I subscribe to Elite Equestrian and am very happy with it.
https://eliteequestrianmagazine.com/
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I found this an interesting post and thread. As someone who has been involved on the other side, ie needing to pay for advertising, it is so difficult these days to know what is worth spending money on when every avenue to advertise has become so expensive. No one really wants to be marketed to, so how does a business get in front of what should be their community. I really want to say ‘how does a genuine business’ because I don’t want ours to be lumped in with whatever negative associations people have with other businesses! A paid advertisement should be clear. I am always hoping someone will pick us up and do an editorial type article about us or any article that would, by association to either a rider or the theme of the writer’s article, involve us because then it’s a story with a viewpoint, but I’m quite happy to pay for an advertorial which gives me some say over the story and it should still be (we hope) interesting for the readers.
As for the magazine, I suppose they have to know they have money coming in to pay staff, and advertising is the best way to do that with the amount of free content that is available now. I’m off to check up on some of the magazines mentioned here now, thanks for the tips.
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One thing I have recently learned is that almost all equestrian media is pay-to-play. The Chronicle is an important exception! But there is an expectation at nearly every other major print publication in the horse world that you pay them to cover you in a news article. This is totally different from conventional media, where accepting payments from sources is considered unethical. So, when you read these publications, you can basically assume that nearly every profile, product review or photo spread was financed directly by the subject and only appears to be pure editorial content.
I get objecting to those practices, since they are not transparent. But it’s hard to understand why you would be upset with any publication for having a lot of clearly identifiable paid ads. Advertising is what pays the bills of the journalists, editors, and printing presses that bring you magazines! Think of them as being like the commercials on broadcast TV. They may not be your favorite part of the reading experience, but they support the editorial enterprise.
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It never fails to amaze me that publications like the UK’s Horse & Hound can cover so many equine disciplines, human interest stories, health updates, recurring columns, and global news (including USA riders and some of our circuits) on a weekly basis while US magazines struggle. It takes time to read through each robust H&H issue and I usually pick up something useful as a reward for my time. Conversely, I can blast through TPH and Sidelines while sorting the mail and feel none the wiser at the end. I subscribe to all, plus others like the Chronicle (which will always have a place in my heart–4 decade subscriber!).
I have become increasingly frustrated with TPH’s obvious advertorials. Why am I paying to read ads?
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This pretty much encapsulates my personal feeling. The stories are out there – I mean, hell, it’s beyond me that Allie Conrad, who did all that incredible work for the hurricane, hasn’t been featured in a publication. I don’t remember the last time I read TPH and felt like I walked away with anything of substance.
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