MRH MAGAZINE IS NOW CHARGING FOR "PREMIUM CONTENT"

[John]

According to the editorial by Joe Fugate --  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mrhpub.com/2018-09-sep/online/index.html

MRH Free --- sized to whatever add revenues (about 150 pages with ads) ..

MRH Paid --- all the good stuff you wont get in the free pages

 

Too bad ...

[Chris333]

Haven't looked at it for about 2 years now.

[Ngineer]

Didn't they say it would stay forever free?

I quote:

"Will the magazine always be free?

Short answer: Yes, MRH magazine is totally free, and to the degree ads pay for the production, that amount of content will always be completely free."

Well... They didn't say the magazine would always be free. There was a caveat.

Sigh.   

   Javier

[MVW]

Bummer. While I'm a very irregular reader of MRH, I -- as someone with a long background in traditional paper-and-ink publishing -- admire what Joe and company have accomplished over the years.

As long as people need (or like) to be paid for their work, publications like this are hostage to the whims of their advertisers. I don't expect a publisher to lose money producing a magazine I like anymore than I'd expect them to buy me a new loco for my layout.

I hope MRH's business model stabilizes to the point that it remains worthwhile for Joe and his crew to continue publishing.

Jim

[mu26aeh]

The premium content starts in November.  Ad revenue is down, sponsors are down as well, by almost 50%.  Not much different than MR, magazine used to be 300 pages, now less than half that.

[Ngineer]

The premium content starts in November.  Ad revenue is down, sponsors are down as well, by almost 50%.  Not much different than MR, magazine used to be 300 pages, now less than half that.

Why is that? I do understand that a paper publication like Model Railroader has less Ad revenue, but why is there less Ad revenue in a pdf (= Internet, online) publication?

   Javier

[MVW]

There's less ad revenue because advertisers are buying fewer ads.

At the same time, contributors like to be paid. As do graphic designers, salespeople, the publisher himself, etc.

If you have less money (ad revenue) to work with, you cut expenses (see sentence above).

I don't know Joe, have never met him, have never been in contact. But I strongly suspect that it's either a case of altering the business model or shutting down. The last thing I suspect is that he's getting greedy. Because someone who is greedy would never have launched a freaking model railroad publication in the first place! 

Jim

[mu26aeh]

Why is that? I do understand that a paper publication like Model Railroader has less Ad revenue, but why is there less Ad revenue in a pdf (= Internet, online) publication?

   Javier

Joe explained that quite a few of the departed sponsors are now using YouTube or Facebook to get their product/name out there.  If I may, a link to his thread on MRH forums:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/34237

[ridinshotgun]

It is disappointing but it really isn't surprising to me especially as someone who does n scale and seeing they already charge for the video channel they run. Which I think has better content than the magazine anyway.

They have very few n scale advertisers (and I have found most advertisers don't even clarify what scale they cover which seems to be specific to only one scale  ) and they have even fewer articles that cover n scale. 

This is the fist month I have seen them do two articles on n scale in the same month and some months they don't have any.

I doubt I will be paying for any premium content since I am lucky to have one article a month interest me and truthfully that is rare.   Really if I was to spend any money at all it would in all likelihood be to subscribe to the video channel.

[ednadolski]

I like reading the MRH but that said, I find that the content on forums like TRW is more engaging.

Ed

[mu26aeh]

Just like other outlets, they are always asking for N Scale related articles. 

[johnb]

Anyone else notice that the new column about doing more with less is in the paid section?

[Ngineer]

I have never used Facebook and I am not planning on using it.

   Javier

[John]

I went ahead and signed up for a year .. $20 is not bad .. I'm going to drop one of the two Nscale magazines anyway .. so I get a net gain of $16 back and six more issues

[James Costello]

Why is that? I do understand that a paper publication like Model Railroader has less Ad revenue, but why is there less Ad revenue in a pdf (= Internet, online) publication?

   Javier

If I was a model manufacturer and just had a factory closure in China that meant my income would be questionable for a few months, the first thing I'd do is cut back on advertising too....

There is a flow on from Affa. Just watch it bit both online and brick retailers....