Magazines

History of Magazines Magazines began as a favorite medium of British elites in the mid 1700’s First Magazine was Gentleman’s Magazine Published in 1731 in Great Britain Contained writings on literature and politics Biography and criticism

The First American Magazines First American Magazine was American Magazine Published by Andrew Bradford in 1741 5 days later, Ben Franklin Published General Magazine American Magazine lasted 3 issues General Magazine lasted 6 issues

History of American Magazines Despite the short runs, 45 new magazines were launched between 1741 and 1794 None had much success Many magazines in the 1700s were referred to as miscellanies Miscellanies were characterized by their variety of content

Copyright Act of 1790 Gave publishers exclusive rights to their content for a period of 14 years At the end of 14 years, publishers could ask for a renewal for an additional 14 years Before these protections, publishers could reprint any content without penalty With these protections, publishers now could receive royalties if their works were reprinted

Magazines in the early 1800s The copyright act helped growth of the magazine Saturday evening post first published in 1821, it would last 148 years Harpers in 1850 Atlantic Monthly in 1857

Post Civil War The period after the civil war marked a boom in the magazine industry 1865 – 700 magazines published 1870 – 1200 magazines published 1885 – 3,300 magazines published Period marked the rise of women’s magazines Women’s Suffrage movement a big key

Post Civil War Literacy growth was important to growth Expansion of the railroad system allowed for widespread circulation Printing became cheaper in this period and magazines reduced prices from 35 cents to 10 cents in some cases Industrialization gave people more leisure time and money

Postal Act of 1879 Probably most important to growth of the industry Allowed magazines to ship first class at second class rates This reduced costs significantly Helped magazines become America’s first true National mass medium

Muckrakers Muckraking – to search for and expose corruption and scandal Served as a voice for social change Magazines helped shape politics and legislation in the early 1900’s

Magazines in the 1900s Between 1900 and 1945, families who subscribed to magazines grew from 200,000 to 32 million Era of specialization General interest magazines began to close TV became the preferred medium Magazines had to enter the niche market to survive Niche Market - is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing

Magazines up to today 1950 – 6950 magazines published Today – over 19,000 magazines published Of these, 800 produce three-quarters of the revenues in the industry

Types Trade Magazines – Targeted to professionals in a specific field Industrial or sponsored – produced by companies or organizations for employees or members Consumer Magazines – Sold on newsstands and by subscription

Advertising Advertisers use magazines because they allow them to easily target specific demographics Demographics – The measurement of the kinds of people who consume media Example – age, income, race, sex, interests, etc.

Advertising Average editorial to advertisement ratio is 53% 72% of people say that ads don’t effect their reading enjoyment 48% say that ads actually adds to reading enjoyment Magazines represent 20% of dollars spent on advertising

Advertorials Advertorials are ads that appear to be editorial content Advertorials now account for 10% of ad content https://dixonadvertorials.files.wordpress.com/201 2/09/today-261x350mm-17032011-fa- 590x753.jpeg http://static1.squarespace.com/static/52fe796be4b 0b557f85ce582/t/5329074ee4b0ab921af6d29a/139 5197776629/

Advertiser influence Industry practice to inform advertisers of upcoming content Placement of ads next to related stories Ad-pull policies – some advertisers demand advance copies of content and threaten to remove ads if dissatisfied with that content

Revenue $24 billion in revenue in 2006 55% from advertising 32% from subscription 13% from single copy sales 370 million magazines sold in 2006

Highest Revenue Magazines http://www.spyglassintel.com/visualization-of- circulation-revenue-for-the-top-12-us-consumer- magazine-publishers/

Circulation Circulation refers to the total number of issues sold This is what magazines base their advertising rates on Controlled Circulation – providing a magazine to readers at no cost because they meet certain demographic requirements that are attractive to advertisers

Top Circulation AARP – 21.2 million Modern Maturity – 20 million

Pass-along Readership Refers to readers who neither subscribe nor buy single copies but who borrow a magazine or read it in a Doctors office or library Handguns magazine has a paid circulation of 114, 000 but its pass-along readership is 5.4 million people

Split Run Special issue of a given magazine in which editorial content and ads vary by region or demographics Example – Sports Illustrated College Football Preview http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/phot o_gallery/0908/cfb.si.preview.covers/content.1.ht ml

People in the Magazine Industry Publisher – Creator and owner of the magazine Editor – In charge of the content of a magazine Writers – producers of the content of the magazine Most writers for magazines are freelance

Parts of a magazine Editorial Content – Actual substance of a magazine, this is the articles, pictures, and graphics Ad Content – Paid content

Parts of a magazine cover http://www.magforum.com/cover_secrets.htm Masthead – Title of the magazine Selling line – usually below the masthead, slogan for the magazine Dateline – Date of the magazine Coverlines – refers to the content Main image – The cover image

Photoshop and Magazines Photoshop has become controversial in the production of magazines Magazines alter images of models to make them more appealing http://alwayssick.com/wp- content/uploads/2011/07/ann-taylor- photoshop.jpg http://alwayssick.com/wp- content/uploads/2011/07/britneyspears- photoshopped.jpg http://alwayssick.com/wp- content/uploads/2011/07/redbook-faithhill.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QYOjTIOJQ 4#t=61 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD3BEV4Cd xQ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/12/celebri ty-photoshop-photos_n_3428033.html

Photoshop and magazines OJ Simpson WAS INOCENT http://digitalslavery.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/ digital_manipulation_photos.jpg?w=700

New Competition Magazines Have turned to Niche Markets Cable Television is starting to challenge these Niche Markets ESPN, Home and Garden, DIY network

Magazines Move to the internet Almost all magazines have an internet presence now Supported mostly by advertising Some of these websites have subscription based content Pay-wall – website gives some content, but you have to pay for the full content Magazines offering ipad editions