Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (3:30 pm section) at Quinnipiac University. If you're looking for the latest on media industry trends and insightful media analysis, you've come to the right place!
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Lifestyle & Niche Media Blog 4, Question 2 (Feb. 20th)
How are magazines adapting to their
audiences? What are some of the strengths of magazines and what are some of the
challenges facing the magazine industry today?
Many people assume that because of the rise of technology and its overwhelming presence in our lives, paperback books, magazines and newspapers are dying. It is fair to believe that this is the case, but fortunately it isn’t completely true. A large portion of the population still prefers to hear the sound of a page turning. Nicholas Carr’s book, “The Shallows,” discusses how technology is changing our brains. Two of the key binaries throughout the book are screen versus page, and distraction versus attention. With a lot of thorough research to support him, Carr argues that when we read books/ magazines online, we are bound to be more distracted. Links and advertisements on screens are so tempting, and they often lead you to click on them and direct you to another website. Magazines have had to adapt to the technological evolution. If the way people choose to consume their information is changing, then they have no choice but to change with them. One of the challenges facing magazines today has been moving to different platforms so their audience can continue to consume their content. Publishers have to compete with other platforms that are soaking up all of the advertisement dollars. Keith Sibson, author of “The 3 Hard Truths Publishers Must Face in 2018,” says a solution to this is for publishers to diversity their revenue. Another challenge magazines are facing is building relationships with their audiences, and focusing on quality over quantity. With publishers putting scale as their first priority, they are trying to reach a large audience with low-quality content. Although they have been moving to digital, print magazines should definitely not be counted out. Despite what people may think, the majority of the population prefers print to digital. A fact from “Tweetable Truths About Magazine Media” reads, “Paper-based reading is preferred by the majority of people (even millennials).” I think one of the strengths of magazines is that they are able to reach a very specific audience. People know which magazine contains the information they want to read and the ads they’re interested in, which causes them to subscribe. Magazines are very audience-oriented. They’re not something you stumble upon, such as a TV channel; they attract narrow audiences once people become committed. Another fact from “Tweetable Truths About Magazine Media” reads, “Print #magazines are no. 1 in reaching affluent influential consumers in more categories than all other media combined.”
WORKS CITED “Tweetable Truths About Magazine Media .” The Association of Magazine Media , 2017. Sibson, Keith. “The 3 Hard Truths Publishers Must Face in 2018.” Publishing Executive, 16 Jan. 2018, www.pubexec.com/post/3-hard-truths-publishers-must-face-2018/. Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. W.W. Norton & Company, 2011.
The common thought is that in today’s day and age magazines and newspapers are dying with this new digital era. As a matter of fact this is actually not totally the case. An article written by David Pilcher on print vs. digital shows how when it comes to magazines we still predominantly prefer print as opposed to digital. “When it comes to our magazines, we read more, read longer and subscribe more often to print than digital. While publishers talk about embracing the digital future of their publications, ordinary people like you and me still prefer to read a good glossy.” (Pilcher.) Yes technology is unbelievable, but sometimes you can’t beat the original ways. To me, having that tangible magazine or whatever I’m reading at the time is my number one option. There is a feel with it that you just don’t get from having the same thing digitally. The fact that the magazine is real, printed, and bounded will always be any print companies greatest strength. People love the idea of digital, but given the easy access to print for your afternoon read may still be the more appealing of the two to everyday day citizens. While many magazine companies have been avidly getting on board with social media and such, it seems that it is only working to a certain extent. “It appears more people are engaged with their print magazines than their digital ones. Another interesting result was how little magazines are “followed” via social media. Not that content isn’t found in feeds but that many respondents indicated they are not directly following magazine sources via social media.” (Pilcher.) While engagement levels are greater with print, so is the content that is digital. Content is just greater in digital because it’s paperless and can presumably go on forever. What is interesting is that most consumers are not directly following these specific magazine sources on their social media accounts. These companies are just not getting a lot of followers online. Despite the lack of direct following online they seem to be doing just fine content wise digitally and in print. Despite a weak direct following, news companies continue to pound home content wise online. With the emergence of social media, magazine companies have been very active on social media platforms. This quote from the Magazine Media Factbook shows the true impact that these platforms truly play. “Social Networks, and especially Facebook, continue to be an important way for magazine media publishers to distribute their content.” (Magazine Media Factbook.) Posting and even more importantly spreading stories has become a huge positive way in which magazines have adapted to their audiences today. The balancing of both ways is where most of these companies are finding themselves being successful. A huge portion of the actual print magazine as opposed to digital versions is an older demographic. Just like we learned about in class how CBS caters to an older demographic, yet it the number one rated TV network. The older demographic that buys the print is a large and loyal bunch. The Magazine Media 360 Brand Audience Report showed how companies such as AARP, Better Homes and Gardens, National Geographic, and Good Housekeeping are among the top five in average monthly audiences for print. While ESPN The Magazine and Forbes are among the top five on the web. This shows the viewership on the web tends to favor a magazine made for the younger generation, while the older generations favors the actual print itself. How people view magazines is starting to change, but the way magazines view us as consumers is also beginning to change as well.
Magazine are adapting to their audiences to find the best ways to continue to drive revenue and engagement. They are focusing on stories, moving to focus on digital opposed to print, and accepting social media influencers and bloggers.
As important as it is to stay true to a brand, it can be incredibly important think about the story first and figure out how it fits with the brand after. “Instead of thinking 'we need to create a presence on Pinterest', it should be 'what do we want to say and why?’ These questions should be the starting point for every article or feature in order to feel authentic and relevant to the reader” (Gilliland). Audiences are constantly searching for how a celebrity is authentic and relatable; they search for the same qualities in the stories that they read.
Younger audiences, Gen Z for example, care a lot about how authentic and relatable the celebrities that they look up to are. Which is why they follow social media influencers who come off as regular, likable people who get to do extraordinary things. The way that they are able to do things like travel, acquire makeup samples, and go to events is by advertising. Vogue magazine has criticized them and fashion bloggers in the past for not having quality that compares to magazines. Jo Elvin has a different approach to social media influencers and bloggers: “With many dedicating years to building their own mini-brands, there’s no reason why a blogger can’t have the same authority as someone who works for the biggest fashion magazine in the world” (Gilliland). Social media influencers and bloggers command a niche, loyal audience and they have the potential to have the same impact as a magazine. By hiring and utilizing influencers and bloggers, magazines could acquire their audiences and increase the number of readers that they have.
Magazines have noticed a shift in how their readers are consuming their content as more people have access to internet on their mobile phones, laptops, and tablets (The Association of Magazine Media). As readers continue to move to digital, some magazines have shifted to focus on their websites. Magazines can make their websites appealing to consumers by making the content engaging, including links when discussing a product, making the site beautiful and mobile friendly, and being accessible (Readz). Being accessible is being easy to find but, it is also being easy to utilize when needed. Platforms that require audiences to pay to read or magazines that use an app to read their content do not get as much traction because they are not accessible. This can be difficult for magazines to do because then they have to rely on advertisements but, it is overall more effective because if readers cannot get their information for free on one platform, they will find it for free elsewhere.
Gilliland, Nikki. “How fashion magazines are adapting to the influence of digital.” Econsultancy, 15 Nov. 2016, www.econsultancy.com/blog/68528-how-fashion-magazines-are-adapting-to-the-influence-of-digital.
With technology becoming such an overwhelming aspect of our lives, people tend to forget magazines and other paper products are even available. With everything now available online, is there still a market for magazines? The answer is absolutely. In fact, I’m going to go ahead and say that modernization has helped magazines market to new audiences and expand their audiences. For so long, the only way you were able to read a magazine was the same way you got your newspaper, through subscription or you read it at your local barber shop waiting for a haircut. However, through technological advancements, we’re shifting towards a generation where everything you need to read is online and digital. Now while you’re waiting at the barbershop, you go on your phone to read up about your favorite stories and a majority of magazine based companies picked up on that developing trend and began to develop their own websites where their journalists can blog daily. Companies really began to flourish with the transition from print to digital. According to Magazine Media 360, ESPN the magazine barely squeaked into the top 10 with average monthly viewers of their print magazine, while Peoples magazine and AARP sitting at the top with both of them nearly bringing in 40,000 viewers a month. However, every digital/web-based platform shows ESPN the magazine with overwhelming numbers and sits at the top of every chart according to Magazine media 360. However, if we take a look at overall total brand audience, ESPN the magazine and People magazine sit at the top of the charts. This shows that you don’t have to be a primarily web based magazine to still be successful in today’s world, yet can utilize modernization to help expand your audience. In fact, some Magazine companies reach more of an audience than some popular television series do. According to Magazine Media Factbook 2017/2018, “The top 25 print magazines reach more adults and teens than the top 25 primetime TV programs”. Maybe the magazine isn’t as dead as we all figured it to be. In an article, “Is the Magazine Publishing Industry Dead”, Gerri Knilans had this to say on the future of the Magazine Industry; “In spite of the doom and gloom, there is a segment of the magazine publishing industry that is growing. A recent article in Publishers Daily reports that “the global market for digital magazine publishing will pass $35 billion by 2020, with a cumulative annual growth rate exceeding 20% over the next five years”. Overall, the magazine industry is in a lot better position than most people give them credit for and will continue to adapt as technology grows.
Niche audiences are very tough to not only market to, but to sustain a profit and stay in business. There is no better example of a business that is tailored to a niche audience then the magazine industry. Magazines unlike newspaper and other print media have been flourishing. There has been a steady increase in magazine subscriptions for all kinds of different categories. The biggest spike seen in the Women’s fashion category with an almost 10% increase in online readers and a 24% total increase according to the Magazine Media Factbook 2017/18. There has also been 226 new magazines that have been published based on information from the Magazine Media Factbook. Advertisements are the driving source of income for the magazine industry but can advertisements on its own keep every magazine afloat? Or will the top 10’s be the only magazine to survive. At what point will magazines be mostly advertisements in order for them to stay in business? Many of the smaller magazines are already starting to charge their audience directly. “The past year also saw many publishers combat declining ad revenue by monetizing their audience directly with a paywall.” (Sibson) Relying on a paywall is a big gamble on your content, assuming that your audience will be willing to do all of this for your content. The challenges publishers are facing are finding that niche audience and producing strong content that will make them want to pay for the service while still making money from advertising. If a magazine can find an audience that is willing to pay for their material, and keep a steady stream of advertising without being depended on them, then they should flourish in the future market and continue to grow as we’ve seen the magazine industry has been showing that they can grow and attract audience. Your audience when it comes to magazines are also people who can afford to pay monthly for such a luxury form of media. Many of the facts according to Magazine Media factbook state incomes over 200k and affluent backgrounds. That limits your audience quite a bit if you have content that doesn’t ring true to demographics that don’t have disposable income. As for the top 10 magazines that are in business I see no slowing down for them. I do think that they will be able to continue to rely on advertising based on their viewership both in print and in mobile consumption. With the easy availability to magazines through a cell phone or tablet the subscriptions should continue to grow and the top tier will continue to grab the ads. The formula is pretty simple for niche audiences. If you have the audience and believe that you can keep that audience then you will have no trouble controlling the advertisements and monetizing your audience. If you are one of the smaller magazines then you need to do some self-assessment. First you must look deep into your audience and your content. Is this audience big enough to sustain your magazine with little help from ads? If the answer is yes, then you have to continue to produce quality content to that audience so they will have no reluctance when it comes to paying for your content. While it is still very important to fill your advertising slots it is essential not to rely on them for operating income. Your audience will also have to be dedicated to your content and willing to support your brand. The road ahead for magazines looks promising The steady growth and introduction of new magazines shows promise and if that many people are willing to enter the market there must be something there. Money must be able to be made if we see that many new magazines. The money is in the consumer not the advertiser, that’s how the new kids on the block in publishing will stay in business and grow into the giants that are at the top 10.
Works Cited Sibson, Keith. “The 3 Hard Truths Publishers Must Face in 2018.” Publishing Executive, 16 Jan. 2018, www.pubexec.com/post/3-hard-truths-publishers-must-face-2018/. http://www.magazine.org/sites/default/files/Tweetable-TRUTHS-2017-v2A.PDF http://www.magazine.org/sites/default/files/FACTBOOK-17-18-f2.pdf
Within the past decade, we have grown to see that Magazines and Newspapers constant attempt to catch to today ever changing digital landscape. There is an obvious shift from consumers and audiences buying handheld paper items like magazines to just using digital software and products to access the articles and content that they want to read and consume. However, Magazine publishers are taking the time to figure how they can make their form of business last throughout this non-stop changing tech boom. They have so far learned that idea of accessibility is key to their success. They have realized that magazines do not only have to be sold on newsstands, but they can also get subscriptions on digital platforms as well. With the use of integrating digital into something that slowly becoming obsolete in a sense, magazine publishers offer the opportunity to the younger generation to look into their content and get much more added features. When people are accessing their magazine subscription, they get much more content and extra features than they would if they bought a paper copy instead. With added features like videos that play during the articles and/ or just adding “behind the scenes” content on to social media platforms, such as, Youtube and Facebook. That is a major strength for magazine companies. In an article written by Lauren Indivik for Mashable, Magazine publishers talked about with digital platforms, they have to control interactivity. It was discussed how "Video, or motion, is the photography of the digital era, an automatic part of the storytelling process.” (Indivik) I believe in today’s society, that addition of videos along with Magazine Articles gives it an edge that newspapers do not really have. That gives them the strength to last through this digital revolution. In addition to that, with the use of being interactive on digital platforms, another strength that Magazines have is the use of commoditizing their popular articles and using other industries to make money from it. One great example of that is Conde Nast’s creation of Conde Nast Entertainment. This has given them the opportunity to put popular articles and/or articles that told great stories on the big screen. The company’s entertainment president discussed how they have “hired readers to go through articles from all of our magazines and digitally organize them. ...was able to identify some key articles” (Siegel) that they want to start with. I believe that was extremely innovative on their part. This gives them somewhat of an opportunity to build a new subscription base for those who are watching the film. One Challenge that magazine publishers do have even though they are doing a good job catching up is keeping up with the changing technology. With things like Snapchat and the Instagram Stories section, Magazine companies have to sometimes pay to post their content. Which then becomes cost tasking than revenue making.
Siegel, Tatiana. "Conde Nast's Dawn Ostroff on Turning Magazine Articles Into Movies and New TV Plans," The Hollywood Reporter 19 Oct. 2017. Web https://mashable.com/2011/10/04/magazines-tablets-panel/#hDQkgpHg75qn
Technology has been on the uprising which has caused a decrease in magazine sales, book sales and newspaper sales.
Stephanie Arlett states, “Strong modern magazine brands are now multi-faceted- magazines, websites, apps, social media, events and new revenue areas such as consultancy and content production” (Arlett). Not a lot of people read paper back magazines anymore. Everything is about social media. With magazines using social media as their outlet, it has gotten them able to put their magazine out there. There have been more opportunities for magazines to interact with there readers by using social media. With advertisements all over social media, it is easy for social media users to click on something that they find interesting. This is a strength magazines have with getting people to read their content.
According to magazine media, “Paper-based reading is preferred by the majority of people (even millennials)” (MPA). Magazine companies rely on millennials because they are the ones who normally keep up with all of the gossip. Even though there has been an increase of millennials reading magazines, “91% of adults read #magmedia in the last six months (print and digital editions)” (MPA). With 91% of adults reading magazines, that also puts an increase in more people wanting to read magazines. Facebook is a major outlet for magazines to use to post articles. From March 31, 2017, “42.9% have used Facebook as a social network share of total magazine media industry likes/followers” (Magazine Media Factbook).
A challenge magazines face is that a lot of there content are free. This is a problem because magazines can’t generate money from viewers buying their content. It is a major setback for magazine companies to generate money. Also, there are obviously competitors that magazine companies have. A lot of the magazine companies write about and post a lot of the same information. The consume the same content which makes it hard for them to get viewers because one viewer can read something from one magazine and then the other magazine that post the same thing won’t get the amount of viewers because they already read the content from some other site. Magazine companies need to have a good relationship with there viewers. This can cause a problem because if magazine companies don’t write about what the viewers want, they lose viewers and it causes their ratings to decrease.
In the end, magazines still have a good outlet to get viewers to read their content. With the rise of technology and social media outlets becoming more popular everyday, it will help magazine companies get more readers because there are more people getting on social media. But, magazine companies will keep struggling to get readers if they post the same content as other magazine companies.
Work Cited: “Tweetable Truths About Magazine Media .” The Association of Magazine Media , 2017. Sibson, Keith. “The 3 Hard Truths Publishers Must Face in 2018.” Publishing Executive, 16 Jan. 2018, www.pubexec.com/post/3-hard-truths-publishers-must-face-2018/.
"Magazine Media Factbook 2017-18." MPA: The Association of Magazine Media. Accessed 7 Feb. 2018. Web. “Magazines Must Adapt to Changing Reader Behaviour” Research Live, 2015. Arlett, Stephanie. https://www.research-live.com/article/opinion/magazines-must-adapt-to-changing-reader-behaviour/id/4012902
In the wake of more and more publications cutting their paper use, magazines are keeping their heads above water in the market. Many magazines have transferred their content to original websites and even social media, but they are also still printing hard, physical copies to be sold on newsstands. Also, magazines have created their own staple in American culture, and are names that people rely on for whatever type of media they are looking for. The Association of Media Magazine says, “Magazine media brands are long-standing, recognizable and trusted by consumers and advertisers. They communicate with authority using professionally researched, expertly written, precisely edited, masterfully produced, curated content that is delivered in safe environments, whether on paper or digital platforms” (1). I personally think this quote simplifies what magazines aim for, but I do have to argue that not all publications follow these guidelines. As I mentioned before, it all depends on what kind of media the consumer is searching for. There is a clear difference between publications such as Cosmopolitan versus something like National Geographic. Either way, both are in the same situation of following the media movements of moving to online content, whilst also printing out hard copies. Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair argues that people will always want to read magazines or print media of the like because of their ability to story-tell. “So if print journalism's business model is changing, our only move as editors is to double down on delivering what our readers have always wanted from us: compelling stories and iconic photographs. And it won't matter if they're read on a laptop, a cell phone, or on paper” (Graydon 2010). Graydon sees the positive in media movement to online, whereas others may see magazines in danger of changing media. In an article by Keith Sibson written in the Publishing Executive, he points out three ways in which he predicts publication. The first being for publishers to play “to their strengths, focusing on delivering quality in a few select verticals; publishers who go all-in on a single, specialized vertical, offering authoritative quality in a niche topic’ local publishers… foster strong community ties with strong reporting that can’t be found elsewhere” (Sibson 2018). He goes further to explain that magazines will begin to pick up trends to survive in an ever-changing media atmosphere such as “large-scale commodity publishers with low production costs, high-quality publishers with paid subscription models, and niche-content producers with small audiences that can be sold to advertisers directly” (Sibson 2018). The problem with magazines now is that its biggest competitor is the Internet. It’s so much simpler and faster for people to now search about the latest news updates rather than going out to a newsstand to read about it in a physical copy. However, one thing magazines do have going for them is that people are more intrigued by the simple touch of a magazine and having that personal feeling when flipping through the glossy pages. That is something that the Internet won’t ever have an affect on people, but is that enough to keep the industry going? I think that with the way media is advancing and becoming faster and accessible, the magazine industry will either slowly fade out altogether, or solely move to online for limited free services and premium monthly subscriptions.
Works Cited
Carter, Graydon. “Print is Dying… Really?.” Mediaweek. Vol. 20. No. 13, 29 Mar. 2010. p. 37. EBSCOhost. Web.
"Magazine Media Factbook 2017-18." MPA: The Association of Magazine Media. Accessed 7 Feb. 2018. Web.
Sibson, Keith. "The 3 Hard Truths Publishers Must Face in 2018," Publishing Executive 16 Jan. 2018. Web.
Many people assume that because of the rise of technology and its overwhelming presence in our lives, paperback books, magazines and newspapers are dying. It is fair to believe that this is the case, but fortunately it isn’t completely true. A large portion of the population still prefers to hear the sound of a page turning. Nicholas Carr’s book, “The Shallows,” discusses how technology is changing our brains. Two of the key binaries throughout the book are screen versus page, and distraction versus attention. With a lot of thorough research to support him, Carr argues that when we read books/ magazines online, we are bound to be more distracted. Links and advertisements on screens are so tempting, and they often lead you to click on them and direct you to another website.
ReplyDeleteMagazines have had to adapt to the technological evolution. If the way people choose to consume their information is changing, then they have no choice but to change with them. One of the challenges facing magazines today has been moving to different platforms so their audience can continue to consume their content. Publishers have to compete with other platforms that are soaking up all of the advertisement dollars. Keith Sibson, author of “The 3 Hard Truths Publishers Must Face in 2018,” says a solution to this is for publishers to diversity their revenue. Another challenge magazines are facing is building relationships with their audiences, and focusing on quality over quantity. With publishers putting scale as their first priority, they are trying to reach a large audience with low-quality content.
Although they have been moving to digital, print magazines should definitely not be counted out. Despite what people may think, the majority of the population prefers print to digital. A fact from “Tweetable Truths About Magazine Media” reads, “Paper-based reading is preferred by the majority of people (even millennials).” I think one of the strengths of magazines is that they are able to reach a very specific audience. People know which magazine contains the information they want to read and the ads they’re interested in, which causes them to subscribe. Magazines are very audience-oriented. They’re not something you stumble upon, such as a TV channel; they attract narrow audiences once people become committed. Another fact from “Tweetable Truths About Magazine Media” reads, “Print #magazines are no. 1 in reaching affluent influential consumers in more categories than all other media combined.”
WORKS CITED
“Tweetable Truths About Magazine Media .” The Association of Magazine Media , 2017.
Sibson, Keith. “The 3 Hard Truths Publishers Must Face in 2018.” Publishing Executive, 16 Jan. 2018, www.pubexec.com/post/3-hard-truths-publishers-must-face-2018/.
Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. W.W. Norton & Company, 2011.
The common thought is that in today’s day and age magazines and newspapers are dying with this new digital era. As a matter of fact this is actually not totally the case. An article written by David Pilcher on print vs. digital shows how when it comes to magazines we still predominantly prefer print as opposed to digital. “When it comes to our magazines, we read more, read longer and subscribe more often to print than digital. While publishers talk about embracing the digital future of their publications, ordinary people like you and me still prefer to read a good glossy.” (Pilcher.) Yes technology is unbelievable, but sometimes you can’t beat the original ways. To me, having that tangible magazine or whatever I’m reading at the time is my number one option. There is a feel with it that you just don’t get from having the same thing digitally. The fact that the magazine is real, printed, and bounded will always be any print companies greatest strength. People love the idea of digital, but given the easy access to print for your afternoon read may still be the more appealing of the two to everyday day citizens. While many magazine companies have been avidly getting on board with social media and such, it seems that it is only working to a certain extent. “It appears more people are engaged with their print magazines than their digital ones. Another interesting result was how little magazines are “followed” via social media. Not that content isn’t found in feeds but that many respondents indicated they are not directly following magazine sources via social media.” (Pilcher.) While engagement levels are greater with print, so is the content that is digital. Content is just greater in digital because it’s paperless and can presumably go on forever. What is interesting is that most consumers are not directly following these specific magazine sources on their social media accounts. These companies are just not getting a lot of followers online. Despite the lack of direct following online they seem to be doing just fine content wise digitally and in print. Despite a weak direct following, news companies continue to pound home content wise online. With the emergence of social media, magazine companies have been very active on social media platforms. This quote from the Magazine Media Factbook shows the true impact that these platforms truly play. “Social Networks, and especially Facebook, continue to be an important way for magazine media publishers to distribute their content.” (Magazine Media Factbook.) Posting and even more importantly spreading stories has become a huge positive way in which magazines have adapted to their audiences today. The balancing of both ways is where most of these companies are finding themselves being successful. A huge portion of the actual print magazine as opposed to digital versions is an older demographic. Just like we learned about in class how CBS caters to an older demographic, yet it the number one rated TV network. The older demographic that buys the print is a large and loyal bunch. The Magazine Media 360 Brand Audience Report showed how companies such as AARP, Better Homes and Gardens, National Geographic, and Good Housekeeping are among the top five in average monthly audiences for print. While ESPN The Magazine and Forbes are among the top five on the web. This shows the viewership on the web tends to favor a magazine made for the younger generation, while the older generations favors the actual print itself. How people view magazines is starting to change, but the way magazines view us as consumers is also beginning to change as well.
ReplyDeleteSources
Delete"Brand Audience Report Top Nov. 2017." MPA: The Association of Magazine Media. Accessed 7 Feb. 2018. Web.
"Magazine Media Factbook 2017-18." MPA: The Association of Magazine Media. Accessed 7 Feb. 2018. Web.
“Print vs. Digital: How We Really Consume Our Magazines – 2017 edition.” Freeport Press, 1 Oct. 2017, www.freeportpress.com/print-vs-digital-how-we-really-consume-our-magazines/.
Magazine are adapting to their audiences to find the best ways to continue to drive revenue and engagement. They are focusing on stories, moving to focus on digital opposed to print, and accepting social media influencers and bloggers.
ReplyDeleteAs important as it is to stay true to a brand, it can be incredibly important think about the story first and figure out how it fits with the brand after. “Instead of thinking 'we need to create a presence on Pinterest', it should be 'what do we want to say and why?’ These questions should be the starting point for every article or feature in order to feel authentic and relevant to the reader” (Gilliland). Audiences are constantly searching for how a celebrity is authentic and relatable; they search for the same qualities in the stories that they read.
Younger audiences, Gen Z for example, care a lot about how authentic and relatable the celebrities that they look up to are. Which is why they follow social media influencers who come off as regular, likable people who get to do extraordinary things. The way that they are able to do things like travel, acquire makeup samples, and go to events is by advertising. Vogue magazine has criticized them and fashion bloggers in the past for not having quality that compares to magazines. Jo Elvin has a different approach to social media influencers and bloggers: “With many dedicating years to building their own mini-brands, there’s no reason why a blogger can’t have the same authority as someone who works for the biggest fashion magazine in the world” (Gilliland). Social media influencers and bloggers command a niche, loyal audience and they have the potential to have the same impact as a magazine. By hiring and utilizing influencers and bloggers, magazines could acquire their audiences and increase the number of readers that they have.
Magazines have noticed a shift in how their readers are consuming their content as more people have access to internet on their mobile phones, laptops, and tablets (The Association of Magazine Media). As readers continue to move to digital, some magazines have shifted to focus on their websites. Magazines can make their websites appealing to consumers by making the content engaging, including links when discussing a product, making the site beautiful and mobile friendly, and being accessible (Readz). Being accessible is being easy to find but, it is also being easy to utilize when needed. Platforms that require audiences to pay to read or magazines that use an app to read their content do not get as much traction because they are not accessible. This can be difficult for magazines to do because then they have to rely on advertisements but, it is overall more effective because if readers cannot get their information for free on one platform, they will find it for free elsewhere.
Gilliland, Nikki. “How fashion magazines are adapting to the influence of digital.” Econsultancy, 15 Nov. 2016, www.econsultancy.com/blog/68528-how-fashion-magazines-are-adapting-to-the-influence-of-digital.
“How Online Magazines Can Build Engaged Audiences.” Readz, 16 Feb. 2018, www.readz.com/online-magazines-content-marketing-tool.
The Association of Magazine Media. “Magazine Media Factbook 2017/18.” Publishers Press, Magazine Media Factbook 2017/18, 2018.
With technology becoming such an overwhelming aspect of our lives, people tend to forget magazines and other paper products are even available. With everything now available online, is there still a market for magazines? The answer is absolutely. In fact, I’m going to go ahead and say that modernization has helped magazines market to new audiences and expand their audiences. For so long, the only way you were able to read a magazine was the same way you got your newspaper, through subscription or you read it at your local barber shop waiting for a haircut. However, through technological advancements, we’re shifting towards a generation where everything you need to read is online and digital. Now while you’re waiting at the barbershop, you go on your phone to read up about your favorite stories and a majority of magazine based companies picked up on that developing trend and began to develop their own websites where their journalists can blog daily. Companies really began to flourish with the transition from print to digital.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Magazine Media 360, ESPN the magazine barely squeaked into the top 10 with average monthly viewers of their print magazine, while Peoples magazine and AARP sitting at the top with both of them nearly bringing in 40,000 viewers a month. However, every digital/web-based platform shows ESPN the magazine with overwhelming numbers and sits at the top of every chart according to Magazine media 360. However, if we take a look at overall total brand audience, ESPN the magazine and People magazine sit at the top of the charts. This shows that you don’t have to be a primarily web based magazine to still be successful in today’s world, yet can utilize modernization to help expand your audience. In fact, some Magazine companies reach more of an audience than some popular television series do. According to Magazine Media Factbook 2017/2018, “The top 25 print magazines reach more adults and teens than the top 25 primetime TV programs”. Maybe the magazine isn’t as dead as we all figured it to be. In an article, “Is the Magazine Publishing Industry Dead”, Gerri Knilans had this to say on the future of the Magazine Industry; “In spite of the doom and gloom, there is a segment of the magazine publishing industry that is growing. A recent article in Publishers Daily reports that “the global market for digital magazine publishing will pass $35 billion by 2020, with a cumulative annual growth rate exceeding 20% over the next five years”. Overall, the magazine industry is in a lot better position than most people give them credit for and will continue to adapt as technology grows.
Work Cited-
Deletewww.tradepressservices.com/magazine-publishing-industry-dead/.
https://quinnipiac.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-2438251-dt-content-rid-18737628_1/courses/MSS49502_18SP/Top%2010%20Magazine%20Brands%20NOV-2017%281%29.pdf
https://quinnipiac.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-2438249-dt-content-rid-18737629_1/courses/MSS49502_18SP/Magazine%20Media%20Factbook%2017-18%281%29.pdf
Niche audiences are very tough to not only market to, but to sustain a profit and stay in business. There is no better example of a business that is tailored to a niche audience then the magazine industry. Magazines unlike newspaper and other print media have been flourishing. There has been a steady increase in magazine subscriptions for all kinds of different categories. The biggest spike seen in the Women’s fashion category with an almost 10% increase in online readers and a 24% total increase according to the Magazine Media Factbook 2017/18. There has also been 226 new magazines that have been published based on information from the Magazine Media Factbook.
ReplyDeleteAdvertisements are the driving source of income for the magazine industry but can advertisements on its own keep every magazine afloat? Or will the top 10’s be the only magazine to survive. At what point will magazines be mostly advertisements in order for them to stay in business? Many of the smaller magazines are already starting to charge their audience directly. “The past year also saw many publishers combat declining ad revenue by monetizing their audience directly with a paywall.” (Sibson) Relying on a paywall is a big gamble on your content, assuming that your audience will be willing to do all of this for your content.
The challenges publishers are facing are finding that niche audience and producing strong content that will make them want to pay for the service while still making money from advertising. If a magazine can find an audience that is willing to pay for their material, and keep a steady stream of advertising without being depended on them, then they should flourish in the future market and continue to grow as we’ve seen the magazine industry has been showing that they can grow and attract audience. Your audience when it comes to magazines are also people who can afford to pay monthly for such a luxury form of media. Many of the facts according to Magazine Media factbook state incomes over 200k and affluent backgrounds. That limits your audience quite a bit if you have content that doesn’t ring true to demographics that don’t have disposable income.
As for the top 10 magazines that are in business I see no slowing down for them. I do think that they will be able to continue to rely on advertising based on their viewership both in print and in mobile consumption. With the easy availability to magazines through a cell phone or tablet the subscriptions should continue to grow and the top tier will continue to grab the ads.
The formula is pretty simple for niche audiences. If you have the audience and believe that you can keep that audience then you will have no trouble controlling the advertisements and monetizing your audience. If you are one of the smaller magazines then you need to do some self-assessment. First you must look deep into your audience and your content. Is this audience big enough to sustain your magazine with little help from ads? If the answer is yes, then you have to continue to produce quality content to that audience so they will have no reluctance when it comes to paying for your content. While it is still very important to fill your advertising slots it is essential not to rely on them for operating income. Your audience will also have to be dedicated to your content and willing to support your brand.
The road ahead for magazines looks promising The steady growth and introduction of new magazines shows promise and if that many people are willing to enter the market there must be something there. Money must be able to be made if we see that many new magazines. The money is in the consumer not the advertiser, that’s how the new kids on the block in publishing will stay in business and grow into the giants that are at the top 10.
Works Cited
DeleteSibson, Keith. “The 3 Hard Truths Publishers Must Face in 2018.” Publishing Executive, 16 Jan. 2018, www.pubexec.com/post/3-hard-truths-publishers-must-face-2018/.
http://www.magazine.org/sites/default/files/Tweetable-TRUTHS-2017-v2A.PDF
http://www.magazine.org/sites/default/files/FACTBOOK-17-18-f2.pdf
http://www.magazine.org/magazine-media-360/top-ten-lists
ReplyDeleteWithin the past decade, we have grown to see that Magazines and Newspapers constant attempt to catch to today ever changing digital landscape. There is an obvious shift from consumers and audiences buying handheld paper items like magazines to just using digital software and products to access the articles and content that they want to read and consume. However, Magazine publishers are taking the time to figure how they can make their form of business last throughout this non-stop changing tech boom. They have so far learned that idea of accessibility is key to their success. They have realized that magazines do not only have to be sold on newsstands, but they can also get subscriptions on digital platforms as well.
With the use of integrating digital into something that slowly becoming obsolete in a sense, magazine publishers offer the opportunity to the younger generation to look into their content and get much more added features. When people are accessing their magazine subscription, they get much more content and extra features than they would if they bought a paper copy instead. With added features like videos that play during the articles and/ or just adding “behind the scenes” content on to social media platforms, such as, Youtube and Facebook. That is a major strength for magazine companies. In an article written by Lauren Indivik for Mashable, Magazine publishers talked about with digital platforms, they have to control interactivity. It was discussed how "Video, or motion, is the photography of the digital era, an automatic part of the storytelling process.” (Indivik) I believe in today’s society, that addition of videos along with Magazine Articles gives it an edge that newspapers do not really have. That gives them the strength to last through this digital revolution.
In addition to that, with the use of being interactive on digital platforms, another strength that Magazines have is the use of commoditizing their popular articles and using other industries to make money from it. One great example of that is Conde Nast’s creation of Conde Nast Entertainment. This has given them the opportunity to put popular articles and/or articles that told great stories on the big screen. The company’s entertainment president discussed how they have “hired readers to go through articles from all of our magazines and digitally organize them. ...was able to identify some key articles” (Siegel) that they want to start with. I believe that was extremely innovative on their part. This gives them somewhat of an opportunity to build a new subscription base for those who are watching the film.
One Challenge that magazine publishers do have even though they are doing a good job catching up is keeping up with the changing technology. With things like Snapchat and the Instagram Stories section, Magazine companies have to sometimes pay to post their content. Which then becomes cost tasking than revenue making.
DeleteSiegel, Tatiana. "Conde Nast's Dawn Ostroff on Turning Magazine Articles Into Movies and New TV Plans," The Hollywood Reporter 19 Oct. 2017. Web
https://mashable.com/2011/10/04/magazines-tablets-panel/#hDQkgpHg75qn
Technology has been on the uprising which has caused a decrease in magazine sales, book sales and newspaper sales.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Arlett states, “Strong modern magazine brands are now multi-faceted- magazines, websites, apps, social media, events and new revenue areas such as consultancy and content production” (Arlett). Not a lot of people read paper back magazines anymore. Everything is about social media. With magazines using social media as their outlet, it has gotten them able to put their magazine out there. There have been more opportunities for magazines to interact with there readers by using social media. With advertisements all over social media, it is easy for social media users to click on something that they find interesting. This is a strength magazines have with getting people to read their content.
According to magazine media, “Paper-based reading is preferred by the majority of people (even millennials)” (MPA). Magazine companies rely on millennials because they are the ones who normally keep up with all of the gossip. Even though there has been an increase of millennials reading magazines, “91% of adults read #magmedia in the last six months (print and digital editions)” (MPA). With 91% of adults reading magazines, that also puts an increase in more people wanting to read magazines. Facebook is a major outlet for magazines to use to post articles. From March 31, 2017, “42.9% have used Facebook as a social network share of total magazine media industry likes/followers” (Magazine Media Factbook).
A challenge magazines face is that a lot of there content are free. This is a problem because magazines can’t generate money from viewers buying their content. It is a major setback for magazine companies to generate money. Also, there are obviously competitors that magazine companies have. A lot of the magazine companies write about and post a lot of the same information. The consume the same content which makes it hard for them to get viewers because one viewer can read something from one magazine and then the other magazine that post the same thing won’t get the amount of viewers because they already read the content from some other site. Magazine companies need to have a good relationship with there viewers. This can cause a problem because if magazine companies don’t write about what the viewers want, they lose viewers and it causes their ratings to decrease.
In the end, magazines still have a good outlet to get viewers to read their content. With the rise of technology and social media outlets becoming more popular everyday, it will help magazine companies get more readers because there are more people getting on social media. But, magazine companies will keep struggling to get readers if they post the same content as other magazine companies.
Work Cited:
“Tweetable Truths About Magazine Media .” The Association of Magazine Media , 2017.
Sibson, Keith. “The 3 Hard Truths Publishers Must Face in 2018.” Publishing Executive, 16 Jan. 2018, www.pubexec.com/post/3-hard-truths-publishers-must-face-2018/.
"Magazine Media Factbook 2017-18." MPA: The Association of Magazine Media. Accessed 7 Feb. 2018. Web.
“Magazines Must Adapt to Changing Reader Behaviour” Research Live, 2015. Arlett, Stephanie. https://www.research-live.com/article/opinion/magazines-must-adapt-to-changing-reader-behaviour/id/4012902
In the wake of more and more publications cutting their paper use, magazines are keeping their heads above water in the market. Many magazines have transferred their content to original websites and even social media, but they are also still printing hard, physical copies to be sold on newsstands. Also, magazines have created their own staple in American culture, and are names that people rely on for whatever type of media they are looking for. The Association of Media Magazine says, “Magazine media brands are long-standing, recognizable and trusted by consumers and advertisers. They communicate with authority using professionally researched, expertly written, precisely edited, masterfully produced, curated content that is delivered in safe environments, whether on paper or digital platforms” (1). I personally think this quote simplifies what magazines aim for, but I do have to argue that not all publications follow these guidelines. As I mentioned before, it all depends on what kind of media the consumer is searching for. There is a clear difference between publications such as Cosmopolitan versus something like National Geographic. Either way, both are in the same situation of following the media movements of moving to online content, whilst also printing out hard copies. Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair argues that people will always want to read magazines or print media of the like because of their ability to story-tell. “So if print journalism's business model is changing, our only move as editors is to double down on delivering what our readers have always wanted from us: compelling stories and iconic photographs. And it won't matter if they're read on a laptop, a cell phone, or on paper” (Graydon 2010). Graydon sees the positive in media movement to online, whereas others may see magazines in danger of changing media.
ReplyDeleteIn an article by Keith Sibson written in the Publishing Executive, he points out three ways in which he predicts publication. The first being for publishers to play “to their strengths, focusing on delivering quality in a few select verticals; publishers who go all-in on a single, specialized vertical, offering authoritative quality in a niche topic’ local publishers… foster strong community ties with strong reporting that can’t be found elsewhere” (Sibson 2018). He goes further to explain that magazines will begin to pick up trends to survive in an ever-changing media atmosphere such as “large-scale commodity publishers with low production costs, high-quality publishers with paid subscription models, and niche-content producers with small audiences that can be sold to advertisers directly” (Sibson 2018). The problem with magazines now is that its biggest competitor is the Internet. It’s so much simpler and faster for people to now search about the latest news updates rather than going out to a newsstand to read about it in a physical copy. However, one thing magazines do have going for them is that people are more intrigued by the simple touch of a magazine and having that personal feeling when flipping through the glossy pages. That is something that the Internet won’t ever have an affect on people, but is that enough to keep the industry going? I think that with the way media is advancing and becoming faster and accessible, the magazine industry will either slowly fade out altogether, or solely move to online for limited free services and premium monthly subscriptions.
Works Cited
Carter, Graydon. “Print is Dying… Really?.” Mediaweek. Vol. 20. No. 13, 29 Mar. 2010. p. 37. EBSCOhost. Web.
"Magazine Media Factbook 2017-18." MPA: The Association of Magazine Media. Accessed 7 Feb. 2018. Web.
Sibson, Keith. "The 3 Hard Truths Publishers Must Face in 2018," Publishing Executive 16 Jan. 2018. Web.