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So Many Ads

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forteanc69

Fresh Blood
Joined
Nov 13, 2013
Messages
7
Why is there over 10 full pages of ads in the Fortean Times now? For example one small ad for a political outfit and another for a religious website. I mean what are they even doing in Fortean Times eludes me.
As i have been buying this publication for over 30 yrs now, it just seems as if it's gone downhill big time.
Even a lot of the articles don't excite me as they once did.
It's not a criticism but i do feel saddened at the thought that after all these years, i have no alternative but to stop buying it.
 
Demise of the "Legal Highs" market? There were many who deplored those ads. - a mainstay for years. Pitching for FT advertising can't be an easy job, especially when so many niche magazines are folding. You try defining the readership!

When I can afford it, or especially like the contents, I buy it. I have spells of avoidance, when the articles don't appeal but good issues are well-worth the price of a cheap bottle of wine. :)
 
forteanc69 said:
Why is there over 10 full pages of ads in the Fortean Times now? For example one small ad for a political outfit and another for a religious website. I mean what are they even doing in Fortean Times eludes me.
As i have been buying this publication for over 30 yrs now, it just seems as if it's gone downhill big time.
Even a lot of the articles don't excite me as they once did.
It's not a criticism but i do feel saddened at the thought that after all these years, i have no alternative but to stop buying it.
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Have you checked out the sales figures? All print magazines have suffered drastically over recent years. Fifteen years ago, pushing 30,000 per issue (avg); now - less than 14,000 (that's worldwide sales). In order to survive, some money has to be coming in - otherwise the publisher might just decide it's not worth it. And you could always just ignore the ads! I'm just happy it's still appearing every four weeks.
 
Yeah, the ads are an absolute necessity. Owen's right of course - you can just skip the ads. That you feel less excited is pretty much an across-the-board thing - the net has made news of the weird a constant noise rather than contained in a monthly burst. What FT does offer though is a uniform and unsensational - ie Fortean - approach to damned data, and does it in a way that's unique. Does every article pique everyone's interest? Probably not, but to do that would be to reduce it to tabloid level. It maintains its own standards, and that can only be a good thing.
 
stuneville said:
Yeah, the ads are an absolute necessity. Owen's right of course - you can just skip the ads. That you feel less excited is pretty much an across-the-board thing - the net has made news of the weird a constant noise rather than contained in a monthly burst. What FT does offer though is a uniform and unsensational - ie Fortean - approach to damned data, and does it in a way that's unique. Does every article pique everyone's interest? Probably not, but to do that would be to reduce it to tabloid level. It maintains its own standards, and that can only be a good thing.
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I ignore the ads in every other mag and newspaper I read, not to mention website I look at - and since I only ever watch TV on record, I always fast-forward through any ads and trailers. Why should I treat FT any differently? Oops - whatever you do, don't tell the marketing and advertising industries! Altogether now, shhhh....
 
I'm only up to FT364 but ... I like the ads in FT. There's a rich vein of appropriately quirky advertisers which I don't meet elsewhere. One of my ambitions has always been to buy a small ad, one day, when I have something to promote.
 
I too am glad to see the back of those lurid ads for 'herb grinders', synthetic cannabis and other Head Shop tat that filled the back pages from the 1990s onwards. Not that I'm very judgemental about such things nor innocent of bathing my neurons in funny molecules in the past - they just seemed tacky and out of place in a 'serious' magazine and usually represented the most immature 'recreational' approach to substance use dressed up as some sort of quest to rediscover the sacred knowledge of the ancients.

It's great that the magazine is so attractive to advertisers but I've wondered if perhaps the rates are quite low. In particular there are sometimes full-page ads for some unknown band or other (who may be very good indeed for all I know) month after month which you might think would cost an absolute fortune in most publications.
 
Andy X said:
It's great that the magazine is so attractive to advertisers but I've wondered if perhaps the rates are quite low. In particular there are sometimes full-page ads for some unknown band or other (who may be very good indeed for all I know) month after month which you might think would cost an absolute fortune in most publications.
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I've often wondered about that band! I can't remember what they're called now....?
 
Had a quick look at a few back issues and couldn't find 'em. But I did notice that there are quite a lot of full-page ads, which reinforces the notion that FT may be a good way to advertise on a budget. Which is no bad thing.
 
Marvellous! Never seen that one before. I also enjoyed Elephants and Trains very much. All in all they reminded me of my recent expedition to the more remote regions of WH Smith to find a copy of FT.
 
Andy X said:
Marvellous! Never seen that one before. I also enjoyed Elephants and Trains very much. All in all they reminded me of my recent expedition to the more remote regions of WH Smith to find a copy of FT.
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And where had they placed it?
 
I'm glad you asked!

This month it was located among a selection of mags apparently picked at random, so in no particular category. BUT, in an exciting new twist they'd moved all the magazines to the smaller part of the L-shaped shop floor where the greeting cards used to be. Now the main part of the shop is given over to cards, cards, cards as far as the eye can see (and 'slebrity autobiographies / cash-in cook books from BBC series covered in discount stickers and piled high*

Still, I managed to find FT quite quickly this time despite being forced to slalom through the sweeties and cheap DVDs.

Can't wait until next time...your move, WH Smith!

*to be fair, the stationary section is well-stocked and there are books upstairs. Mostly very stupid books, but you can't have everything.
 
Andy X said:
It's great that the magazine is so attractive to advertisers but I've wondered if perhaps the rates are quite low. In particular there are sometimes full-page ads for some unknown band or other (who may be very good indeed for all I know) month after month which you might think would cost an absolute fortune in most publications.
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I think that the larger a publication's sales figures, the higher the ad rates that can be demanded. But, as noted above by James Whitehead, even with FT's modest readership (hang on, which readers am I talking about?), the mag is difficult to define to potential advertisers. I mean, a car mag has an obvious niche advertising base; anything "lifestyle"-based can go for fashion, accessories, etc. Health / fitness mags have a whole range of equipment / supplements etc. that can be touted. But FT? It's wonderfully diverse and eclectic. But I'd also imagine most of FT's likely advertisers don't have huge budgets to splash out - so it must be difficult to sell ad space.
 
Yes...'modest'? Perhaps the FT readership might be better described as 'slender'? (unless the What Are You Eating and Drinking? thread is anything to go by) He said eating two packets of Mini Cheddars at once ;)

It is complicated: not all magazines have such a broad and nebulous appeal to readers and advertisers from all walks of life. For example (just had a look at some circulation figures - FT's about 14.5k, which isn't as low as it might sound) I subscribe to one that has a lower circulation than FT by about 5k, yet due to its niche appeal the marketing demographic is skewed and many of its readers are necessarily very wealthy, hence virtually all the adverts are for dazzling top-drawer goodies that others (such as me) would struggle to save up for. Looking at some old issues of Punch from the 1980s the other day I noticed that most of the ads were for expensive holidays, nice cars, jewellery and watches, fine wines, posh banks and investment opportunities. Many of Punch's readers were rich and yet many weren't but revenue is revenue and so there were few adverts for betting shops or Pot Noodles...the magazine still folded. Publishing's a tough business.

Whatever FT's (and Dennis Publishing's) strategy they're doing a great job to produce a unique magazine that requires a lot of work to put together monthly - compared to some of the cheap titles that are evidently thriving. I suppose if that means taking whatever steps are necessary to fill advertising space then we shouldn't complain on grounds of taste.
 
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Andy X said:
I'm glad you asked!

This month it was located among a selection of mags apparently picked at random, so in no particular category.

Still, I managed to find FT quite quickly this time despite being forced to slalom through the sweeties and cheap DVDs.

Can't wait until next time...your move, WH Smith!

*to be fair, the stationary section is well-stocked and there are books upstairs. Mostly very stupid books, but you can't have everything.
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Were the DVDs worth a second glance, or were they worse than the rot pumped out by Cannon Films?
 
They're quite mainstream these days: lots of Hollywood titles (mostly chick flicks, not very successful action movies and Pixar and their imitators).

There used to be a more eclectic selection for those with special interests, such as "Seaplanes of the South Pacific", "West Country Traction Engines Between the Wars" and the like. I didn't notice anything of that sort on this occasion.
 
I haven't even noticed the number of ads to be honest. Glad FT is getting income so it can keep going while the likes of the newspapers all fold.
I did think about advertising my books in FT but not sure it's worth it because advertising is a waste of money unless you're actually targeting people that are very interested in your product. As noted above, the ads in FT seem rather random - I can't see that band who put full page ads in actually selling many CDs on the back of it. Any time I see it I just wonder why one of the members looks so much younger than the rest.
 
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