Outside, Inc. will discontinue print version of Backpacker Magazine

“…before the media became beholden to advertisers.”

Say what?  Print journalism has always relied on ad dollars. Print media is in decline because of the rise of printing and mailing costs but the main cause of its slow death is movement of ad dollars from print to Google and the other web companies. In 2021, Google made over $200 billion selling ads, or more precisely selling our eyeballs to the advertisers.

What is happening in related industries. There seems to be at least two print magazines focused on skiing/snowboarding and a couple focused on bicycling?

It’s not the reliance on ad dollars so much as the blurring of lines between advertising and editorial products.

I see Outside was sold to a VC-backed firm. That would have been the first death knell. AFAICT, Backpacker will continue online

It’s not just Outside.  I was in airports over the last three days.  There are no news stands.  Print media is dead.  If people want to read something, they will do it on their phones.

(And silly me, I was carry a library book to read! )

“the blurring of lines between advertising and editorial products”

That battle was in progress when I worked for a hot type newspaper fifty years ago.

Evolution: just like the iPod being obsoleted “times they are a changing”.
My daughter’s boyfriend is a car enthusiast and was a writer for a car magazine (something like Road & Track), that went online years ago.
My younger daughter is a Production Assistant for the Sheridan Group: they do editorial proofs and formatting for about 60 online journals.

I don’t know what airports you were in Paul, but when I flew through Phoenix and SeaTac recently, there were newsstands and books in both. There was actually a pretty nice display of current literature in the Phoenix airport and I picked up one to read.

Print won’t die completely, but with fewer people reading, it will continue to diminish.

I’m a retired bookseller. Actually, print has made a large comeback. Reading on your phone is ridiculous. The screen is too small! A kindle is better, but sales have plummeted. it turns out people like the feel of print books. And in many ways they’re easier to handle than electronic devices. No batteries to wear out. That said, I used to take the oldest, lightest kindle backpacking, rather than a book. It gave me more options for titles. Otherwise, even on flights, and especially at home, I much prefer print. I spend too much time on screen as it is. The notion of reading a magazine or book on screen in addition to the rest isn’t appealing at all.

I don’t read magazines, which are more disposable than books, in a way, so maybe a better medium for devices. And I get the NYTimes on line, like most people apparently. But I can read it on a large computer screen at home.

I’d hate to read the New Yorker on a phone though.

I always remember Egon in the original Ghostbusters “Print is dead”.

Road & Track is still published.  But only something like 8 times a year.  They have become almost a coffee table quality.  The one I just got the pages are huge, like a large photo book.  Thick stock paper also.  Lots of content.

Car & Driver and Motor Trend all still print.  All of these have become so blurry about what is CONTENT versus the ads, it’s frustrated me.

I let my Backpacker lapse this year.  It got so I was only reading about 2 pieces in it and flipping thru the rest.

I don’t know what airports you were in Paul, but when I flew through Phoenix and SeaTac recently, there were newsstands and books in both. There was actually a pretty nice display of current literature in the Phoenix airport and I picked up one to read.

I was in the new terminal at SFO, and in Vancouver.  Oh, there was a Hudson store in both locations.  But it’s no longer called Hudson News, and only about 10% of the shelf space is for magazines. Another 10% is for books.  The rest is snacks, gewgaws, travel items, and electronics.

Of course much of Backpacker’s demise can be attributed to the same trends that have ended up cancelling most other hardcopy magazines, namely being supplanted by the internet. However, a large part of Backpacker’s decline was because of the dull uninteresting writing done by hacks who simply recycled the same old traditional backpacking stories from decades past. The magazine didn’t do well to keep abreast of current trends. Even though ultralight backpacking used to be viewed as fringe, it has now become closer to mainstream. Sure, Backpacker would flirt with some cottage UL products from time to time, but for the most part they remained in the pockets of Big Agnes, Osprey, Marmot, etc. In other words, Backpacker wasn’t hep to what was interesting to the newer generations of hikers.

Yet there is so much more Backpacker could have done to remain relevant, such as doing in depth articles about thru-hiking on the national scenic trails for example and giving the reader an idea what it’s really like to live that life. Photos of thru-hikers sitting around group camps, shelters, hostels and supply stores accompanied by real stories of the backpackers lives and how they were brought to embrace the backcountry. Or highlighting the thousands of miles of  lesser known trails which offer incredible scenery but get little attention. If backpacker had shown some imagination they might have held on.

I’ll miss it. It was the big color photos of amazing places that would inspire me to get off my butt and plan a trip. Not the same on a screen, and reading on a screen hurts my eyes too. I rue the decline of magazines, but I suppose I’m part of the problem… I subscribed only intermittently. Not much sense in neglecting to pay for a product then complaining that it’s disappearing.

I’ve held on to my Backpacker subscription for about 30 years now and have several fragile old copies with articles about places and of experiences that still inspire.  But it is now little more than a tired retread with maybe an interesting article every couple years.

Nostalgia has kept me in the subscriber ranks, but truth is I won’t miss it.

To note, compare this year’s gear guide with that back in the 90’s.  Then there were hundreds of listed items. Now we get ads.  It is sad, but it is past time for rest.

I let my subscription lapse in 1979 when I felt it started going downhill, so I won’t be missing it. :)

I quit reading when it became apparent to me that they mostly catered to the big name gear vendors. Gear reviews that actually called out poorly designed gear seemed to be a rarity.  I feel like they invented different categories of gear just so that they could hand out more “awards” in their big gear roundup issues.

I think the rise of the internet and video content also took away a lot of their market.  Popular Youtube bloggers like Shugemery, Homemade Wanderlust, Darwin, and Dan Becker have carved out significant niches on Youtube, and many other people come to forums like this one, Reddit, or Facebook groups to learn how to and where to backpack.

So far, I can’t bring myself to fork over the subscription prices that Outside+ wants for access to their online content.

If you like the magazine “format”, albeit online, I suggest checking out Trailgroove Magazine.  https://www.trailgroove.com

I like their format and their content.  Lots of great pictures and some interesting articles.  Not as commercial as Backpacker or Outside.

+1 on Trailgroove.

I like trailgroove as well. One of the best formats out there right now IMO is bikepacking.com. Better photography, trip reports, content, and gear reviews than just about anything from the bipedal outdoor world. Too bad something of this quality can’t get done for backpacking.

I only like to buy print magazines now for travel, it is nice to have one in the airport, I mostly rely on digital books and magazines.  Maybe not ideal but it is normal for me when traveling to read a book on my phone.  I will also have some magazines loaded to look at as well.  But on my last trip I purchased a road and track at the airport.  It was the only car mag on the rack that was looking interesting enough to purchase.  Made be consider Re subscribing to R&T in print.

Now as to Backpacker and all print magazines for that matter.  I was on a trainer trip for our Boy Scout troop on the weekend and among the adults were discussing backpacker magazine and reading material.  The Scout Master present is a long time subscriber and only interested in a print version.  That is kind of his stick something in the backpack reading material.  There are people out there that have no interest in digital media but apparently not enough to support print media.  I have purchase backpacker occasionally myself, but have not been of a mind to subscribe.  They really are no worse than many of the gear reviewers on youtube that are pretty much running commercials.  One that comes to mind is Dan Becker who seems to be moving more toward add driven and turning the videos into a business.  On the other hand you have Darwin who killed his channel as he did not want to be in the gear review business.  But being in the gear review business on you tube is no different than doing the same thing in print.  It is just that these are individuals bypassing print media and starting their own media companies.  The world is becoming a lot more competitive for our attention.

Not many years ago the primary way to get our attention in the special interest world was a magazine, that world is coming to an end, I hike, I build plastic models, I was a cyclist, and I am a car enthusiast.  I was known to buy magazines related to each of these interests, Backpacker, Bicycling, Fine Scale Modeler, Road and Track among them.  Now I buy none of them.  Some are gone, some are going, but I only buy a print magazine on special occasions now.  All of these things I can get in media other than a magazine and get as a whole better content.  I have a fairly large digital library of Tamiya Model Magazine back issues, that is my staple when I need a magazine download for a trip, a swim meet or otherwise have a pending day or few hours of boredom coming.

I can’t imagine reading about backpacking while I’m backpacking. To each their own!

At least the interest is consistent, there is nothing more inconsistent with outdoor enthusiasm than my interest in scale modeling which requires long hours sitting still indoors by myself working on tiny parts that go flying away when picked up with tweezers.

I subscribed to the magazine for 6 or 7 years until the early 2000s when they changed the format and content. I had to strain my eyes to read articles I was not interested in, and they lost me.

Gray Dan

I dropped Backpacker nearly ten years ago and subscribe digitally to the British backpacking magazine, TGO (The Great Outdoors) Magazine.  It is excellent, what I wish Backpacker would evolve to.