Bicycling Magzine ad revenue soars, while circulation is flat - what gives?

Well, well, well, no sooner did I allude to the demise of the magazine industry, when Bicycling Magazine spoils the fun and reports a 40% growth in ad revenues for 2006.

How can this be? Is this just a case of blogger gone wild with his own preconceived ideas on an industry for which he only pretends to be a part. So I did a little digging. Turns out that between 2004 - 2005 the magazine industry as a whole was flat with virtually no appreciable growth in circulation. In fact, Bicycling's circulation was down during this period by just over one percent. with circulation of 406,000 (according to statistics compiled by the Magazine Publishers of America).

Now granted I do not yet have the circulation data for 2006 to compare against the ad revenue information, but I highly doubt that Bicycling saw a forty percent growth in circulation.

This is great news for Bicycling as their sales people did an excellent job and I'm sure most of that new revenue went straight to the bottom line. However, I have to wonder why bike industry marketers continue to buy ads in the print medium at ever growing rates, when the online medium continues to produce exponential growth?

Are marketing budgets going up that much? I kind of doubt it. So why do bike industry marketers continue to place ads in the traditional media? Because it's easy. But, it's time for these smart marketers (and I do believe that) to make a shift. Shift your resources from off-line to on-line marketing. Get yourself a blog, buy some Google ads, partner with some bloggers, and participate in the conversation. I guarantee you'll see results in short order. Need proof. Just look at the success of Tim Jackson from Masi as your case study.

The rewards are greater than the risks.