Magazine celebrates 60 years

The Magazine Publishers Association is paying tribute to one of its longest-lasting members.

The boaties' magazine SeaSpray celebrates 60 years in print this week, making it one of the country's longest-lived magazines alongside the Listener and Women's Weekly.

Around a third of its readers are overseas, which publisher David Rhodes says is thanks to New Zealand's yachting heritage.

He says readers in America and Europe know of the yachting expertise of New Zealanders and are drawn to SeaSpray as a result. The magazine's largest growth in recent years has been international.

Mr Rhodes says the magazine's vision is to showcase New Zealand-made boats to the rest of the world.

He says part of the magazine's success is due to the loyalty of readers who have grown up with the magazine, dispersed around the world, and continue to want to keep their connection with it.

MPA Executive Director John McClintock says it is very hard to make a go of a magazine which targets a relatively small niche market.

He says the fact that SeaSpray is doing so well is a tribute to the editorial team behind it. He says you can have the glossiest paper and the smartest design, but if you do not have good editorial content, it will never work.

Mr McClintock says the magazine has been through some difficult times, particularly when some previous owners did not give it the resources it needed to satisfy its demanding audience. He describes the sixtieth anniversary edition, however, as "magnificent".

He says one of SeaSpray's problems will be that the primary reader - who actually buys the magazine - will not want to pass the copy on to other people because they want to keep it.

He says, though, that does give the magazine a great opportunity to expand its subscription list.

Mr McClintock says SeaSpray has come a long way from the cheap-and-cheerful newsprint publication of 60 years ago to its current glossy incarnation.

- NEWSTALK ZB