The Outside Media corporate umbrella grows ever larger, now taking in Pinkbike, the biggest mountain bike website in the world, Cycling Tips, and Trailforks, the killer bike trails app and website. All you have to do is head to the comment section at Pinkbike under the article announcing the new deal to see this corporate merger ain’t exactly thrilling the readership. That there are already 1,200 comments as of Wednesday evening is all you need to see to understand this is a touchy subject.
A common refrain comes from Zach22: “I really want to believe that Pinkbike can hold onto its character and values but the list of Outside’s current titles is basically a list of magazines/sites I’ve stopped reading after their content and tone changed following an Outside acquisition. I hope Pinkbike can be the exception and we don’t start seeing Outside style listicles on which trendy products are “essential” for post ride beers.”
Will Pinkbike remain free? Will Trailforks still make trail beta available to non Outside+ (that’ll be $100 a year, thanks)? We don’t know yet. But we like indie outdoor media here, and though we certainly understand the business, and you gotta make a living, it’s never a stoker when a proud and cherished indie title sells to a VC-backed corporate entity.
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I love indie media too, including your site. I’m not too worried about this Outside empire growing because they’ll ruin all those sites, and then great new indie sites will pop up because smart people won’t put up with it. So it will just be a continuous evolution of dying sites with new great sights popping up.
There are a lot of non-smart people out there too. And for every 1200 disgruntled readers, there are 12,000 or 120,000 who aren’t that bothered and who’ll keep reading regardless
This is a tough one: as a reader, I love indie titles; as a business owner I understand the importance of an exit plan. As much as we all groan about businesses ‘selling out’, I can’t blame any owner for accepting a buyout if it means being able to make the most of their hard work and freeing up the time to enjoy their passions.
We’ll see how each property evolves, but as a CyclingTips member, paid Gaia GPS user, and print Outside subscriber the package deal might actually be less than I’m paying now. Paywalls are a pain, but valuing content could -maybe- help other players (like AJ) whose content is worth paying for. (Or it could make finding advertisers and eyeballs harder than it already is.)
As someone who knows people at properties previously and newly under the Outside umbrella, I hope that they can keep up their good editorial work with fewer worries about how to pay the bills. We’ll see!
I agree with the commenter above.
Outside was once a good magazine, with articles which were well worth reading. Now, Outside is nearly worthless, and seems to be under the control of a bunch of social justice warrior kids who have never known what it was like to dumpster-dive when seeking a meal.I wouldn’t use Outside as a substitute for toilet paper.
A similar thing is happening to other magazines. Motorcycle and car magazines which were once great are now a sad joke. Bonnier Corp. is the prime offender.
Outside web site is already sounding like an old roadale press guru site. Fluff with no content. Oddly, (my age is showing) I subscribed to Outside from the first issue in September 1977. Great and exciting stories. Now, ya gotta get a new Bronco! You live in corporate emags world. Thanks for publishing a great paper journal. I love it!
I do, or DID, get the sense that Pocket Media has a different culture than the “Larry Burke Outside Yuppie Scum” (which, alas, won literally dozens of National Magazine Awards). Why do people judge a brand by its worst examples – maybe that’s a conversation for another day. All I know is that PinkBike’s combination of rowdy forums, up to the second breaking news and worldwide buy/sell section essentially created the woven fabric that is mountain biking culture today. The big difference between PB and, say, the PowderMag/TGR/Epicsnow/NewSchoolers forums is that he got complete and total industry buy-in to support a site that, let’s face it, isn’t much removed from an old school DOS based BBS.
Afraid I unsubscribed to Outside online because of of the articles are now behind a paywall. I pretty much think everything they own is going to be behind that paywall.
There are numerous valid arguments and differeing points of view here to be sure, but considering Pinkbike has been free to readers for more than 20 years, any new paywalls are going to be a very tough sell I think.
Not saying I have a solution, but this is going to be a heavy lift for the Outside gang.
It’s as if the 7th seal has been opened and Outside ascends at last to the throne atop a hellscape of tech-bro-outdoor-click-bait. Patagonia clad VC Oligarchs do not like to be made fun of and now we will all pay.
Sorry but this is like Walmart buying my local bike shop… no thanks
You DO have to pay for Trailforks now. A few months ago they made it necessary to join the PRO level for money, which no doubt increased their valuation for the Outside sale. You can only download a free ‘home’ area, but once you travel outside that and want to find trails, you have to pay the man.