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Author Topic:   POWERBOAT REPORTS Has Gone Under

jimh posted 05-10-2007 12:35 AM ET (US)
I got a curt notice in the mail this week that POWERBOAT REPORTS magazine has ceased publishing. There was nothing in the way of an explanation.
The most likely reason for the end of this no-advertising magazine is financial problems. Perhaps there were not enough subscribers to make it profitable.
I have been a subscriber for several years, and I enjoyed reading POWERBOAT REPORTS. I will miss it. Perhaps in the internet age it was no longer a workable concept. You can get a huge amount of boating content without advertising on the internet these days without a subscription fee.
onokai posted 05-10-2007 02:54 AM ET (US)
I have been getting bthis for many years and I hate to see it go-it was always a good read-with no ads. Mark
swist posted 05-10-2007 07:22 AM ET (US)
Powerboat Reports tried hard to be the Consumer's Union of the boating world, but without advertising, you need a huge body of subscriptions to survive, and boating is still a niche in the general consumer market.
It was obvious over the years that they were running on a shoestring - a lot of the tests seemed to use mickeymouse setups and instrumentation. Or so-called side-by-side engine test on different hulls. Etc.
I'm sure it's true that the Internet helped kill it. It does take more time to separate the wheat from the chaff, but once you've found sites like CW, you can get an enormous amount of comparative data on almost any boating product. If you gather enough data, it becomes relatively easy to eliminate personal biases and/or just plain misinformation.
Peter posted 05-10-2007 08:12 AM ET (US)
Casualty of the free or relatively free information age.
Having been annoyed that my subscription dollars were supporting silly shootout procedures, I decided not to renew my subscription when it came up for renewal late last year. Perhaps I wasn't alone.
The difference between Consumers Union and PBR was that that CU always buys the products it does comparative testing on, including big ticket items like cars. While PBR may have bought the low priced items like paint or electronics for comparative testing, it only borrowed boats/motor packages for comparative performance testing. There is a big difference because borrowing always has strings attached and buying does not. If you write too much of a negative report on a borrowed product, it will be unlikely that anyone will loan you a product to do a comparative test on in the future. Thus they were constrained in ways that CU is not.

aja posted 05-10-2007 09:58 AM ET (US)
Hopefully "Practical Sailor" won't meet a similar fate.
boatdryver posted 05-10-2007 10:46 AM ET (US)
When the Pacific Northwest magazine "Passagemaker" first started in the late 90's it was a small mag with little advertising and the reviews seemed to mainly be written by the publisher, ads seemed to be pretty objective. So welcome and so refreshing. For a while....
Then, when circulation permitted there was a switch to glossy paper and he number of ads increased exponentially. Because of all the ads, the mag swelled like a piece of fiberboard left out in the rain, as did, I am sure, the wallet of the publisher. I seemed to notice a change in the review articles- perhaps a hesitancy to say anything too negative about the product, a hesitancy by the author to speak so frankly.
Too bad about POWERBOAT REPORTS. It was perhaps the last source of unbiased information we had. Many of the magazines and web boat reviews are too much like Motor Trend magazine, in which the review articles often seem to have been edited by the marketing department of the manufacturer of the product being reviewed.
JimL
where2 posted 05-11-2007 06:54 PM ET (US)
My father made note of this several weeks ago having received a notice of their impending demise. Obviously, not all the notes went out in the mail the same week. Their objective reviews and the thought that went into creating their objective head to head tests will be missed.
I loved how they would come up with an old boat hull to test the depth of shine of various fiberglass products. Or park several chunks of bottom painted fiberglass in a salt water bath for a year to really test their usefulness.
It's one thing to say "let's some different products". It is another to come up with an objective testing method which simulates the real world. I've actually had manufacturer's representatives from marine electronics companies make note of the tests that Powerboat Reports did, which indicates to me that the manufacturers were paying attention to what was being said about their products, no matter how small the audience of readers this little periodical had.
pglein posted 05-14-2007 05:26 PM ET (US)
Is it conceivable that an online version of the magazine could be successful?
seahorse posted 05-18-2007 06:27 PM ET (US)
Issue Date: 5/18/2007, Posted On: 5/18/2007
Powerboat Reports ceases publication
Connecticut-based Belvoir Media Group has discontinued publishing Powerboat Reports.

The company, which also publishes Practical Sailor and more than 30 other special interest titles, said Powerboat Reports was profitable, but failed to expand in circulation and profit growth over the years. Powerboat Reports, published out of the companys Sarasota, Fla. office, was a subscriber-based publication that offered product reviews and consumer tips. It did not rely on advertising revenue.

"Powerboat Reports has been in business since 1989 and has done a great job in serving the powerboat community,"" said Tim Cole, Belvoirs executive vice president and editorial director. "It has been profitable but it never achieved the size and scale that wed like."

"Practical Sailor has more than double the subscribers of Powerboat Reports and continues to be one of the profit leaders for the company,"" said Cole.

"Sailors are simply more committed to their pastime,"" said Cole. "Sailors sail because they like to sail.""

"Boating magazine, in exchange for assuming Powerboat Reports liabilities, has taken over the publications subscriptions,"" Cole said.

Chris Landry, editor of Powerboat Reports for the past eight years, will stay on board with Belvoir for several months, according to Cole.

In addition to its boating-related titles, Practical Sailor and Boatbuilder, Belvoir publishes magazines covering health, home, horses, aviation, pets and guns.

Jefecinco posted 05-18-2007 07:11 PM ET (US)
Another boating publication I enjoyed but is no longer around was Small Boat Journal. Somewhere I have a box full of them. They were always fun to read.
Butch

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Author	Topic: POWERBOAT REPORTS Has Gone Under
jimh	posted 05-10-2007 12:35 AM ET (US) I got a curt notice in the mail this week that POWERBOAT REPORTS magazine has ceased publishing. There was nothing in the way of an explanation. The most likely reason for the end of this no-advertising magazine is financial problems. Perhaps there were not enough subscribers to make it profitable. I have been a subscriber for several years, and I enjoyed reading POWERBOAT REPORTS. I will miss it. Perhaps in the internet age it was no longer a workable concept. You can get a huge amount of boating content without advertising on the internet these days without a subscription fee.
onokai	posted 05-10-2007 02:54 AM ET (US) I have been getting bthis for many years and I hate to see it go-it was always a good read-with no ads. Mark
swist	posted 05-10-2007 07:22 AM ET (US) Powerboat Reports tried hard to be the Consumer's Union of the boating world, but without advertising, you need a huge body of subscriptions to survive, and boating is still a niche in the general consumer market. It was obvious over the years that they were running on a shoestring - a lot of the tests seemed to use mickeymouse setups and instrumentation. Or so-called side-by-side engine test on different hulls. Etc. I'm sure it's true that the Internet helped kill it. It does take more time to separate the wheat from the chaff, but once you've found sites like CW, you can get an enormous amount of comparative data on almost any boating product. If you gather enough data, it becomes relatively easy to eliminate personal biases and/or just plain misinformation.
Peter	posted 05-10-2007 08:12 AM ET (US) Casualty of the free or relatively free information age. Having been annoyed that my subscription dollars were supporting silly shootout procedures, I decided not to renew my subscription when it came up for renewal late last year. Perhaps I wasn't alone. The difference between Consumers Union and PBR was that that CU always buys the products it does comparative testing on, including big ticket items like cars. While PBR may have bought the low priced items like paint or electronics for comparative testing, it only borrowed boats/motor packages for comparative performance testing. There is a big difference because borrowing always has strings attached and buying does not. If you write too much of a negative report on a borrowed product, it will be unlikely that anyone will loan you a product to do a comparative test on in the future. Thus they were constrained in ways that CU is not.
aja	posted 05-10-2007 09:58 AM ET (US) Hopefully "Practical Sailor" won't meet a similar fate.
boatdryver	posted 05-10-2007 10:46 AM ET (US) When the Pacific Northwest magazine "Passagemaker" first started in the late 90's it was a small mag with little advertising and the reviews seemed to mainly be written by the publisher, ads seemed to be pretty objective. So welcome and so refreshing. For a while.... Then, when circulation permitted there was a switch to glossy paper and he number of ads increased exponentially. Because of all the ads, the mag swelled like a piece of fiberboard left out in the rain, as did, I am sure, the wallet of the publisher. I seemed to notice a change in the review articles- perhaps a hesitancy to say anything too negative about the product, a hesitancy by the author to speak so frankly. Too bad about POWERBOAT REPORTS. It was perhaps the last source of unbiased information we had. Many of the magazines and web boat reviews are too much like Motor Trend magazine, in which the review articles often seem to have been edited by the marketing department of the manufacturer of the product being reviewed. JimL
where2	posted 05-11-2007 06:54 PM ET (US) My father made note of this several weeks ago having received a notice of their impending demise. Obviously, not all the notes went out in the mail the same week. Their objective reviews and the thought that went into creating their objective head to head tests will be missed. I loved how they would come up with an old boat hull to test the depth of shine of various fiberglass products. Or park several chunks of bottom painted fiberglass in a salt water bath for a year to really test their usefulness. It's one thing to say "let's some different products". It is another to come up with an objective testing method which simulates the real world. I've actually had manufacturer's representatives from marine electronics companies make note of the tests that Powerboat Reports did, which indicates to me that the manufacturers were paying attention to what was being said about their products, no matter how small the audience of readers this little periodical had.
pglein	posted 05-14-2007 05:26 PM ET (US) Is it conceivable that an online version of the magazine could be successful?
seahorse	posted 05-18-2007 06:27 PM ET (US) Issue Date: 5/18/2007, Posted On: 5/18/2007 Powerboat Reports ceases publication Connecticut-based Belvoir Media Group has discontinued publishing Powerboat Reports. The company, which also publishes Practical Sailor and more than 30 other special interest titles, said Powerboat Reports was profitable, but failed to expand in circulation and profit growth over the years. Powerboat Reports, published out of the companys Sarasota, Fla. office, was a subscriber-based publication that offered product reviews and consumer tips. It did not rely on advertising revenue. "Powerboat Reports has been in business since 1989 and has done a great job in serving the powerboat community,"" said Tim Cole, Belvoirs executive vice president and editorial director. "It has been profitable but it never achieved the size and scale that wed like." "Practical Sailor has more than double the subscribers of Powerboat Reports and continues to be one of the profit leaders for the company,"" said Cole. "Sailors are simply more committed to their pastime,"" said Cole. "Sailors sail because they like to sail."" "Boating magazine, in exchange for assuming Powerboat Reports liabilities, has taken over the publications subscriptions,"" Cole said. Chris Landry, editor of Powerboat Reports for the past eight years, will stay on board with Belvoir for several months, according to Cole. In addition to its boating-related titles, Practical Sailor and Boatbuilder, Belvoir publishes magazines covering health, home, horses, aviation, pets and guns.
Jefecinco	posted 05-18-2007 07:11 PM ET (US) Another boating publication I enjoyed but is no longer around was Small Boat Journal. Somewhere I have a box full of them. They were always fun to read. Butch