The business niche of driver-recruitment publishing has seen numerous changes over the past thirty days, and you almost need a separate publication to keep up with what is going on in the publication world. So, short of doing that, I'll do my best to lay it all out there and see what we can make of it.
Flying J and Pilot Truck Stops recently announced a merger that will supposedly help bring Flying J back from the chapter 11 bankruptcy filings that took place in December 2008. Before the merger announcement, Randall-Reilly Publishing's Truck Stops Express Division announced that it had secured exclusive distribution rights for it's network in both these truck stops. This move by Randall-Reilly adds 509 truck stops to its distribution network, which now boasts "more than 1,000" locations, according to a recent press release. The eight magazines that Randall-Reilly distributes to these truck stops each month? Hang on to your hat and try to keep up - here goes. Truckers News, NextTruck, Best Driver Jobs, Big Rig Owner, Changing Lanes, Owner-Operator/Company Driver, and RPM for Truckers. Whew.
On the other end of this spectrum was Target Media Partners, who lost the distribution rights for both Flying J and Pilot as a result of the Randall-Reilly deal. However, in a statement released by Target Media Partners, they have "added hundreds of full service locations and increased 1,200 other locations off the main freeways, giving advertisers access to over 2,300 truck stops twice per month." Sound confusing? It is. In addition to the "other locations" mentioned in the release, Target Media Partners will be distributed in Travel Centers of America, WILCO Hess, and Roady's Truck Stops. They deliver nine magazines to these stops, including The Trucker, Trucker's Connection, Trucking 2000, Independent Contractor, ITJ, Down Time, Truck Job Seekers, Team Drivers, and On the Road Sportsman.
RAMP Publishing, who utilizes Randall-Reilly's Truck Stops Express to distribute their publications, OTR and Pro Trucker has announced some changes of their own. According to Publisher Andy Shefsky, RAMP will suspend operations of OTR and Pro Trucker during the fourth quarter of 2009 while they introduce their new publication, Driver HEALTH to the market. Currently, the plan at RAMP is to reintroduce OTR and Pro Trucker back to the market in January 2010.
So, what does it all mean? The three big players in the "trucking book" game have all three made some substantial changes that may or may not lead to more and bigger changes. It wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibilities to think that Randall-Reilly and/or Target Media Partners may consolidate some of their respective publications, or stop publishing one or two altogether. Down-sizing certainly seems to be the trend in today's economy. Time will tell and we will keep you informed as we monitor these situations.
Mergers and acquisitions are not limited to print media, as Bruce Martin, President of Layover.com, recently announced the acquisition of Truck.net. These are two pretty big players in the market, and it could lead to a trend of other acquisitions as the Internet continues to make huge gains in market share when it comes to driver recruitment advertising. Again, we'll keep you informed as information becomes available.
Thanks for reading, hope to see you soon!