Some thoughts about the evolution of Magazines in the digital age

1. The Media context of Marketing
Communication
MAGAZINES
Amine Mabrouk

2. Oerview
1) The evolution of the industry
2) Impact of digital convergence /
new tech
3) Patterns and trends in
consumption
4) The industry of Magazines
5) Advertising / promotional
formats

3. The evolution of the industry
 Magazines or periodicals published on a regular
schedule such as weekly, monthly or even yearly
covering different range of topics and articles
either on specific domain or general information.
 Before the evolution of the internet, there was
no other medium which best covers domains of
interest better than magazines, from sports to
economic analyses.

4. The main departments in a Magazine
Editorial
department
•Collecting news, information, write analysis, editing articles, interviews…..
The Advertising
Department
•Dealing with clients, agencies and the media, advertisements, selling space……
The design
Studio
•The qualities needed, promotions, conferences, exhibitions, pictures, colours,……

5. The production
Department
•Print buying, technical advice, scheduling, troubleshooting, quality
control, arranging logistics, advertisement production…..
Marketing and
Promotion
•Direct Mail, copywriting, advertising, press and public relations,
advertisement sales promotion…..
Circulation and
distribution
•Trade distribution, subscription sales
The
Management
•Strategic planning, special responsibilities, communication,
managing change

6. Impact of digital convergence
/ new tech
 Magazines’ companies are struggling between keeping the
print copy or putting most of their funds online.
 “According to the figures supplied by Nielsen for the
year to August 2008, it was FHM’s website-
www.fhm.com –that proved more robust than its print
parent, seeing its unique user audience rise by 123% to
243,000, while page impressions recorded a 180%
increase to more than 3.5m.” (Embracing digital in the
UK mens’ magazine market; Virgina Mtthews; WARC
Exlusive, January 2009)

7.  Going online may seem to be profitable for magazines, when
it comes to printing, high quality papers, distribution...,
however, some argue that webzines are no longer magazines,
and are more likely to be online newspapers, with the breaking
news, videos, boadcast. Thus it may lose the flavour of reading
a proper periodicale, as olders may view it.
Some magazines found it better to balance between online
and printed papers, though it seems to be costly, but it can
be profitable as well as helping fragmenting the audience to
better deliver the message (eg: older readers Vs Youngers)
 “We are extending our reach, building deeper relationships with our audiences
and advertisers and creating great content that can be served to our audiences
whenever, wherever and however they want it” ( Paul Keenan; head of Bauer
Consumer Media)

8. Patterns and trends in
consumption
 Through out the time, audiences of magazines are
classified,i.e. Based on the magazine’s
orientation, sports, high-tec, science, we can deduce the
reader’s orientation and centre of interest
 Periodicals are a sophesticated and a pleasent source of
information, with the colours, picture from high profile
photographers, which make it valuable and interesting.
Thus, besides the valuable peice of information, audiences
are looking forward to see the creative art of work in their
magazine.

9. THE INDUSTRY OF MAGAZINES
 Magazines are risky but sometimes profitable business. There are two main
sources of funding which managers rely on:
1) Audiences subscription: Mainly when the reader subscribe to a magazine
(yearly subscribtion)
2) Advertisement: Spaces in a magazine solde to advertisers. This is the most
important source of funding to the business.However, some argue that
advertisers are the bosses of magazines, when they get involved in editing
an article or a a design so that it goes with their Ad.
3) Sometimes magazines are sponsored, and so this can be another source of
funding, when it include a game or a sponsored space on every edition.
 In the UK, the Advertising Association observes that advertising
revenues for magazines increased from £499 million in 1994 to
£827 in 2005 for consumer titles. And from £785 million to just
over £1 billion for B2b in the same period. (Whittaker,J. Magazine
Production. P3)

10. ADVERTISING / PROMOTIONAL
FORMATS
 As we mentioned above, the audiences of magazines are
already classified, according to the magazine orientation and
their interest: This can be seen as a good opportunity for
advertisers to targuet their customers without wastage of time
and money. Thus, the market is segmented already for the
advertisers (age, income, centre of interest...)
Another Key Fact is that readers are more engaged wiht
magazines more than any other medium.

11. What makes magazines an effective place of
advertisment :
Targeting- The ability to reach special interest groups
with little wastage
Relevance and involvment due to the nature of the
editorial and loyalty of readers
Ability to reach light television viewers
A high quality, sympathetic editorial environment
Access to the trust and authority the magazine
imbuses
Access to “the” marketplace for some product
categories (fashion, cars...)
Warc Briefing Magazines

12. REFERENCES
1) Barnard,M.; Inside Magazines, Blue Print Publishing Ltd;
1989.
2) Whittaker,J.; Magazine Production, Routledge,2008
3) Warc, Embracing digital in the UK mens’ magazine market
4) Warc, Magazine Publishers look for ways to win back
advertising revenues
5) Warc, Global industry overview periodical Publishing
6) Warc, Briefing Magazines
7) Mintel, Magazines Issues in the Market