Media audiences Magazines

Magazine audiences How do magazine publishers… Identify Serve Maintain Measure …their audiences?

Identifying audiences: market segmentation Magazines are divided into discrete markets –Womens consumer –Mens consumer –Consumer special interest –Contract/customer magazines –Business (B2B)

Market segmentation Each market is sub-divided –Womens weeklies Classics (eg Woman, Womans Own, Bella) Easy entertainment (eg Chat, Take a Break) Mature (eg Womans Weekly, Peoples Friend) Celebrity (eg Heat, Now, Reveal, Hello!, OK!) Fashion (eg Grazia, Look)

Market segmentation Womens monthly magazines (glossies) –Fashion: Vogue, Marie Claire, Harpers –Lifestyle: Easy Living, Good Housekeeping, Woman and Home, Cosmo, Glamour –Home: Ideal Home, Elle Deco, Homes and Gardens

Market segmentation Mens market –Weeklies Nuts!, Zoo –Monthlies FHM, Loaded, GQ, Esquire, –Health Mens Health Mens Fitness

Market segmentation Music –General NME, Q, The Fly, Mojo –Niche Metal Hammer Uncut –Special interest Guitarist Rhythm Computer Music

Market segmentation Magazine audiences are carefully defined and articulated in terms of… –Gender –Age –Demographics (social class, eg BC1) –BUT ALSO IN TERMS OF Behaviour and lifestyle

The seven ages of magazine readers* Magazines are always aimed at discrete audiences –A key difference from newspapers Its not just about demographics –Gender, age, social class Its about behaviour, lifestyle, life-stage, politics, shopping habits, hopes and fears * Media Week, 2008

1. Pre teens Up to 12 years Brand aware Mobile phone at 9, use internet and text High School Musical Innocent. Pets, family, tv characters MAGAZINES In the Night Garden Girl Talk Doctor Who

2. Youth 9-18 years X Factor, EastEnders, Chris Moyles Celebrity, pop, football, U- tube, Facebook Computer games Top Shop, Pineapple MAGAZINES Big decline - they expect free Heat, Match, NME online, Sugar

The Lads years Totty and football Wants to be constantly entertained Friends more important than family Needs to be cool, sociable Brands define them Top Gear, Richard Hammond MAGAZINES Nuts! FHM, Fast Car, Xbox 360, Stuff

Upmarket women Married, two kids Job share, lawyer Drives BMW Cash rich, time poor Good food, holidays, health Not into tacky celebs Likes Mariella Frostrup, Heidi Klum MAGAZINES Moving out of Cosmo or Marie Claire Easy Living, Red, still likes Glamour

Family guy years Married, a dad-to-be Marketing exec Vain, image conscious, six pack Sport, comedy, documentaries Dave channel Footy gossip Drives Renault but aspires to Audi TT MAGAZINES GQ twice a year, Shortlist on way to work, Mens Health

Mass market mums years Married, three kids Part time job in bookies Non aspirational Big Brother, Jade Goody Worry about money, relationships and kids Live for holidays Diets, wants to quit smoking MAGAZINES Take a Break, Chat, Love it!, Pick Me Up

New Navigators 45+ years Two kids, divorced Health service manager Optimistic, forward thinking Fashion conscious, admires Madonna Sex and the City fan Men - remarried golf, reading, music MAGAZINES Radio Times, Woman & Home, Classic Rock, The Word

Market segmentation Because they are aimed at small groups of like-minded people, magazine audiences are more tightly defined than newspapers Role of the magazine publisher is to define a market and deliver a magazine that addresses its needs with… –Suitable editorial, writing, pictures and design style –Appropriate paper quality –The right price Market must be attractive to advertisers Publisher must stay close to that markets changing attitudes and tastes and change the magazine accordingly

Lets look at audience segmentation in three different magazine markets Womens weekly fashion –Grazia and Look TV listings –Radio Times and Whats on TV Young home interest –Living Etc and Elle Decoration

Womens fashion market In 2003 there were no fashion-based weeklies in the UK Fashion was the preserve on monthlies like Marie Claire Grazia launches weekly in Italy EMAP (now Bauer) researches the UK market with the question… Will British women buy a fashion-based weekly?

The birth of Grazia Research carried out in hall tests (quantitative) and focus groups (qualitative) Hall tests provide numbers –How many? –What demographic? –What type of people? –Current magazine/newspaper usage?