RW sold to Hearst Publishing

I mean RW has been Women's Running World for years. PC crap for fat people that call themselves "runners". Oh boy.

Although I havent picked up 'Trail Runner' or 'Ultrarunning' -if such a mag exists-, I suspect they stay afloat because of advertisements. 'NER' has a bunch of race ads and perhaps TR has ads that appeal to trail running that does not intersect w traditional running. There are a multitude of bicycle mags which stay afloat because of all the gear and equipment that advertises to support them. Unfortunately, running is very basic, aside from the shoes, a little clothing and a watch there is really practically nothing else. I really enjoyed RT, was sad to see it go. (Last time I read one of Gary Cohen's interviews, I felt it was too long. Did he shorten them?)

Dale Roe wrote:

http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-biz-rodale-hearst-close-20180102-story.html

Sorry if this was posted. Is it of any importance?

rw IS A JOKE! It's for soccer moms and people who run marathons off of 20mpw...

My last issue of RW in August of 2017 was literally 85% advertising by my estimate. The rest was not really worth reading.

If that is typical of what they are putting out now, it cannot get any worse.

You can get small but important pieces of information from reading. I like to think that just watching videos will not tell you all you need to know.

Old Ultra Guy wrote:

Runnn wrote:

You probably can’t focus on both but how hard would it be to do a monthly interview with an elite or something? Do a couple page article, talk about their own training and whatnot. For the cheap price of the crappy magazine I’d buy it to read the occasional article about Meb/Shalane/Emma... would have to be an American to keep it interesting for HJs not a rando Ethiopian.

You are describing Gary Cohen's web site. Give it a try.

http://www.garycohenrunning.com/Default.aspx

Wow, nice. Thanks OUG!

Thanks. I'll push this a wee bit further. I get where "Outside" might have a lot of things they can advertise. But Track and Field News? They have even fewer ads than Running Times did and a similar circulation.

Dale Roe wrote:

http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-biz-rodale-hearst-close-20180102-story.html

Sorry if this was posted. Is it of any importance?

Isn’t Hearst Publishing the same company that Oprah’s magazine is published? For some reason, it rings a bell.

No clue wrote:

Dale Roe wrote:

http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-biz-rodale-hearst-close-20180102-story.html

Sorry if this was posted. Is it of any importance?

Isn’t Hearst Publishing the same company that Oprah’s magazine is published? For some reason, it rings a bell.

Car and Driver

Cosmopolitan

Country Living

Dr. Oz THE GOOD LIFE

ELLE (US and UK)

Elle Decor

Esquire

Food Network Magazine

Good Housekeeping

Harper's Bazaar

House Beautiful

Marie Claire

Nat Mags

O, The Oprah Magazine

Popular Mechanics

Red

Redbook

Road & Track

Seventeen

Town & Country

Veranda

Woman's Day

Hearst Books (in partnership with Sterling Publishing)

from good old Wikipedia

also has interest in

A+E Networks (owns 50%; shared joint venture with The Walt Disney Company)

Cosmopolitan TV (owns 33%; joint venture with Corus Entertainment)

ESPN, Inc. (owns 20%; also shared with Disney, which owns the other 80%)

CTV Specialty Television (owns 4% through its co-ownership of ESPN; shared joint venture with Bell Media, which owns 80%)

Verizon Hearst Media Partners (50% in partnership with Verizon Communications)

Hearst Television (owns 100%; owner of 29 local television stations and two local radio stations)

Cosmopolitan FM radio (owns 50%; shared joint venture with MRA Media Group)

and a bunch of newspapers and other stuff

HRE wrote:

Thanks. I'll push this a wee bit further. I get where "Outside" might have a lot of things they can advertise. But Track and Field News? They have even fewer ads than Running Times did and a similar circulation.

I agree T&FN has very few advertisers. I assume they generate most of their revenue from subscribers, as the annual fee is around $40 ( while RW can be as low as $1 an issue/yr).

Perhaps that is why T&FN is independent and no one is interested in buying them? (I confess, this is all speculation).

As a side, over the years I've read a few Athletics Weekly issues and they seem to be a mixture of T&FN and NER. Good mag. I always felt NER can become a super-regional magazine, covering the world class aspect of the sport too, but they never did. Finally, they unfortunately have very little for us on L.I.

Runner's World does often do this. I don't have a current subscription, but the issue sitting in my bathroom includes a couple pages on Jordan Hasay.

Like others, I miss Running Times. Sports magazines (of the sports I'm interested in - running, triathlon, cycling) are folding left and right. While I have no interest in paper newspapers, there's something about receiving a magazine in the mail once a month that I really enjoy, and it does seem as if this model is disappearing.

Here are the circulation rates for the three mags:

Track & Field News - 21,000

Runner's World - 670,000

New England Runner - 15,000

These are approximate and rounded figures from a quick Google search.

waltertompatton wrote:

My last issue of RW in August of 2017 was literally 85% advertising by my estimate.

No it wasn't. If it were, Rodale wouldn't have been sold to Hearst.

vanessa3323 wrote:

It's HUGE. Rodale not only sold these magazines, but all those athletic, running, tri, etc books they publish also. Publishing is dead and only Men's Health turned a profit. Women's Health and RW have lost money for years and most of the articles were done for free. Advertising is so off and they don't know how to make money on social media. Women's Running is owned by the Competitor group, Rock and Roll and Ironman, so we know where that is going. It all just means a lack of a magazine for us to enjoy.

Competitor was rolled into the Wanda group, who is apparently selling it a few short months later.

The old publishing business is more or less dead, helped along by sports federations that intentionally do not promote participation and then the old-line media didn't execute well on the Internet and didn't transition the business online.

Rerunner wrote:

Dunno if it's important or not. I do hope it leads to a lot of changes with Runner's World, but I wouldn't count on it.

Maybe not the changes you are hoping for...

Just speculating also, but I've thought that Running Times might still be around if it was independent and that Rodale bought it with the intent of killing it eventually. That line of thinking sort of goes along with thinking that if Track and Field News can stay afloat they should have been able to.

Lets hope they fire the current staff, rebuild with a staff that gives credibility back to the publication.

Its taken awhile to get the mag sold been on the market for some time.

Does Scott Douglas still work for RW? He is a very astute observer and writer.

LI-Runner-% wrote:

Here are the circulation rates for the three mags:

Track & Field News - 21,000

Runner's World - 670,000

New England Runner - 15,000

These are approximate and rounded figures from a quick Google search.

I suspect those are years old numbers. I am almost certain T&FN is far less than that.(I’m one of the die hards - since 1964. I think they make a lot of their money from the tour groups they take to the Olympics, World Championships, Trials, European summer big meets, etc.

Dale Roe wrote:

Does Scott Douglas still work for RW? He is a very astute observer and writer.

I

And a runner by god. I knew when RJ was raped by RW that our SPORT would suffer.

Any prognostications for where running journalism will be 5 years from now? Are there any training insights that aren't already known and need rehashed publication?

LR is the last best hope.