Banana republic

Here’s a bit of a shout out to the more eminently resourced and thoroughly excellent online publication Drivers Republic. And, in some ways, this is a shout out to all the AUSmotives the world over. You see, the internet is here, and the internet is staying.

Drivers Republic claims their site traffic grew by as much as 200% in the period June–December 2008, while at the same time sales of leading UK print titles slipped between 4–14%.

The immediacy and flexibility of information offered by digital media is hard to compete with. Print media will always have a place, there’s no doubt about that, it just may no longer be at the top of the tree.

More after the jump.

Drivers Republic grows as print magazines falter

16 February 2008

Drivers Republic, the online motoring magazine and social community has over the past six months underlined the significant migration of car enthusiasts from print magazines to the internet.

From June to December 2008, Drivers Republic grew from 40,000 unique users and 450,000 page impressions to 100,000 unique users viewing 2,000,000 individual pages. As the leading UK print titles saw their sales down between 4% and 14%, Drivers Republic grew 200% during the same period. Viewing time remains far higher than the industry standard with readers spending on average over 7 minutes reading Drivers Republic’s large, page-turning magazine features.

DR’s social network was launched at the end of September and is fast becoming the UK’s main, dedicated online community for car enthusiasts. All areas of the car-demographic are represented with owners blogging about their own machinery (from £500 hatchbacks to £200,000 Ferraris), engaging with each other and, unlike any other site in the UK, gaining regular access to the DR editorial team.

“New car sales may be down, but DR is proving that when times are tough, people have an even greater appetite for fine stories, photography and videos. Reader feedback confirms that we’re currently offering the most engaging online car-media and throughout 2009 we will continue to entertain our readers with the most exciting machinery, but we will also broaden the scope of DR and cover more mainstream vehicles too. People want a balance of lavish entertainment and real-world behaviour, and we will provide just that,” said Chris Harris Editorial Director of Drivers Republic.

DR’s influence in online communities continues to grow at an impressive pace, the global network of Forums and Blog sites have an insatiable need for interesting electronic material and we are better placed to feed them than our more restricted rivals.

In recent weeks both the Sunday and the Daily Express featured DR as a prime example of the move from conventional to digital media. And we are very proud to announce that, in partnership with Lightmaker, we have just won an award for Outstanding Achievement for Website Development by the Interactive Media Awards. This is one of the top four international awards committees within the internet sector and demonstrates the significance of the step DR has made in online car media.

“Our objective has been to transform the relationship between reader and publisher within a digital environment, engaging car enthusiasts across the internet in shaping and interacting with the subjects they are most passionate about. We’re doing just that, allowing readers to shape the story; to tell us what they want to learn about every car we test,” said Steve Davies, Managing Director of Drivers Republic.

About Drivers Republic

Drivers Republic was launched in August 2008 by Steve Davies, together with Richard Meaden; a co-founder of Evo magazine, Neil Carey; former designer of Evo magazine, Jethro Bovingdon; former deputy-Editor of Evo magazine and Chris Harris; former road test editor of Autocar magazine. Providing opinion-forming content and feature-length automotive videos within a community based environment, Drivers Republic establishes trusted relationships with its network of readers creating a powerful platform for companies and brands to engage with.