Magazine Industry

Cosmo: Rihanna Cover Analysis:

Hearst:

• Multinational mass media group.
• Founded by William Randolph Hearst.
• One of the largest diversified communications companies around the world.
• Has 15 daily and 36 weekly newspapers.

History:

• William Hearst became the proprietor of the San Francisco Examiner in 1887.
• He then acquired a second newspaper, the New York Journal.
• Hearst Magazines was begun in 1903 with the publication of Motor magazine.
• He then acquired Cosmopolitan - which is now the largest-selling young women's magazine in the world.
• Established in 1910 by William Randolph Hearst

Brands:

• Magazines: Elle, All about you, Reveal, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan.
• Newspapers: San Francisco Chronicle, Midland Daily News,
• Television: ESPN Inc, Hearst Television Inc.

Bauer.

• largest privately owned publishing group
• 300 magazines in 15 countries
• joined Bauer Media Group in January 2005
• employs 6400 people
• 19 million consumers per week

Brands.

• TV eg) 4 music, heat, Kerrang, Kiss, Magic, Q, Box TV
• Radio eg)  Kerrang, Kiss, Magic, Q, City Talk
• Magazines eg) Grazia, FHM, heat, Closer, Golf World, Zoo
• Mobile eg) Zoo, FHM, AM, Ask a mum?
• Online eg) Cool FM, Zoo, Country Walking, Yours, Mojo

Money is made here by people purchasing these products eg) Magazines and the advertising which takes place.

History.

Magazines started in 1953 with Angling Times and 1956 with Motor Cycle News.

Radio started in 1990 with Kiss FM, Liverpools radio City, TWC, and Metro Group.

In 1994 "For Him Magazine" the small magazine was bought (FHM) which is now the best seller with 31 international editions.

The Box was bought in 1996 which was a music channel and is still to this day popular.

Advertisers.

• Rimmel
• Channel 4
• Maybelline 
• William Hill
• Elvive

Advertisements are the main source of income for the Magazine Industry, and necessary to pay the cost of production and distribution. The magazine must firstly consider their core audience, so they can therefore choose which products would be more appropriate to advertise, for the age/gender that will take the majority of their readership. Targeting this audience will mean that advertisers will spend more money to be promoted throughout the magazine, as it ensures that their products are being shown to the right type of people, and are therefore more likely to be bought. 

Due to the developments in social media sites, the number of paper copies that are currently selling has dropped over the past years, as people can get the information for free online. Therefore, websites have been used to increase the amount of advertising shown by the magazine. Advertising online is easier as this can be used to offer readers a direct link to the product's website, and multiple products can be shown at once. 

COMAG is the Uk's most dynamic marketing and distribution company, and is owned by two major magazine publishers: Hearst Magazines UK and Conde Nast Publications.

Many magazines have been forced to close in the recent years. How will the industry survive in the forthcoming years?

Experts believe that the contemporary magazine industry, which involves the production of the paper copy of magazines, will decline over the forthcoming due to costs of the physical copy which is competing with internet distribution. Many magazines are adapting the way they distribute their magazine to meet their target audience, including offering readable copies on the internet, through E-readers such as Kindle and providing more frequent information through social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Commentators predict that by the year 2020 10% of the readership will be through the hard paper copies. This view is supported by the recent drop in magazine sales. For example, Cosmo has had a 3.9% decline in magazine sales in the last year, and FHM has lost 24% of its readers.

            The Internet 2.0 has had a massive impact on the magazine industry. This is a development on the Internet 1.0 which allows people to create and share their own material rather than only being able to view it. Websites such as Youtube and blogs allow people to create their own videos or text posts, therefore allowing them to give their own opinions on certain aspects of the magazines they read. Both of these websites also allow people to comment on others opinions. These websites can be used by the editors of magazines as viewer feedback, and can be used to improve magazine sales and adapt the content to suit their audience.

            Producers can distribute their product through other methods than the physical copy. Cosmopolitan UK has 228,885 twitter followers, and FHM has 124,579. Twitter is a easy and free way for magazines to provide frequent information between the monthly release, and also allows them to market their product by reminding readers when it is released.  Both magazines also distribute their product through the iPhone/iPad app, which is free to download however requires a subscription fee for the person to be able to view the content of the magazine. This is an efficient way of reaching the target audience, 18-35 year olds, as most of these people have this piece of technology. This method of distributing is also portable, which may be more convenient and preferable to the readers.The magazine can also be distributed online. Cosmopolitan has an online website in which they allow viewers to read the magazine.A ‘free sign up option’ allows the person to consent to a newsletter, in which information is given about the magazine and it’s release date, however to view the entire magazine the person must pay a subscription fee.
             For example, Kontraband was one of the main five of Dennis publishing, a free weekly men's magazine. It was only distributed online and had video and audio content for both editorial and advertising. A personalized email, using the reader’s name, was sent regularly to inform them on the production of the magazine and the release, and it was also available as an App on the iPhone and iPad. Using a personalized email may make the reader feel more involved in the process, and therefore may make them more likely to buy the magazine as they are reminded of the release date. Providing a magazine only online allowed Kontrabond to advertise easily and be more interactive without paying production costs of a physical copy.

            In conclusion, it is thought that the number of physical copies of magazines will drop significantly over the next few years, however the magazine industry will survive by adapting the way they distribute their magazines. However, some people do believe that the physical copy will not be completely replaced by digital media as some prefer the hard copy. It is thought that magazines have survived because people are interested in journalists or editors opinions, therefore the industry will still be popular, whether it is provided online or not.