One year ago, my friends. The Watercraft Journal was launched exactly a year ago, and we can hardly believe it’s been that long. Birthed out of the idea that personal watercraft enthusiasts around the world wanted a source for original and engaging articles on a daily basis, my wife and I emptied our savings account and created an online magazine that did exactly that – and completely free to you. With a great deal of personal sacrifice (both financially and emotionally), we dug in our heels, weathered the highs and lows, and keep the theoretical trains running on time.
Readers (and Google Analytics) will testify that The Watercraft Journal never missed a day – Monday through Friday – of publishing. Our contributors can equally echo that never a payment was missed or sent late. And best of all, our advertisers – who are responsible for keeping The Watercraft Journal from capsizing – are our biggest proponents. For their support, all of them have been repaid in increased sales, new and returning customers and expanded brand exposure. That is the blessing of a healthy, reciprocal professional business relationship. Everybody wins.
The Watercraft Journal is unlike any other personal watercraft magazine, primarily because it’s growing. Lovers of jet skis and PWC across the United States, Australia and across the globe have latched on to our magazine, relying on our dependable publishing schedule each and every day. Applying over a decade’s worth of professional motor and powersports journalism and publishing experience has given The Watercraft Journal a level of professional not found elsewhere. Our dedication to the whole industry has opened our audience to literally five times that of our closest American competitor.
Best of all, our advertising partners have come to expect the utmost in professional content to properly represent their brand. We’ll never dilute our standards for superior and family-friendly content, and our continual and perpetual growth has thankfully reflected that. Please don’t mistake this for boasting. This is renewing a promise. The Watercraft Journal has earned your trust because of our dedication to hard work, reliability and integrity; we publish fun, informative and insightful daily news, weekly product and vehicle reviews, interviews, technical “how-to’s”, shop tours and event coverage for you, every day, for free.
November 2013 to November 2014
October 2014
Let The Record Show
Look above. These are real numbers, as reported by Google’s data tracker, Google Analytics. Starting the recording process only a few days after our November 1st, 2013, launch date, The Watercraft Journal has welcomed a staggering 113,400-plus users to its pages. By “user,” Google records this as an unique individual person. In the world of publishing, this individual would be understood as a single sale of an issue. Interestingly enough, that only averages out to 9,451 readers a month, a number we’ve well surpassed since Spring of this year. And when the industry’s only two print titles are published semi-monthly and quarterly to a combined audience of less than 4,000 every two months, it’s very clear to see which magazine is preferred.
November 2013 – November 2014
Total unique readers: 113,419*
Total Articles Read: 339,115
Percentage of new readers: 60.7%
All-Time Top (5) Nations:
United States – 107,654
Australia – 16,903
Canada – 10,319
United Kingdom – 7,808
Japan – 3,702
Total Percentage of Mobile Device Users: 39%
October
Total number unique readers: 16,340*
Total number of articles read: 34,914
Percentage of new readers: 62.8%
Top (5) Nations in October:
United States – 12,528
Australia – 2,391
Canada – 1,084
United Kingdom – 912
France – 532
*This number is considered equal to an individual sale of a single copy of a magazine.
The Evidence Speaks For Itself
We’ve been told that The Watercraft Journal makes producing a daily personal watercraft magazine look easy. Although a very welcomed compliment, there’s few things further from the truth. Because we publish Monday through Friday, hunting down interesting and entertaining stories worth printing can be a challenge, not to mention getting them written and ready for publishing. And publishing magazine-grade content each and every day adds up in more than just expense. We’ve averaged publishing a 110-plus-page magazine’s worth of articles each month. That’s double that of our nearest competitors if you exclude our daily news and literally thousands of pictures filling over a hundred photo galleries.
Total feature articles published: 166
Total feature words published: 156,436*
Total news articles published: 323
All-Time Highest Read Article: 11,780 views
*When this number is translated to print publication standards equals 12 monthly 118-page magazines. Please note that this number does not include an average of two uniquely-written news articles published daily.
Ladies and Gentlemen of The Jury
Social Media has left an indelible mark on the world of publishing, and the whole of business for that matter. When every Tom, Dick and Harry can wear the hat of publicist, marketer and promoter all through the various feeds and pages found online, it does blur the lines of traditional marketing. The personal watercraft industry has been slow to really adopt these tools that have already dramatically increased annual revenues in other niche industries. But you can only lead a horse to water they say…. For The Watercraft Journal and on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and weekly newsletters, we help bring the magazine directly to you, the reader. And as you can see, what we’re doing works.
Total Facebook Followers: 11,137
Total Twitter Followers: 285
Total Instagram Followers: 879
Total Weekly Newsletter Subscribers: 872
We Rest Our Case
Reviewing what we’ve accomplished in such a short time, it’s hard not to celebrate even just a little bit. Initially, each month’s edition of The Watercraft Journal By The Numbers was intended to provide advertisers with an honest revelatory glimpse at the rapid assent of the industry’s fastest-growing PWC enthusiast publication. By openly showcasing our monthly audience to all of you proves we are not afraid of the double edge of the Internet sword…nor should you. For all of you advertising currently with The Watercraft Journal, we earnestly and gratefully appreciate your support. For those considering advertising or have only recently become familiar with us, we say “Welcome! Let us earn your trust, friendship and business.”
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