (Ref:1670552)

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinwebbers

A good friend of mine is the editor of a Hot Rod mag and they publish about 18,000 mags monthly. I though Hot Roding was a pretty fringe interest in the 'motor' scene but even they outsell auto action on a per issue basis.

Any thoughts?

Per issue maybe, but AA is a weekly mag - times its weekly distibution by 52 and divide by 12 and your monthly readership now becomes 60068, more than tripleing the readership of your mates Hot Rod mag and improving its showing against wheels And co......

For the record, the only magazine I buy these days is the Queensland Fishing Monthly

Head Rev · 2 Aug 2006, 05:17 (Ref:1670560)

Are more people getting their info from the 'net'!!! So many forum sites, V8 team sites etc. Back to you guys......

twinwebbers · 2 Aug 2006, 05:39 (Ref:1670565)

Phase3, I know you can't always compare the weekly vs monthly thing but looking at the ACP figures and most of the weekly magazines have a much higher circulation. More of a 'newspaper' mentality than a magazine...

So in my mind that makes the AutoAction figures look worse not better.

Robert Ryan · 2 Aug 2006, 06:31 (Ref:1670582)

Quote:

The majority of car enthusiasts aren't particularly interested in circuit racing."

Pretty hard to say..but the net is becoming more and more the only source of information on motorsport for a lot of people.

johnny yuma · 2 Aug 2006, 06:57 (Ref:1670596)

big if ,but IF there was a circuit racing magazine of the quality of Max Stahl's defunct Racing Car News,with internet backup etc ,I for one would buy it.You had a report and podium finishers with fastest laptime of every race held IN AUSTRALIA,plus overseas reports,technicals.cams news ,gossip etc.Anyone know their sales peak?? THE PRESENT FISHWRAP MAGS ARE BORING RUBBISH.

pete55 · 2 Aug 2006, 06:58 (Ref:1670597)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAZzzzz c

Who isnt buying. Who is getting their info elswhere

DAVID PATERSON · 2 Aug 2006, 07:02 (Ref:1670600)

I used to subscribe to AA & MN, now i rely on the internet et al for news. The only mag i buy now is Australian Muscle Car.

dsg · 2 Aug 2006, 07:24 (Ref:1670611)

I also once bought AA, Wheels and a couple of computer magazines but I now get all my info from the net.

As I understand it a lot of print media is suffering from a continuing decline in sales. Magazine sales are also a somewhat shaky method of determining public interest in motor sport.

Rombles1 · 2 Aug 2006, 11:29 (Ref:1670816)

I bought AA once. And I mean "once"!

racer69 · 2 Aug 2006, 16:56 (Ref:1671168)

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnny yuma

big if ,but IF there was a circuit racing magazine of the quality of Max Stahl's defunct Racing Car News,with internet backup etc ,I for one would buy it.You had a report and podium finishers with fastest laptime of every race held IN AUSTRALIA,plus overseas reports,technicals.cams news ,gossip etc.Anyone know their sales peak?? THE PRESENT FISHWRAP MAGS ARE BORING RUBBISH.

RCN was a great magazine, but it wouldn't work nowadays as it was a monthly news magazine. Nowadays you can get the news from the weekly editions of Auto Action or bi-weekly editions of Motorsport News.

What Racing Car News had going for it was it features, and when Chevron replaced RCN with Motor Racing Australia in early 1993, conecentrating on feature stories, it was the correct move.

BAZzzzz c · 2 Aug 2006, 21:33 (Ref:1671513)

Quote:

Originally Posted by pete55

Not my first laugh this morning Pete but definately the hearties.....lol

RotorFan · 3 Aug 2006, 04:12 (Ref:1671735)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAVID PATERSON

I guess it could be considered as proof of what i have believed for a while. "The majority of car enthusiasts aren't particularly interested in circuit racing."

Yeah I'd started to think that way too recently.

I think you could also almost say "The majority of circuit racing fans aren't car enthusiasts"!

Well maybe not "circuit racing fans" - maybe V8-only fans.

Notso Swift · 3 Aug 2006, 04:39 (Ref:1671748)

I think Women buy mags religiously, Men usually just can't be arsed, anyone want to look at the circulation for the first edition in October?

SRabbit · 3 Aug 2006, 04:41 (Ref:1671750)

why would you pay $5 a week or whatever it for AA? Most of the stuff in it was in a forum of some sort the week before it's printed.

I used to buy it to read the V8 and F1 news - now I just stand there and read the 4 pages that applies to those 2 categories in under 5 minutes...got all the news I wanted ( most of which I already knew anyway ) and I still have the $260 in pocket at the end of the year....

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