A trade magazine, Amusement Business was known to theme park customers almost exclusively for its year-end estimates of theme park attendance. But the bulk of the magazine's coverage centered on personalities and companies in the theme park, amusement and fair business. In recent years, Amusement Business branched out to cover music tours and other out-of-home entertainment, in an effort to maintain its readership.
Trade publications have been hit hard by the Internet. For most of its 111-year existence, Amusement Business was the only publication exclusively covering theme and amusement parks. Today, that's no longer the case, with dozens of prominent sites covering the industry, including this one. Amusement Business, along with other VNU publications, tried to enhance its appeal with a more frequently-updated website. But its content stood behind a paid registration wall, crippling the publication's visibility online and preventing it from attracting new readers.
Still, I'll miss AB, and I'll be curious to see who picks up the task of the year-end attendance estimates.
Thanks,
Donna
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
