Evo magazine - seems like everyone's leaving
Discussion
I've been an EVO subscriber for many years but of late I've been considering canceling my subscription, when I read the tweet from Catchpole early it pretty much confirmed this idea.
I had no idea about all the others until I read this, no wonder they have been pushing new subscription deals of late.
I had no idea about all the others until I read this, no wonder they have been pushing new subscription deals of late.
birdcage said:
Somebody from the publishing company will read this so can I take the opportunity to say Octane is now the most boring and odd looking car magazine on the planet.
I will buy any car magazines but I cannot bear it. It is impossible to navigate and reads like an Ikea instruction manual.
Look at copies from a couple of years ago, fire the editor and art director and start again please. Its BORING as hell
To a certain extent I agree - I buy a lot of car mags, hundreds......but I don't feel I'm posh enough to read OctaneI will buy any car magazines but I cannot bear it. It is impossible to navigate and reads like an Ikea instruction manual.
Look at copies from a couple of years ago, fire the editor and art director and start again please. Its BORING as hell
ATG said:
Many moons ago I used to read Performance Car, then it got a new editor, went to s
t in a couple of issues, and low and behold half of the original hacks and photographer turn up (set up?) Evo. Plus ca change. Sad to hear that Evo is imploding, just as I was sad to watch PC fall apart. While I'm meandering down Memory Lane, the back page of PC was handed over to Clarkson for some light entertainment. His car reviews on other pages were light weight compared to the other hacks, but his rambling diatribes on the back page were works of genius.
This.t in a couple of issues, and low and behold half of the original hacks and photographer turn up (set up?) Evo. Plus ca change. Sad to hear that Evo is imploding, just as I was sad to watch PC fall apart. While I'm meandering down Memory Lane, the back page of PC was handed over to Clarkson for some light entertainment. His car reviews on other pages were light weight compared to the other hacks, but his rambling diatribes on the back page were works of genius.Motorsport is the only magazine I buy these days but not every issue.
I went to get Evo this week for the McLaren article flicked through the rest of the mag and thought it was crap compared to a few years ago so didn't bother.
I did see today though, modern classics or maybe future classics. Seemed like a good read.
I went to get Evo this week for the McLaren article flicked through the rest of the mag and thought it was crap compared to a few years ago so didn't bother.
I did see today though, modern classics or maybe future classics. Seemed like a good read.
I used to buy it religiously every month up to about two years ago. I found that Nick Trott and Dan Prosser were a bit anodyne compared to Jethro and Henry, plus I'd got to that age where I was gravitating more towards octane and cars I'd lusted after in my youth (group B etc) rather than the latest Megane etc
I can't help think it's the slow death of print media. As someone else has said it's like Drivers Republic which was the forerunner.
I can't help think it's the slow death of print media. As someone else has said it's like Drivers Republic which was the forerunner.
Is Trott going too?
I've just looked up the monthly ABC figures for Evo..47k!
Compare that with the reach of someone like Tim Burton with 850k subs and regularly gets 150-200k for videos. You could of course argue that a lot of his subscribers are spotty bedroom bound teenagers but for the younger generation the whole idea of paying for content is an anathema
I've just looked up the monthly ABC figures for Evo..47k!
Compare that with the reach of someone like Tim Burton with 850k subs and regularly gets 150-200k for videos. You could of course argue that a lot of his subscribers are spotty bedroom bound teenagers but for the younger generation the whole idea of paying for content is an anathema
Before the 'new' Top Gear line-up was announced (Chris Evans etc), I thought Jethro and Henry Catchpole along with Harris or Harry could have saved the brand, but they went with 'Joey from Friends' and Wogan's Radio 2 replacement. Amazon clearly has a virtually limitless budget when it comes to backing up Clarkson and co. It'll be interesting to see which channel picks up shows created by The Grand Tour and Drive Tribe. My guess is Sky or Channel 4.
darth_pies said:
I particularly like this bit of PH-baiting nonsense on their About page:
"GAMERS HAVE GOT TWITCH, TRAVELLERS HAVE GOT TRIP ADVISOR AND FASHION FANS HAVE GOT, OH, SOMETHING OR OTHER TOO. BUT PEOPLE WHO ARE INTO CARS HAVE GOT NOWHERE. THERE'S NO GRAND-SCALE ONLINE MOTORING COMMUNITY WHERE PEOPLE CAN MEET AND SHARE VIDEO, COMMENTS, INFORMATION AND OPINION. DRIVETRIBE WILL CHANGE THAT. AND THEN SOME."
- RICHARD HAMMOND
Only the TG boys could get away with such brazen BS!
To be fair, PH is more of a "mild passing interest in cars" than a serious petrolhead/ drivers forum. There are more threads moaning about people being knobs, registrations people don't like & the holier than thou brigade in SPL than there are genuinely into cars!"GAMERS HAVE GOT TWITCH, TRAVELLERS HAVE GOT TRIP ADVISOR AND FASHION FANS HAVE GOT, OH, SOMETHING OR OTHER TOO. BUT PEOPLE WHO ARE INTO CARS HAVE GOT NOWHERE. THERE'S NO GRAND-SCALE ONLINE MOTORING COMMUNITY WHERE PEOPLE CAN MEET AND SHARE VIDEO, COMMENTS, INFORMATION AND OPINION. DRIVETRIBE WILL CHANGE THAT. AND THEN SOME."
- RICHARD HAMMOND
Only the TG boys could get away with such brazen BS!
Surely the golden years are over for EVO (perhaps mags in general?), personally the best years were 2004-2007 when the mag was a cracker: Harry at the helm, Tomalin, Barker, Jethro, Vivian,Meaden with Catchpole being the new boy.
Some top notch regular columnists such as Gordon Murray, Rowan Atkinson and of course the late Jeff Daniels explaing sophisticated tech in such a way that anyone could understand and be interested.
Anyhow from what I remember back then the writing was a cut above and it was the only mag I bought but one month I missed an issue and just never bothered after, there was nothing there anymore to make me invest the time each month... stale?
I took advantage of a 3 issue trial at the beginning of the year, but those just remained in the bog, half read.
such a shame
Some top notch regular columnists such as Gordon Murray, Rowan Atkinson and of course the late Jeff Daniels explaing sophisticated tech in such a way that anyone could understand and be interested.
Anyhow from what I remember back then the writing was a cut above and it was the only mag I bought but one month I missed an issue and just never bothered after, there was nothing there anymore to make me invest the time each month... stale?
I took advantage of a 3 issue trial at the beginning of the year, but those just remained in the bog, half read.
such a shame
thatsprettyshady said:
Surely the golden years are over for EVO (perhaps mags in general?), personally the best years were 2004-2007 when the mag was a cracker: Harry at the helm, Tomalin, Barker, Jethro, Vivian,Meaden with Catchpole being the new boy.
Some top notch regular columnists such as Gordon Murray, Rowan Atkinson and of course the late Jeff Daniels explaing sophisticated tech in such a way that anyone could understand and be interested.
Anyhow from what I remember back then the writing was a cut above and it was the only mag I bought but one month I missed an issue and just never bothered after, there was nothing there anymore to make me invest the time each month... stale?
I took advantage of a 3 issue trial at the beginning of the year, but those just remained in the bog, half read.
such a shame
Scary, as pretty much mirrors my exact thoughts and actions. Used to be a PC subscriber and then switched to Evo and never missed an issue for about 15 years. Lost intrerest about 3 or so years ago, although couldn't tell you why and tried again this year but dodn't stick..Some top notch regular columnists such as Gordon Murray, Rowan Atkinson and of course the late Jeff Daniels explaing sophisticated tech in such a way that anyone could understand and be interested.
Anyhow from what I remember back then the writing was a cut above and it was the only mag I bought but one month I missed an issue and just never bothered after, there was nothing there anymore to make me invest the time each month... stale?
I took advantage of a 3 issue trial at the beginning of the year, but those just remained in the bog, half read.
such a shameI still watch a lot of their YT content and looking forward to the ECOTY 2016 video due soon, but don't imagine I'll ever buy the mag itself again other than as maybe a holiday read.
I stopped my subscription about 3 months' ago. The main reason is that I get 95% of my car related news from here and the remaining 5% from YouTube - mainly Steve Sutcliffe at Auto Express - when I want to see a video review of a specific car, leaving Evo to do nothing other than repeat the same stuff I've already read/watched.
Evo usually has one or two good articles per magazine but my biggest gripe is that they are pretty much a Porsche and BMW magazine as they fall over themselves each time they review one and give it 5 stars despite pointing out several flaws. A lot of other cars just don't get the same attention from other brands and to be honest I'm interested in the whole brand spectrum so it would be nice to have a bit more focus on other marquees aside from the one page test drive article here and there.
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