I found this of interest after seeing a post on Facebook yesterday. I just got my May issue of Classic Car and noticed the cover featuring a photo of a 1935 Chrysler C6. Among the smaller photos above it was a Nissan Skyline GT-R. What I found out was that subscribers like myself got the 1935 Chrysler; newsstand purchasers bought the version with the GT-R on the cover!
Fascinating, but also reflective of the challenges facing Hemmings and other auto enthusiasts magazines today. Traditional subscribers want old Detroit iron on the cover, featured in stories, and background. Younger folks are captivated by rice burners like the Nissan. Readers like me want stories of European cars, since we really got into this magazine by the now discontinued Hemmings Sports & Exotic. So in this issue I really liked the article on the 1973 Volvo 144E.
In fact the hobby is both more diversified than ever in terms of interests but also characterized by market niches, often with relatively small numbers of followers. So how do you maintain publishing economies of scale? Hemmings is trying to be all things to all enthusiasts. Is that sustainable?
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