1// Not all trail running publishers are the same
On publisher business models and their contribution to the sport
Hello!
Welcome to Trailmix, a newsletter that adds context and analysis to the trail running media landscape.
Trail running is a burgeoning sport and so is the media industry that surrounds it. I’ll be exploring the strategies of the media companies and creators embedded in the industry, where it’s going and what this means for the culture of trail.
As this is my first newsletter (be nice!) i’ll be experimenting with the layout, contents and design, but the core proposition will remain - to capture the life of the industry and where we go from here.
This week i cover how the business models of media publications alter who their target trail running audience is and how they contribute to the growth of trail running.
Media companies don’t all have the same business models. The foundation of building an audience and monetising their attention is the same, but how they go about doing that varies.
On a financial level, business models shape which audiences media companies pursue and what content they develop. But on a cultural level, their business models determine how embedded they are in a culture and their role in its development.
Both Trail Runner and Trail Running UK publish a blend of intent based articles, opinion and reviews. Intent based publishing is often built around the most common and frequently asked questions people ask Google – for instance, what are the best trail running shoes, what are great races, how can I run faster uphill.
The articles bring in swaths of potentially new readers and new runners, hook them on the content, push them to other articles to experience the brand, show them some shoe reviews to drive affiliate marketing revenue and hopefully get them to sign up to a newsletter (or even better, subscribe!). These articles live forever, endlessly capturing those most basic of questions and pulling in new readers.
Whilst to the frequent reader or experienced trail runner these articles may seem trivial, some of the biggest digital media publishers (e.g. Red Ventures & Meredith DotDash) are built on intent publishing. And for TR & TRU this is the bread and butter than pays the bills. It increases footfall thus increasing ad and affiliate revenue and ‘fills the funnel’ with new trail runners.
Intent media is part of the playbook of Outside Media Group and intrinsic to how they built out their outdoor publishing portfolio. Robin Thurston, CEO, found that outdoors enthusiasts are active in more than one sport, so if you have offer a bundled subscription package of a bunch of outdoorsy publications, you’re more likely to generate subscribers who don’t want to just subscribe to Trail Runner, but also Velo and Outside too.
The engine of this growth then is to routinely be the source of all common queries for the outdoors person who does everything – the ‘jack-of-all trades’ subscription package!
It’s easy to lean on this model because it’s simple, efficient and as long as you continue to hook in new and recurring readers, you’ll in theory build a sustainable business model. And in the precarious world of digital publishing where clicks are gold and revenue is king, being sustainable is unheard of. It’s not entirely new either. It’s a proven method that’s been the cornerstone of media for decades As Neil Vogel, the CEO of Meredith, puts it:
Media is super simple. Collect and serve audiences that are valuable, make yourselves valuable to them, deliver them to advertisers, partners, and marketers in a way that works for your audience and your marketer. That's it.
As mentioned earlier, this content is only useful for the new or light-touch trail runner. To the experienced trail runner or dedicated fan of the sport, this content isn’t interesting.
This focus by legacy media publications on intent media has created a gap for smaller media companies and creators to cater to the trail running fan. A smaller audience, but one that is more engaged and engrossed in the sport and how it progresses.
These media companies come in all shapes and sizes - from the print and online Ultra Mag in the UK, to IRunFar. Their focus is on capturing the interest of the fan, documenting the build up to a race, the race report after, the interviews with the competitors and the gossip around the race. Or creatively exploring what it means to be a trail runner.
These smaller publications rely more on converting their engaged consumers into subscription/donations than legacy media companies due to the smaller audience size. Hence, their content will continue to service the fan, making sure they provide value and become a way through which fans experience the sport.
The fan base around Trail Running is smaller but their commitment to the sport is more valuable to advertisers. Spending money attracting a life-long trail runner is more profitable than reaching an occasional runner. Hence these niche publications can charge higher rates per impression for their advertising spots than a legacy publication could, albeit at a low volume.
Both the legacy publications and smaller publications try to mix both the intent-based and engagement-based content to cater to all trail runners and build both ad and subscription revenue, but they tend to lean one way or the other to differentiate their offering.
Whether media companies pursue reach or engagement, either way they contribute to a culture - the former at the entrance bringing new runners into the fold, the latter creating fans out of occasionals and being the advocates for the spirit of trail.
I would love to hear what you want to know more about, whether the future of media rights in trail, sponsorship deals or just want to be kept up to date with any news - let me know! Reply to this email and I’ll get back to you.