so the issue you received a few weeks ago is the last one you will ever get. Too bad,as it was IMO the best of the monthly snowsports mags. It's yet another Covid victim

According to the artile, the company also shuttered Snowboarder and seveeral other non snow related monthlys.

https://unofficialnetworks.com/2020/10/04/breaking-powder-magazine-shut-down-after-48-years/

They shuttered Bike too.  I subscribed to both.  There was an interesting discussion on the mtbr forum about it.  I think it's sad, I still like to hold a magazine.  Apparently a lot of people don't.  But in what is certainly a waxing moment for outdoor sports including skiing and mountain biking, if they can't make a go of it, then there is no hope. 

What's really surprising is how recently they aquired a few of those brands, unless I was misreading the article I saw.

Remember Skiing and Snocountry magazines....gone. The younger generation wants to read no more than 140 characters and don't have the attention span to read a magazine article. Sad!

snowsmith wrote:

Remember Skiing and Snocountry magazines....gone. The younger generation wants to read no more than 140 characters and don't have the attention span to read a magazine article. Sad!

I would say it's the major advertisers who shifted to online marketing more than the lack of the younger generation to read an article.  Same happened for computer magazines a decade or two ago when advertising dollars dried up.

Snowsmith, don't knock the Millennials and the GenZers. I'm a parent to both and they are hardworking and well-read.

Back on topic. I think that there will be a few more issues of Powder. At least that is how I read it:

snowsmith wrote:

Remember Skiing and Snocountry magazines....gone. The younger generation wants to read no more than 140 characters and don't have the attention span to read a magazine article. Sad!

Right on! they are also  too busy playing video games and on smart phones that parents give them way too early in their lives

A lot of Boomer ageism here. The Greatest Generation said the same things about the Boomers.

Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:

A lot of Boomer ageism here. The Greatest Generation said the same things about the Boomers.

The topic is about a ski magazine no longer around, snowsmith gave a totally valid point as to why , since Laurel put down that assumption because their kids are not among them and saying get back on topic sounded more like bullying to me so I chose to write what I did because Laurels answers, saying a lot of aggression about only 2 people's comments is not right more of a cop out and trying not to offend the newer generation, that's part of the problem, I am glad others said things about lazy boomers, get em off the couch and on bikes etc, 

Let's keep it nice.

LHC - perhaps I am generalizing a little, but younger folks do not buy print publications. Even boomers have moved to electronic media. Many publications have gone under including newspapers. I still subscribe to the print edition of Ski and Stereofile magazines and I look forward to seeing them in my mailbox every month. I just renewed my Ski magazine subscription. Powder appealed to more of a hard core base than Ski magazine and had a smaller # of subscribers. However, the quality was exceptional. Thus, it's sad when that commitment to quality isn't enough to keep it afloat.

I agree with marzNC that advertisers prefer digital over print and that's a big driver of magazine decline. Newspapers lost most of the classified verticals for similar reasons. Online ads can be targeted to specific audiences and are measurable in ways that print ads are not. The same thing happened to LIFE magazine the first time it folded -- advertisers found television delivered to their audience better than a magazine.

Fewer people skiing is also a factor. It's an expensive sport to learn and an expensive sport to keep up with even if you are doing casually.

Since I don't own my own equipment, I can count on spending about $100 for a skiing on a Saturday or Sunday. That's before I have paid for gas and food on the mountain or elsewhere. That's a big chunk of change. There are maybe 12 weekends a year I can realistically do it too, before factoring in other life responsibilities too.

Comparatively, I have paid less than $150 for a season of broomball (8-10 games). My kayaking season pass has been $230 and I can use that for six months. There is competition for my recreation dollar.

I subscribed to one of the ski magazines because my kid or my brother's kid was selling magazines. It might have been $12 for six issues. While reading about Rocky Mountain ski vacations and high-end equipment is fine, there was nothing in the magazine that was particularly useful for a DC commuter skier. I get much more useful information right here or on other independent ski sites. They have advertising that more relevant to my interests.

from a coaches point of view I would want parents to see what can make their kids well rounded and healthy, no sunflower here, people high up in the ski industry  trust me to help their families get skiing better ,

of course the digital age has also led to decrease in magazines that's common sense and we have seen that in newspapers as well 

but too try and prevent something from being said because it sheds light on an ugly subject is something for a communist society 

My two bitcoins worth - nah! My mom who is 90+ years old hasn't looked at a magazine news paper or book in over 15 years. She likes her phone, Kindle and her computer. Fact of the matter is while Powder (I am going to see if we can find that last issue around here in Tahoe) mag is/was wonderful for the photography, the rest was pretty much stuff I can find hunting around websites; like ski comparision tools, hundreds of  terabytes of articles, all nicely indexed by Google et al .Nothing to do with age and everything to do with data access.

Still - so sad - a passing of an era!

Vermont wrote:

snowsmith wrote:

Remember Skiing and Snocountry magazines....gone. The younger generation wants to read no more than 140 characters and don't have the attention span to read a magazine article. Sad!

Right on! they are also  too busy playing video games and on smart phones that parents give them way too early in their lives

 

wfyurasko wrote:

I agree with marzNC that advertisers prefer digital over print and that's a big driver of magazine decline. Newspapers lost most of the classified verticals for similar reasons. Online ads can be targeted to specific audiences and are measurable in ways that print ads are not. The same thing happened to LIFE magazine the first time it folded -- advertisers found television delivered to their audience better than a magazine.

Fewer people skiing is also a factor. It's an expensive sport to learn and an expensive sport to keep up with even if you are doing casually.

. . .

While I agree that skiing is an expensive sport, not sure the idea that fewer people are skiing is that true overall based on NSAA stats.  Well, meaning from say 2015 to 2019.  What happens in 2020-2025 is very hard to predict at the moment.

Most of the people I've seen at more local ski areas and resorts in the southeast and northeast don't seem like the type of skiers who are interested in spending any money on a ski magazine.  In particular the people who were renting gear, which could be a large percentage on weekends.  Very different crowd from a place like Stowe or Sugarbush or the other destination resorts that were spending advertisting dollars on print ads.  What those people did seem to like was going to the Boston Ski Expo looking for deals on lift tickets or other swag.

Many resorts have created their own apps in recent years.  Investing in that probably has more value than paying for print ads in some national magazine.