Why do all the PC mag’s stink?

D

Dew itt right

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I’ve finally received my last issue of PC World and now I’ve somehow received a free 1-year subscription to PC Magazine. I was flipping through these two issues (September for PCW & August for PCM) and I’m getting increasingly peeved. With names like “PC WORLD” and “PC MAGAZINE” you’d think these mag’s would be loaded with plenty of insightful computer info. Nope! Just a ton of advertisements and articles about stuff not even related to PC’s! Here’s the break down…

(TOC, index, and staff listing page are ignored. Partial page advertisements were also ignored)

PC Magazine (Aug '06):
Pages of PC-related articles -- 42 (37%)
Pages of non-PC-related articles -- 25
Pages of FULL page advertisements -- 46

--That’s right, more pages of advertisement than actual PC articles!! I know they have to make their money somehow but come on!! I’d rather pay double the subscription rate and have a magazine I can actually spend more than one sitting on.


PC WORLD (Sept '06):
Pages of PC-related articles -- 45 (only 30%!!)
Pages of non-PC-related articles -- 18
Pages of FULL page advertisements -- 87

--Could the point be any more clear!! 87 PAGES OF FULL PAGE ADS!?! That’s almost 60% of the entire magazine!

I’m getting ready to sign up for CPU because I’ve heard a lot of good things about it here at [H]. I’m hoping it won’t be another statistical nightmare like these two. Any other good mag's to consider?




EDIT (8/24):

My first ssue of CPU just came in yesterday. Check this out...

Computer Power User (Sept '06):
Pages of PC-related articles -- 75
Pages of non-PC-related articles -- 14
Pages of FULL page advertisements -- 18

That's right, a whopping 70% of relevant PC content! Man I hope this is normal for CPU - I'm loving this mag already!
 
PC Pro has had my business for years but I cancelled it last month for similar reasons.
The info they gave is readily available online and usually the news was old by the time it arrived.
 
That's what i don't like about mags too, but how can they keep up w the internet. not possible. The amount of ads is rediculous. I guess its good that only like 15% of this page has ads. If it becomes 50% i am leaving. ;)

 
i throw in a vote for cpu, i also get maximum pc. Its got this one ad almost every month thats like 8 pages, but its a good mag. Read Cpu though, you'll like
 
I get CPU and Maximum PC, both somewhat more expensive but MUCH better than the other magazines found on the shelf. Maximum PC tends to be closer to "Internet speed" than any other magazine than I've read.
 
Max PC is a good source of hardware news, and their user submitted questions are helpful.

I used to like reading CPU and Smart Computing for their "english" like way of explaining how to resolve issues. But I started to notice something with them and other mags, increase in adverts and how to get the most out of WinXP... Ive grown tired of reading the same optimizing tweaks and ads for complete systems.
 
Atomic Maximum Power Computing is a very good magazine that does a pretty decent job of covering hardware, with a small side order of games. No business software or anything. I'd recommend it, used to be hard to find but it's pretty common (NZ) these days.

NZ PCWorld is better in terms of ads than it's american counterpart. I've bought it for a decade or so, now. It's useful in terms of seeing what "normal" people are doing with computers these days.
 
awesome, thanks guys!

Hey, are we not aloud to say "suck" in our titles? A mod must have changed my title to "stink". That sucks! =) Sucks :eek: sucks :eek: SUCKS!!! :eek: :eek:
 
i really dont like maximum pc mag anymore cause the last few have had WAY to many ads in them

for instance this month there is 65 pages of ads out of 104 pages total
and there is an add every other page and ads spliting up long reviews or colums
and they have a 16page ad in the middle of the mag for 1&1 why is this needed 16pgs???

from now on i am going to hardocp or hardforum for my info on comps and plus its free :)

now on the other hand i have two new fav mags for pc gameing/anime
1st up is PLAY great mag and very minmal ads like 12pgs i think out of 104
2nd up is Gameinformer again very lil ads and many many reviews/previews of games
 
yea but these ads dont take up a rediculous amount of space...

its funny... with an ad %age of 60... why dont they just chop 50% of them? :LOL: (profit thats why :rolleyes: ) really if they chopped the mag in half that would cut costs by half (shipping, printing, all of that...) but its a money grab :rolleyes:

where as [H] is paying for bandwidth, and the ads are sometimes interesting :p
 
The only PC mag I feel is worth the money is Maximum PC.

I agree the ads are sometimes annoying, but I understand that's how they make thier money.
 
The last PC magazine I bought and read was a "PC Format" in January 1999. I got it sheerly because it had a run down on 3D cards, namely 3dfx versus the PowerVR based cards.

Those were the days! :cool:
 
PC Magazine has become utterly useless, especially recently.

I remember not so long ago it was a 1/2" thick, bi-weekly magzine that had some of the best Lab reviews available.

Now you never know what will be between the covers.

-Larry

Dew itt right said:
I’ve finally received my last issue of PC World and now I’ve somehow received a free 1-year subscription to PC Magazine. I was flipping through these two issues (September for PCW & August for PCM) and I’m getting increasingly peeved. With names like “PC WORLD” and “PC MAGAZINE” you’d think these mag’s would be loaded with plenty of insightful computer info. Nope! Just a ton of advertisements and articles about stuff not even related to PC’s! Here’s the break down…

(TOC, index, and staff listing page are ignored. Partial page advertisements were also ignored)

PC Magazine (Aug '06):
Pages of PC-related articles -- 42 (37%)
Pages of non-PC-related articles -- 25
Pages of FULL page advertisements -- 46

--That’s right, more pages of advertisement than actual PC articles!! I know they have to make their money somehow but come on!! I’d rather pay double the subscription rate and have a magazine I can actually spend more than one sitting on.


PC WORLD (Sept '06):
Pages of PC-related articles -- 45 (only 30%!!)
Pages of non-PC-related articles -- 18
Pages of FULL page advertisements -- 87

--Could the point be any more clear!! 87 PAGES OF FULL PAGE ADS!?! That’s almost 60% of the entire magazine!

I’m getting ready to sign up for CPU because I’ve heard a lot of good things about it here at [H]. I’m hoping it won’t be another statistical nightmare like these two. Any other good mag's to consider?
Click to expand...
 
I used to subscribe to all these magazines till like early 2000's... and then I ditched them all.

Quality is lacking and the ads are increasing... :mad: Haven't bought a magazine since 2001.
 
I subscribe to Maximum PC, and its fairly decent.. probably one of the better ones currenty out there. I was at MicroCenter not too long ago and saw a UK based computer magazine. Its called "Custom PC". I was flipping thru it, and it looked like a really good magazine. The only problem is they charge like 12 bux for it newstand price and MicroCenter is the only place I've seen it. Its really thick and quality though. (their website: http://www.custompc.co.uk/) I like CPU mag, but I wish every issue was like their quarterly "PC Modder" edition.
 
I am in the publishing business. The company I work for produces Sea Magazine, Go Boating Magazine and The Log Newspaper. They are all boating related publcations.

I can tell you for sure that (a) Magazines make VERY LITTLE off subscriptions. Most of the time, they are breaking even, because for every paid magazine being mailed, there are 2 going out comp (free). (b) Newspapers tend to run 65/35. 65% advertising 35% content. Magazines are more in the order of 60/40, 60% advertising, 40% content. That is how they make their money. Advertising is it.

I am not going to argue that the content in PC Mag has gotten worse....but the number of ads in relationship to the number of articles has remained pretty consistent.
 
FrizzleFried said:
....but the number of ads in relationship to the number of articles has remained pretty consistent.
Click to expand...

So you are saying that there has been the same amount of ads for the past 10 years? I find that hard to believe.


 
Boot used to be a great magazine. When it turned into Maximum PC, it slowly started going downhill. If you take a careful look at it, you'll note it has very few technical articles. It's all reviews; the technical pieces are usually just pictures and side bars, which never go into much detail. Because of the space constraints, the superficial technical content ends up being between oversimplified and inaccurate.
 
To stay in business thats how they have to present their product. Occasionally I'll but a computer related magazine but then they tend to be Photoshop/Camera/Camcorder related.
 
So you are saying that there has been the same amount of ads for the past 10 years? I find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...

No...I said that the RATIO is about the same. 10 years ago there may have been 60-80 more pages, which means there was more content than there is now (but more ads as well).

Now, the ratios I am quoting are IN GENERAL. The more pages of ads you sell, the less advertising per page you need, though any publication that does more than 50/50 ad to content ratio is losing money...or just breaking even.

Finally, the prices of paper over the last 10 years have QUADRUPLED...and since next to employee costs (which include delivery/mailing costs), paper cost is the next most expensive part of publishing...I think PC Mag is doing what it can to make a profit.
 
I understand the need to make a profit and the fact that magazines seem to be practically giving their issues away with "84% OFF the cover price" deals all in an effort to compete with similiar mags. It just seems to me that there comes a point when you have to step back and wonder if your magazine is even worth publishing if you have to sell it at 84% off and fill 60% of it with ad space. It's easy for me to say all this because I'm not feeding my family with the income from this industry, but it seems that they just need to drop some ad space, print more relevant content, and raise the price. If the mag's any good, it'll stand it's ground. I think a magazine isn't worth printing if the main reason most of it's subscribers read it is simply because it's cheap.
 
Again...let me repeat...publishers make little if ANYTHING from subscriptions. Even if you raised the subscription price by 4, there is no way in hell that would compensate for the revenue lost if you lowered the ad to editorial ratio to even 50:50.

A full page ad in PC Mag probably costs somewhere in the realm of $4,000 for a month (this is a guess based on my experience in the field and a guestimate of what PC Mags circulation is). That is an extra 1,000 subscribers at $4.00 per copy...but wait, take out postage, employee costs to send the magazine and you are looking at literally PENNYS per copy. Lets overestimate and say they make $.50 per copy (which IS an overestimation). It would take 8000 subscribers just to make up for the one full page ad PER MONTH.

Trust me...if there was ANY WAY to reduce the ad to editorial ratio needed to make a profit in the print industry, we would be doing it. There isn't.

Again....I am not defending PCMAG's editorial content...I am just saying that the number of ads in their publication is NOT beyond the norm....and if they DID have 35% QUALITY editorial, I doubt you would even mind the 65% advertising.
 
Dude the companies are taking a loss selling the magazines similar to newspapers to get it to the consumers that's why there's so much advertising. The more magazines in circulation through subscriptions and sold at news stand; the more money they make off advertisement. Now do I like it? No but it's part of the business. I just read through GQ and it took 20 pgs of advertisement before I saw the table of contents not to mention all the other advertisement scattered through the magazine.
 
w1retap said:
I subscribe to Maximum PC, and its fairly decent.. probably one of the better ones currenty out there. I was at MicroCenter not too long ago and saw a UK based computer magazine. Its called "Custom PC". I was flipping thru it, and it looked like a really good magazine. The only problem is they charge like 12 bux for it newstand price and MicroCenter is the only place I've seen it. Its really thick and quality though. (their website: http://www.custompc.co.uk/) I like CPU mag, but I wish every issue was like their quarterly "PC Modder" edition.
Click to expand...

I agree totally. I read the UK mags too at Barnes&Nobles because they are quite a bit better not only concerning the tech articles, but the color pics are so much better - seeming better quality all the way around over US PC mags. Even the articles about enthusiast parts are much better written (usually). I think we have better enthusiast web sites in the US though. But UK mags own.
 
I'll answer the OP's question....

PCA.jpg
 
CPU just came in! Check the original post for an "EDIT" at the bottom. This mag has more than earned my $29 with only 17% full page ads!! Blows that 60/40 ratio right out of the water...
 
I think 1&1 owns all the mags now.

That's what it appears, since their ad's take up 1/4 of the pages.

-Larry
 
A bonus with a CPU subscription is online access to their archived issues and those of their sister publications.
 
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