Online Marketing / Sponsorship

I run a fairly large and successful mountain biking website (top 4 or 5 on Alexa for our industry and see about 60k unique visitors a month). We cover lots of news, reviews, and events in the biking industry. We’re looking to get some new equipment for our site and wanted to know how viable the photo and video retailer market is for finding sponsorship to cut costs down a little.

In the biking biz we’re used to close to 100% markup on all products but I have been told that the photo and video industry is not the same. Is this true?

Who would be the best type of people to get in contact with to see about doing sponsored events and some online advertising to offset the cost of buying new equipment closer to half off of retail? I’ve contacted several of the larger retailers like Adorama and B&H but they don’t really need the marketing so they’re only interested in affiliate programs. Are there any up and coming sites that you know of that are looking to get some major exposure and PR?

Thanks for your thoughts and any info.

Unfortunately, I can't think of any sites who could sponsor you. I do know, though, that *most* high end electronics have very little markup in them from the retailer. Certain cameras and lenses will have more markup in them than others, but the real profit in this business is in volume (for the manufacturers) and in accessories (for the retailers). Extra batteries, filters, lens caps... and infamously, Canon's L lens tripod rings sell for over $100, which is probably approaching 1000% markup ;)