Long Live Print: Method Mag Moving Forward

Last week, Factory Media announced the discontinuation of their print operations, eliminating a large number of titles from the European action sports fold, including three major snowboard magazines - Whitelines, MBM and Onboard. Citing "barriers of accessibility" and affordability, Factory has decided that their snowboard media presence will now subsist strictly in digital form.
 
As early adopters of the internet - launching our initial web platform, one of the first ever websites, in 1994 - Method has incorporated a digital component into our media offering since the onset of the brand. The immense and immediate reach of the web, especially given the tools and platforms available today, is undeniable. The ability to relay breaking news, contest results, travel updates and similar content in real time from snowboarders and filmmakers worldwide is an invaluable slice of the media spectrum. It may also be true that a digital approach constitutes a more cost-effective model for reaching a generation who's grown up online. 
 
Yet profit and the mere pursuit of numbers has never, and will never, rank among our utmost objectives at Method. We firmly believe that there are traditions and tenets of snowboard culture that simply cannot be honored in megapixels. Though the web may be reaching more people than ever, we have our reservations about how many of these folks truly engage with the content pouring across their screen. 
 
Snowboarding has entered a period of grand redefinition, and a timeless, quality print product will serve a pivotal role in maintaining the soul of our culture.

Despite its reach and availability, content disseminated through digital channels is hindered by a brief shelf life, lacking the overall impact and grasp of its print counterpart. Its plight can be likened to that of the ever-popular "web series", in that it may succeed in garnering prompt attention, yet struggles to attain the legendary, lifelong impact of, say, the full video. 
 
With feeds awash in a deluge of click bait titles, Buzzfeed-esque lists and decidedly "mainstream" (read: watered down) content, the digital model has created a gross mass of "browsers", a wealth of casual gazers whose interest, and ensuing engagement, often extends little beyond the reach of their mouse. The "numbers" may be staggering at face value, but the efficiency, if that is indeed the goal, is lacking. Do we really need to reach six million people to find the 60,000 that give a damn?

As our lives become increasingly enveloped in the digital realm, we've noticed that now more than ever there is a demand from our readers for a physical product - a reprieve from the world of screens - and hold tight to the idea that a modern snowboard media company should be built on a balanced marriage of print and digital properties. 
 
The web is irreplaceable in maintaining a daily relationship with our dedicated readership between print runs and in reaching the casually interested who may be new to our brand. But no amount of likes, shares, or retweets can replace the thrill an up-and-comer receives from a "Fresh Meat" check out. There is no web equivalent of the revered two-page spread and no photo drudged from the bowels of the internet, no matter how shiny it looks on that screen, will ever hold a candle to the indelible sanctity of a magazine cover. Accordingly, our digital offering serves as a supplemental gateway to print, upon which lifelong snowboarders and readers are fostered.

Moving toward our 16th volume of magazines, we look forward to expanding our output of real snowboarding across all our channels. With the launch of a revamped website, expansion of our Method TV series and an increased social media focus, our web and social media presence will be stronger than ever. 
 
As has been our tradition for 15 volumes, our print magazine will remain a shrine for the wildest travel stories, interviews with the talented personalities of today and tomorrow, home to the finest photography from the world's top snowboard shooters and host to a collection of columns that embody the loose and off-the-cuff spirit upon with Method has been built. 
 
We look forward to strengthening our relationships with the shops that currently stock our free publication and building ties with new locations as we prepare to unleash an increased distribution run, stretching into every corner of the rip-able globe. 
 
Thank you, all, for your continued support!
 
Long Live Method Mag!