Future Publishing teams up with Tread to tackle the mountain bike market

[Matt]

Future Publishing teams up with Tread to tackle the mountain bike market

Press Release - 7 December 2011

 

Future Publishing, publisher of leading business, automotive and environmental magazines, has teamed up with TREAD – Mountain Biking With Soul to add more value to the growing South African mountain bike market.

 

TREAD is a mountain biking brand started three years ago by mountain biking/media couple, Joanne and Sean Badenhorst. Sean is a former editor of Ride magazine and founding editor of Bicycling magazine. Joanne has worked for various magazine publishers on the production side. The TREAD brand comprises an alternate monthly magazine, a website and an events division all aimed at offering value to the South African mountain bike market, which has enjoyed significant growth in the past five years.

 

TREAD magazine's six 2011 editions.

 

For Future Publishing’s Managing Director, Richard Lendrum, the partnership with TREAD completes a full circle as Lendrum was the founding publisher of Ride magazine back in 1998.

 

“I think we were a bit ahead of time. We launched Ride as a mountain bike magazine and then road cycling really grew, forcing us to change our focus, which wasn’t ideal, but it’s what the market demanded at the time. We employed Sean as the editor back then because of his intimate understanding of cycling and his reputation as a top sports journalist and then sold Ride in 2001 in order to focus on other sectors,” said Lendrum.

 

“Now, mountain biking isn’t just bigger than road cycling, it’s also outgrown golf as the outdoor recreation activity of choice for middle and upper LSM groups. Mountain biking is fun and challenging, it caters for all ages and both genders and facilitates health, fitness, travel and family-bonding opportunities.”

 

For award-winning editor, Badenhorst, the partnership with Future Publishing is important in that it allows continued growth of the brand.

 

“With a small team we’ve been able to create an authoritative, focussed, high quality, locally relevant mountain bike magazine and website. With the backing of MiWay, we have also been hosting very successful mountain bike skills clinics and women’s trail rides in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape, which is in line with our goals to improve the mountain biking experience,” said Badenhorst, who has worked in cycling media since 1990 and has been an active mountain biker for more than 20 years.

 

“Future Publishing is a medium-sized, progressive, successful company that earned my respect many years ago. Now I’m confident that with its infrastructure, both from a publishing and an events perspective, we’ll be able to grow the TREAD brand to be even more supportive of the South African market. There are plenty of growth areas we will be tackling, both in publishing and events, which is very exciting.”

 

TREAD Magazine is published alternate monthly and has, with immediate effect, been bumped up from a 7 000 print run to a 10 000 print run in order to satisfy an increased demand for the title. It will be submitted for a circulation audit in 2012, but has, according to Badenhorst, been selling over 5200 copies per issue in 2011. It is sold on the newsstand in CNA, Exclusive Books and Estoril Books as well as in over 200 specialist bicycle shops.

 

“As an independent publisher, we’ve not had the capacity to grow the circulation as quickly as we’d have liked, so instead focussed on making sure the content is the best it can possibly be. But mountain biking can be a formidable activity to get into and with the growth of the market and plenty of newcomers, there's an increasing hunger for credible knowledge and guidance, which is exactly what TREAD offers.

 

“With Future Publishing as a partner, we can satisfy the growing demand, not only in print, but also online and through unique events, which allow our advertisers to interact directly with our readers through memorable, valuable, positive experiences,” added Badenhorst.

 

“We will not influence the editorial direction of TREAD. Sean and his team of experienced professional writers and photographers, all of whom are actually mountain bikers (it's a prerequisite), are clearly the market leaders in this sector. They will now be able to add even more editorial depth now that they have the publishing infrastructure of Future behind them. We’re excited about the prospects of adding our own expertise and value to the TREAD brand. It’s good to have Future, ‘back on its bike’!” said Lendrum.

 

For more information on TREAD – Mountain Biking With Soul, email Sean Badenhorst on sean@treadmag.co.za or visit http://www.treadmag.co.za/. For more information on Future Publishing, call 011 8032040 or click here for an overview: http://thefuturegroup.co.za/e-books/Blue_Book_E-Zine/index.html

 

 

[Iwan Kemp]

Lekker!

[Pieterg]

Wonderful what about every month,2 months is just to long to wait

[Catatonic_Joe]

Cool, love Tread magazine.

[Danger Dassie]

Hard work always pays off. Been watching Sean and Jo working on and keeping the mag afloat with pure passion, all whilst still doing other work and family life as well.

Might be biased and not to detract from contributors, but well well well, deserved and will definitely take the pressure for sales, print, distribution, ad sales etc etc etc .... All of that was essentially Seans & Jo working from home, often 16hr days to get the mag out each issue, with the help of various freelance contributors.

 

Good job!

[Slowbee]

moving closer to an online version ?

[Danger Dassie]

moving closer to an online version ?

 

Would imagine so, although couldn't possibly speak on anyone's behalf.

Readership and advertising demand though, is still heavily print driven. Especially in niche segments like this.

While there's a definite (growing) demand for 'online' or 'digital' it does still require resources and budget, more so if it's to be done properly.