Pocket Outdoor Media, the Colorado-based active lifestyle publisher (and OBJ’s parent company), announced an expansion of its team this week. Five new editors, formerly of Bike magazine, will join the company immediately and begin work on a new mountain biking print publication to launch next month.
This October, staff members at —as well as those at sister publications Powder, Snowboarder, and Surfer—were indefinitely furloughed without pay as the titles’ parent company, A360 Media, announced a pause on publication. The industry, by and large, interpreted the news to mean the magazines had folded.
Staff coming to Pocket include former Bike editor-in-chief Nicole Formosa and editors Ryan Palmer, Anthony Smith, Travis Engel, and Satchel Cronk.
Pocket did not acquire the Bike name or logo, and the new mountain biking title will publish under the banner of a new brand. Pocket plans to launch that brand on the web in December, with the first quarterly print issue rolling off the press in Q1 of next year. The title will join Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, VeloNews, VeloPress, VeloGear, Roll Massif, and Triathlete as part of the company’s cycling portfolio.
“Twenty-six percent of Pocket’s 29 million followers ride mountain bikes,” CEO Robin Thurston told Brain this week. “By syndicating mountain bike content across the total network we will have an incredible head start at building traffic and circulation. Hiring this team makes a statement about our faith in the power of great content. Yes, brands can be important, but artful storytelling is our north star.”
The new brand will appeal to casual mountain bikers as well as more serious cyclists, adding a new segment to Pocket’s adventure-sports content and providing greater value-add for Active Pass, the company’s subscription membership program that includes benefits like event registrations, training plans, and premium content.