31// We Don’t Need More Shoe Reviews

On the impact of SEO centric media publications on the perceptions of trail running

Hey pals,

I have some VERY interesting articles lined up. I’m just waiting on a few sources to get back to me, but they should all be out before UTMB (hint hint).

In the meanwhile I’m keen to hear more from the brands in this industry and cover marketing and media from buy-side perspective. There’s quite a few of you out there that work for the Hoka’s, On, Janji and Adidas’ of this world, so regardless of your position reply to this email and pop me a note, would love to chat :)

This week we’re back discussing why endless shoe reviews are bad for our sport and why we need more trail running media outlets to make a leap away from the safety of the spreadsheet.

If an outsider were to summarise trail running culture based on visiting trail running media websites, they would think we’re obsessed with shoes, gels and tiny backpacks.

Whilst we do love a new bouncy shoe, that isn’t everything. Yet the majority of the content around trail running is about selling a running brand’s gear.

The reliance on affiliate links and advertising as the business model of choice stifles the growth of our sport, forcing media outlets to obsess over traffic rather than differentiation, engagement, or better yet community growth.

A conversation with a fellow media operator this week made me to think - can we create a trail running media website without unleashing a tidal wave of the SEO optimised shoe reviews?

To ponder this we can take a long flight to The Athletic, a sports news website that focuses on local and national sports journalism - pretty much the opposite of commerce content. Their USP has always been sports journalism that gives context to the news. The background to an event. The data behind a trend. A profile of the rising stars. From their initial focus on team specific content, to taking a more national perspective after they were acquired by the New York Times, they have maintained their vision that sports journalism matters and there is a large enough audience of people that will pay a subscription to read it.

Here’s where the vision meets reality - The Athletic has never turned a profit, even after the NYT acquired it. In the past year they’ve brought in large format advertising and sponsorships to bolster their revenue, but this has not been enough after the Q2 report released this week showed the Athletic made a $7.8M operational loss.

This tale shouldn’t be seen for it’s (current) failure but for its ambition and innovation - sports content does not have to be tied to commerce, it can be used to create worlds around events and be sustained by the fans that want to see it.

Subscriptions allow brands to build their business model and content around a sport’s fandom, but as we’ve spoken about before, trail running doesn’t have many fans that will pay for sports journalism. There’s a large group, but scale will always be a limiting factor if relying upon subscriptions alone.

It’s fair to say The Athletic is the extreme end of sports content, so let’s take a shorter flight to Citius Mag, the Track and Field news outlet. Citius have built their operations around being a 21st Century media brand where the website has an equal role to their podcast, newsletter, YouTube and other social media channels all taking different approaches to Track and Field content.

Their website is refreshing for its lack of banner ads, but advertising and sponsorships make up the most of their revenue, so they too play a volume game. However by increasing the surface area to advertise on (podcasts, newsletters, live events etc.), they don’t rely on gaming SEO to generate revenue, ultimately meaning they can focus on track and field news, without having to write articles on ‘top 10 shot puts’.

Again, this isn't the finest economic model because it depends on social media algorithms and word-of-mouth for distribution and requires a constant supply of reactionary content to thrive. Nevertheless, it's a start.

I only recently discovered Run247, a trail and ultrarunning news outlet based in the UK. Their focus is on MUT race news and interviews; the profile of Claire Bannwarth is a noteworthy starting place. Aside from the terrible name and that they too have shoe reviews, it’s promising to see new outlets springing up focusing on covering the race side of the sport and not diving straight into algorithm pleasing content. Hopefully I’ll have a profile of them soon.

It’s hard for many trail running publications whose owners have big spreadsheet energy with eyes only for huge traffic numbers and growing bottom lines. SEO and algorithm optimised content will always be the main course regardless if you have great journalism on the side.

There is no magic formula to media that works, as the Athletic and Citius have shown. However what is required is a maniacal vision for something that can’t be A/B tested and a business model that supports it.

Back when the Athletic started, no one in their right mind believed you could create a sustainable media business based solely on sports journalism, but they found a way to generate $65M annual revenue largely from subscriptions before they were acquired.

The future of trail running media needn’t be more shoe reviews. We have enough of them thank you. We need stories built on the sport and it’s community.