BWI News. Boating Media’s New Economic Realities The financial challenges currently buffeting the marine media were aired during a panel discussion held at the Miami Boat Show during the annual meeting of BWI on February 13. Moderator was Michael Sciulla, chairman of the BWI Speaker’s Committee Three top publishers who control dozens of marine magazines, websites, television shows, book production companies and events offered a sober assessment of the current economic climate and its harmful effects on their operations. One bright light is that the publishers said they felt enthusiast-focused publishing concerns like theirs, including those which specialize in boating and fishing, will survive. Their mix of print and Internet content distribution will surely change, though to forecast how at this turbulent time is unrealistic. Glenn Hughes, Group Publisher of the Bonnier Marine Group, suggested the industry didn’t know how good 2002 to 2007 was. He predicts fewer magazines in the future in response to fewer readers and ads, resulting in a cut in editorial pages needed. Hughes doesn’t think print is going away, but it is going to have a very difficult year or more and that the integration of print with electronic media will continue. He says full-time editorial staff will define his firm’s titles, the publisher’s reputation and quality of the end product. Hughes believes publishers need to cut the clutter, that they and writers need to be creative, and everyone involved needs to be passionate about their subjects to better serve readers. A statistic of interest offered by the panel: in 2008 715 new magazines were introduced in the U.S. as 525 were eliminated; in 2007, 590 titles were withdrawn. Duncan McIntosh, founder of Duncan McIntosh Co., Inc., said he had survived seven recessions and thinks this one, thus far, is not as severe as some others. He alluded to the end of the Carter Presidency in 1980 when unemployment was running 11%, inflation was 15%, mortgage rates were 15% and people waited in lines to buy gas that was $1 per gallon cheaper than last year. He also told a story of a dealer advertiser who delivered a dozen larger boats on December 31, 1989 as the Bush I luxury tax took hold and didn’t sell another until it was repealed three years later. McIntosh also suggested the publishing and boating industry may have become too comfortable in the past several years, and alluded to the adage, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Efrem Zimbalist III, Chairman and CEO of Active Interest Media, views the transition from print to electronic delivery as a “macro” trend being intensified by the larger “micro” influence of a wounded global economy. Endemic titles like his are better positioned to survive he feels, because they target enthusiasts and dreamers that can be reached more effectively than in general media. Zimbalist points out that design, content and photography are as crucial to electronic presentation of subject matter as in print, though links to audio and video will grow in importance to readers and viewers. He defined the road to survival as finding ways to better serve readers in whatever dimension they seek (including consideration of portable print via a “Kindle”), starting with the basic questions of “what do they need, and what are they looking for?” In response to a question asking if publishers were eliminating in-house staff in favor of less costly freelancers, panelists offered a mixed perspective. While they desire quality and a sense of “title culture” that develops when colleagues can interact face-to-face, reducing overhead in a down market is fueled, for example, in not having to pay for medical insurance. Technology has forced a huge shift in cost control, in both good and bad times: an example cited is that a complete magazine layout can now be produced in a freelancer’s basement. A comment from the floor illustrated the state of flux in which writers and publishers are working. Freelancers who have succeeded on the web with blogs and other offerings have taken the “niche” marketing model to new levels, often drawing away advertising revenue that had gone to publications. As print revenues have fallen, the ability of publishers to maintain in-house and freelance staffs has been challenged. Where this ends is unclear. What it demands is the ability to embrace change. A Look at Boating Beyond Middle-Age Males BWI’s Fort Lauderdale panel discussion featured, from left, Wanda Kenton Smith, Ray Blue, moderator Michael Sciulla, and Pedro Diaz. By Michael Sciulla The question of what can be done to broaden boating’s appeal was the subject of some lively and enlightening discussion at BWI’s recent meeting during the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show. A panel discussion entitled “Growing the Boating Universe Beyond Middle-age Males” concluded that appealing to African Americans and Hispanics who now constitute 27% of America’s population – and who are projected to comprise 50% of all Americans by 2042 - may be one sure-fire way of getting more people involved in recreational boating. Only 17% of boating participants are currently non-Caucasian. Of course, wanting more minorities to participate and actually getting them to do so may be a tall order especially since a cursory review of boating magazine covers, feature stories and advertisements rarely feature Americans of color. Ray Blue, co-founder of the Black Boaters Club of America and a panelist agrees that is a factor and adds that one real impediment to attracting African Americans to boating is that 51% don’t know how to swim, a skill most would say is part and parcel of recreational boating. A lack of public pools for many inner city kids and that fact that slaves were prohibited from learning how to swim for fear that they would escape are legacies that need to be overcome. “But barriers to boating that were once real are now more ‘perceived than real,’ “ he said, noting that most African Americans don’t identify with boating today because they don’t see others like themselves getting involved as they have more recently with sports like tennis and golf. “The marine industry is losing out on billions of dollars of discretionary spending controlled by African Americans who can afford to go boating but don’t. Advertisers need to be made aware of the size of this market,” he noted. Just how important a minority group can be to boating was also driven home by another panelist, Pedro Diaz, publisher of Mar y Pesca, the nation’s only Hispanic boating and fishing magazine. According to Diaz, nearly one-third of the one million boats registered in Florida are owned by Hispanic Americans and by 2035 one-fifth of all Americans will be Hispanic. “As a Cuban-American who grew up on an island, I have to go to the ocean at least once a month or I just won’t feel right,” he noted. Diaz, too, bemoaned the fact that there were few opportunities for Hispanic Americans to see themselves between the covers of most boating and fishing magazines. “For some reason the boating industry just doesn’t quite grasp the size of this market,” he said. But, while the African and Hispanic Americans are substantial and growing untapped markets, the boating industry is neglecting what may be its most influential market – women. According to Wanda Kenton Smith of Kenton Smith Advertising and Public Relations, a 30-year veteran of the boating industry, while men may technically own the vast majority of boats in this country, women have a substantial say in 80% of the purchasing decisions. “By 2010 women will control over $1 trillion or 60% of wealth of this country but when you look at boating magazines and advertising, most of what you see are babes lounging in boats and not at the helm,” she said. Women constituted 52.5% of boating participants in 2006. “Women don’t want special attention, they just don’t want to be disregarded by the boating industry,” she added. And while being overlooked may well be the common element that ties these three demographic groups together, one way to reverse the industry’s sagging fortunes may be staring us in the face. Since advertisers control the dollars that are the lifeblood of boating’s publications, they will have to be made aware of these untapped markets. Those that see this as an opportunity to grow their business will rightly encourage magazine publishers and editors to include more women, Hispanics and African Americans in their pages. America is a far different place than it was just 10 or 20 years ago. Much has changed and even more change is on the way. An African American will be sworn in as President of the United States of America in January. Those who recognize the fact that recreational boating will grow by expanding its appeal beyond one slice of the American pie will not only survive, but prosper. BWI News Archives