1. Magazines: Targeting the Audience Click here to return to JOUR 4000
Chapter 4
Magazines: Targeting the Audience
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2. Reflecting Trends and Culture
Magazines mirror the society
Today magazines target specific audiences
Internet editions expand magazines’ traditional reach

3. Early magazines
American magazines began in 1741 when Andrew Bradford published American Magazine and Benjamin Franklin published General Magazine
Like colonial newspaper, early magazines provided a means for political expression
The Saturday Evening Post, first published in 1821, was the nation’s first general interest magazine
Early magazines were expensive with small circulations

4. Beyond Local Boundaries
The Postal Act of 1879 encouraged the growth of magazines because it ensured quick, reasonably priced distribution for magazines. Today’s magazines still travel on a preferential postal rate.
The Saturday Evening Post was the first national magazine with a large circulation.

5. Publishers Locate New Readers
Magazines widened their audience in the 1800s by catering to women, tackling social crusades, becoming a literary showcase for American writers and encouraging political debate
Sarah Josepha Hale and Edward Bok were central figures in the development of early magazines in the United States
In1910, W. E. B. DuBois launched The Crisis, published for an African American audience

6. McClure’s Launches Investigative Journalism
McClure’s Magazine pioneered investigative reporting in the United States early in the 20th century. McClure’s published the articles of Ida Tarbell, who was critical of American industrialists
Early investigative magazine reporters were called muckrakers

7. The New Yorker and Time Succeed Differently
Magazines in the first half of the 20th century adapted to absorb the invention of radio and television. To adapt, some publishers sought a defined, targeted audience; others tried to attract the widest audience possible. The New Yorker and Time magazines are media empires that began during the early 20th century

8. Specialized Magazines Take Over
Magazines in the second half of the 20th century survived by targeting readers’ special interests.
Specialization segments and audience for advertisers making magazines the most specific buy an advertiser can make
Publishers can target their magazines by geography, income and interest group, as well as by zip code.

9. Magazines Divide into Three Types
There are three types of magazines:
Consumer magazines
Professional magazines
Company magazines
Consumer magazines make the most money because they have the most readers

10. Magazines at Work Magazine employers work in one of five areas:
Editorial
Circulation sales
Advertising sales
Manufacturing and distribution
Administration
The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) monitors and verifies readership
Magazine prices are rising as subscribers are asked to pay as much as half the cost of producing each magazine

11. Competing for Readers in Crowded Markets
The audience for magazines is growing older, and young readers are less likely to read magazines
The number of magazines being published in the United States has stayed the same since 1990
Women continue to be the single most lucrative audience for magazines

12. Readers Represent a Valuable Audience
Each magazine, according to the Magazine Publishers Association, has at least four adult readers, and people keep a magazine an average of 17 weeks
Magazines can target readers better than other media because they can divide their readers by geography, income and interests

13. Expanding Ownership and Defining Readership
Magazines are consolidation into large groups just like other media
Magazine publishers envision a time when their readership will be even more specialized than today

14. Internet Editions Offer New Publishing Outlets
Many magazines have launched Internet sites to expand their readership
Today’s Internet technology means people can start an online magazine without the production and mailing expense of a printed publication
Some Magazines, such as salon.com and slate.com are published only on the Internet.

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Why Magazines Survive
Magazines complement other media
Magazines are a very personal product
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