D&D 5E How would you improve Dragon+, WotC's Online Magazine?

[Parmandur]

Got it. Dragon and Dungeon are not hobbyist magazines, either. Dragon under TSR eventually became a company vehicle, but there was still massive adverts in it up to about 1987/88 where a steep decline in subs/shelf sales occurred (from 150.000 previously to 80,000), this according to their two rate sheets I had. So. I suppose other companies out there see little use in advertising in Dragon today mainly because of direct online platforms and info delivery systems, et al. Still, print rules; and if ever it doesn't we will be in a poorer societal life-cycle for it.

Yeah, it's not worth the ROI.

 

[Rob Kuntz]

I think magazine advertising collapsed with newspaper advertising as google basically ate everyone else's lunch with advertising revenue.

Yes. I understood that. I was wondering why, in this niche market, why other companies, blossoming as they are, might not be advertising as much in WotC's 'zines, electronic or if they were to go print. I circled back to why. Kinda scattershot, I know. It seems that I created an accidental rabbit hole and will beg Alice to rescue me now...

 

[Parmandur]

Yes. I understood that. I was wondering why, in this niche market, why other companies, blossoming as they are, might not be advertising as much in WotC's 'zines, electronic or if they were to go print. I circled back to why. Kinda scattershot, I know. It seems that I created an accidental rabbit hole and will beg Alice to rescue me now...

Placing an ad here on ENWorld probably reaches more people than TSR could have ever dreamed of with a print magazine.

 

[Rob Kuntz]

Placing an ad here on ENWorld probably reaches more people than TSR could have ever dreamed of with a print magazine.

That's true. Their height was 150,000 as I noted. Magazine ads are more persistent, though. They are there, the magazine's there as you walk past it in the house. You can take it places (I know, we can walk around with tablets and phones, and thereby connect wherever, but that's not as personal. not as intimate). That's the point about print. It smells of new ink, the pages rustle and swoosh, they blow in the wind, you try not to set things on them, watermark them. There's an intimacy with them that electrons will never replace. Note: 'That said as I type electrons! ' Pros and Cons. But I've never smelled an other than neutral scented electronic device. So there...

 

[Parmandur]

That's true. Their height was 150,000 as I noted. Magazine ads are more persistent, though. They are there, the magazine's there as you walk past it in the house. You can take it places (I know, we can walk around with tablets and phones, and thereby connect wherever, but that's not as personal. not as intimate). That's the point about print. It smells of new ink, the pages rustle and swoosh, they blow in the wind, you try not to set things on them, watermark them. There's an intimacy with them that electrons will never replace. Note: 'That said as I type electrons! ' Pros and Cons. But I've never smelled an other than neutral scented electronic device. So there...

Won't get any argument from me on principle, I was an avid magazine reader as a kid in the 90's. But it became increasingly difficult to justify the subscriptions to stay behind the curve...

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Placing an ad here on ENWorld probably reaches more people than TSR could have ever dreamed of with a print magazine.

I am honestly quite surprised how I see almost no ads for D&D (done by WotC) online. I do for Magic the Gathering quite a lot, and even for D&D Beyond. But not normal D&D!

 

[MichaelSomething]

I am honestly quite surprised how I see almost no ads for D&D (done by WotC) online. I do for Magic the Gathering quite a lot, and even for D&D Beyond. But not normal D&D!

Who needs online or magazine ads when you got the Matt Mercer effect on your side?

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Who needs online or magazine ads when you got the Matt Mercer effect on your side?

I think you joke, but I do think there are a ton of people who have not heard of Matt Mercer, but have heard of D&D and want to try it, but don't know how, or where to start. I know, because this was my experience as a teenager in Connecticut, where I knew no one in my friends or family who played. I thought D&D was a board game, but the name Dungeons and Dragons sounded fun and I wanted to play it.

 

[Parmandur]

I am honestly quite surprised how I see almost no ads for D&D (done by WotC) online. I do for Magic the Gathering quite a lot, and even for D&D Beyond. But not normal D&D!

They use a Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and word of mouth strategy.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

They use a Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and word of mouth strategy.

I've got a degree in marketing, and I can tell you that these are all important things for your marketing branch to do. But if you got money, they shouldn't be the only things you do.

Here is an ad from Warhammer 40,000... remember, this is not an ad for miniatures (which they also do a lot of) this is for a rules book. It takes a little art (reused from the book with a little movement), some voice-over, and bam pretty decent ad.


I see no reason why D&D doesn't send these out on YouTube and social channels, targeting the same (or similar) audience they send ads of Magic the Gathering to. I understand they've had enormous success so far, but this type of targeting can only improve sales. It's honestly leaving money on the table, and I can only assume that the WotC team hasn't bothered because they're getting double-digit growth anyway.