Eight years ago Boat International, a magazine for the world of superyachts had just two editions in France and Germany.  This has now been built into a global print, digital and events business, through a careful focus on developing excellent relationships with yacht owners; a well heeled, well travelled and highly elusive community.  With just 7500 yachts over 24m and 80,000 people globally in a position to buy them, the audience is rarefied, and behaves more like a b2b than a consumer media market.

Magazines licensed in key territories; advertising sold globally

The print magazine is still an important revenue generator, although the editions have now expanded into China, Russia and Brazil, plus an acquisition of Showboats International magazine in the US. The non English language editions have all migrated to a licensed basis, with a mix of locally created and shared content.  Some advertising is sold locally,  but the London & US  team sells over half the advertising revenue in a highly global market.  The marine industry is still core but there are a significant number of luxury advertisers: including top end cars, watches, jewellery.

Relationships with owners provide exclusive content in print and digital

Whilst yacht building is currently depressed, brokerage is recovering, and owners are keen to raise the profile of their yachts to boost charters and eventual sale values.  BI has worked hard on its owners relationships, meaning they get exclusive access to yachts to review.  The recently launched iPad edition provides expanded galleries and video content as well as a replica of the printed magazine.  It's still early days, but 80% of iPad subscribers are not print subscribers.  Digital ad revenue has almost doubled in the last year, and now accounts for over 10% of total revenues. A lucrative move has been setting up an inhouse digital creative agency and video production team, who shoot editorial and sponsored content to be used online and in the iPad edition.

Long term strategy of launching exclusive events for owners

Events are a key part of the business, now contributing 20% of revenues.  They focus on superyacht owners, and started with the World Superyacht Awards in 2005, with judges drawn from the owner community.  Owners now know that winning an award can dramatically grow charter revenues and resale values.  BI charges for tables  and sells sponsorship to luxury & marine advertisers.  It took years to establish the awards and make them profitable, as costs were high, but they have developed owner relationships and paved the way for a series of very top end regattas and rendezvous, running over 3-4 days and attracting sponsors seeking relaxed networking opportunities with the super rich, from Bugatti to Merrill Lynch.  Most events are run from the UK, and some in JVs with yacht clubs in Sardinia and Virgin islands. “Coffee table” book publishing is a lucrative sideline, reusing content from the magazines and attracting ad revenue as well as high cover prices.

Whole team are focussed on developing owner relationships

Tony Harris, CEO, believes the real key to the success of the business is the quality of owner relationships, and all staff share the responsibility of expanding this network. When recruiting, they favour people who can network with the very rich; for example some have backgrounds in the film industry.  The events play an important part in this process, allowing the BI team to develop personal relationships and continually research new ideas with their audience.

BI has also focussed on developing multiple revenue streams, adding video production, brokerage listings , events, digital advertising and ipad apps to traditional circulation and print ads.

Few publishers operate in such a top end market, but the principle of identifying influencers and opinion formers and creating opportunities to build a network could be applied to many sectors.  Content can be copied, but a network is harder for competitors to replicate.  BI has also developed revenues from different sectors; when yacht building is slow, brokerage is more buoyant, and expanding into China, Russia and Brazil balances the European slowdown.

www.boatinternational.com

Tony Harris is speaking at the conference at the Specialist Media Show on 24 May 2012. 

Read a profile of Tony Harris

See the latest conference programme

Book to attend the 2012 conference

Enjoyed this article?  Keen to read more?  Join the Specialist Media Network for a regular e-newsletter full of practical tips for niche publishers, and get free online access to exclusive research and past conference presentations.

Register free now to attend the 2012 Specialist Media Show for a day of practical workshops, expert 1-1 advice and a selection of innovative suppliers.

We are delighted to welcome Audience Media as sponsor of the 2012 Media Pioneer Awards.

Audience Media reflect the values of the Media Pioneer Awards. They provide an innovative and flexible web-based SaaS content management system that publishers can use to create, manage and publish content, advertising and subscriptions across print, web, mobile and tablet, social media and other platforms, and, amongst other capabilities, manage their digital assets and reader data across all channels. Audience Media’s solution is designed to suit the needs of niche publishers and  with low set-up fees (which includes development or redevelopment of the website and apps), it is available on an affordable and all inclusive monthly subscription fee, and can grow as the publishers’ business expands.

Audience Media will offer winners of the Media Pioneers Awards a free project build for one of their brands, which will include the design and build of the CMS, new website, native HTML5 iPad app and a free 3 months trial.

For more information, or to book a personalised online demo, contact cobus.heyl@audiencemedia.com