Are printed paintball magazines a thing of the past?

[Tony Harrison]

Over the years, we have seen the demise of several paintball magazines - PGI, Paintball Sports Magazine and Paintball Adventures to name a few.

Facefull is still going, but I admit that I prefer the ease of reading it online.

As a child, I read comics like Warlord, Battle, Starlord, 2000AD & Toxic. Out of these, only
2000AD survives.

With the rise of the internet, are we more inclined to read e-magazines than buy the printed versions?

 

[SAMUEL.D.RYAN]

yes

 

[xDansomee]

Shame really, I'd buy em, probs all of them

 

[Bolter]

Fortunately or unfortunately the internet is the way forward with a great many businesses.

 

[Dark Warrior]

Paintball as a sport in the UK is current not big enough to support a printed magazine
Low volume of sales + high cost of production + high cost of distribution = high retail cost of magazine.
I have heard a few people say that they would buy a printed magazine, but doubt there is enough support to get the financial support required.
Who knows what the future might bring though, if the industry picks up.

 

[Bambulus]

Not necessarily a thing of the past - just a thing of the 'not now'.

I'd like to remain optimistic and believe that there'll be on in the future.

People like to have things to read that they can hold and keep. Even with the internets, I still like to think there'd be enough people willing to buy one when the time is right.

 

[Exile]

Unlikely - more likely that e-readers grow in popularity. Magazines require advertising, and off-line advertising is expensive, untargeted and difficult to track success - less attractive to advertisers looking for actual return on their spend.

Egon Spengler said it best "print is dead" - he was just 26 years ahead of the curve.

 

[Soul Doubt]

Many many a time i have wanted to pic up a PB mag, i mean there is 20 odd thousand people on here, with the right marketing, and backing it could be possible. im a niave optimist though.

If i can go into a shop and pic up Cavaraning weekly, or Bog divers monthly then i should be able to go into WHsmith and grab a PB mag

If enough people were willing to put down £20 subcription before it was printed, then something could happen? maybe you get 5 issues for that? i dunno, im just an ideas man...

get the big companies like PE, Dye euorpe etc etc on board, worst they could say is no?

 

[Exile]

Many many a time i have wanted to pic up a PB mag, i mean there is 20 odd thousand people on here, with the right marketing, and backing it could be possible. im a niave optimist though.

Not sure where you get the 20K active users on here from - a more realistic figure would be a few hundred with a total population in the UK of regular players (woodland, scenario and tournament) being maybe 2K?

If i can go into a shop and pic up Cavaraning weekly, or Bog divers monthly then i should be able to go into WHsmith and grab a PB mag

If enough people were willing to put down £20 subcription before it was printed, then something could happen? maybe you get 5 issues for that? i dunno, im just an ideas man...

Caravanning Weekly readers probably have a damn sight more disposable income than 'ballers for starters, plus they don't shoot each other, making it a lot easier to attract advertisers to the publication.

get the big companies like PE, Dye euorpe etc etc on board, worst they could say is no?

PGi stopped because "the big guys" stopped/cut back on advertising, and things have only gotten worse since then.

I personally think that print has had its day, especially for niche activities such as ours. As Eric points out, there just isn't enough support to make it worthwhile and I'm not talking about starting a facebook group here, I mean cold, hard cash to pay for all the costs involved in printing a magazine.

 

[Dark Warrior]

With the demise of PGI, PBUK and Paintball Kit, all excellent mags in their own right and another failing to get the backing to bring it to press, is any investor willing to take the risk on a new magazine especially in this economic climate.
Magazine cost wise you are probably along those lines but subscriber companies are looking at yearly subscriptions for this type of mag ranging from £40-£60 for 12 monthly or £30 - £40 for 4 quarterly