Jan 122010
Author’s Note: There is further discussion on this here.
I put together a little video illustrating the advertising content in Dead Point Magazine (shown below). Here are a few comments about it:
1. I’m not trying to pick on DPM specifically; there are likely others with equal amounts of ad space.
2. Everyone’s gotta pay the bills, and some of the articles were actually interesting.
3. Total ad space ~23.7%. This includes traditional ads as well as “gear reviews” that serve as ads as far as I’m concerned.
4. I expected there to be a HIGHER percentage of ads, I’ll probably measure a few more mags in the near future.
Tim Kemple wrote some interesting articles about the state of the outdoor publication industry (here and here).
Cool video, especially the little intro part. I wonder what the percentage of ads is on the new DPM website. It feels like 100%, but surely it is up there.
Very cool Eli- I love that you've taken this time off to pick up a new skill!!
Glad you guys liked it.
Interesting, Eli. I love the video – props included.
To be fair you should do the same with UC. I did the same thing at home and the results showed that even know DPM was smaller, it had more pages of content, especially when you take into consideration that a lot of their content is online. I also noticed you crossed out their product reviews. Not really advertisement. Their reviews seem authentic where as, having worked for one of the other rags, I know certain ones make advertisers pay.
Anonymous- Thanks for your input. Yes, I should do the same with UC mag, but I don't have acopy sitting around, and I won't buy one just for this.
Please refer to the "Blackout Revisited" post, for further discussion on the amount of content per mag. I was surpirzed to find that DPM does not have a very high percentage of ad space when compared to some other mags (you're right!).
Yes, product reviews were crossed out. It's interesting to hear some mags charge for this. As far as the reviews being authentic: When was the last time you read a negative, or not-glowing gear review in a mag. It doesn't happen. And it's no coincidence that the same brands that had products reviewed purchased ad space in the mag.
When you follow the money, it is clear the mags may not give unbiased reviews. I'm not saying the reivewers ly or anything, just that they aren't totally neutral.