MAGAZINES IN YOUR LIFE
DO MAGAZINES HELP BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER ? As you read through this chapter, you be the judge of how magazines help to correlate the parts of society. Think about the types of magazines you, your parents, and your friends read. Are your parents' magazines so specialized that you don't enjoy them? Do they read news and lifestyle magazines or computer magazines or specialized consumer magazines more than you do? What about your magazines? Would your parents read them? How often have you read age-group or gender-group magazines now or when you were younger? Do you think magazines are so specifically targeted to special interests and to age groups that they've lost their ability to bring people together? What kinds of magazines do you think can bring people together? How do they promote shared interests? Register your preferences on the issues listed below, and then compare what kind of magazine reading our site visitors see as most important to them and to others.- What type of magazine do you read most often?
- What type of magazine do your parents read most often?
- What type of magazine is read most often by others who see your magazines?
Types of magazines for "special interests and age groups" Much of the audience for magazines falls into one or more of the following segments:
- Geography national (National Geographic), regional (Southern Living), state (Texas Monthly), city (Detroit Monthly).
- Gender female (Victoria, Playgirl), male (Esquire, Men's Fitness).
- Ethnic background African American (Emerge), Hispanics (Hispanic Times).
- Age adolescent (Sesame Street Magazine), teen aged (Savvy, YM), mature (Modern Maturity).
- Lifestyle raising children (Parents Magazine), owning a home (Practical Homeowner).
- Occupation (Farm Journal, Nursing, Chemical Engineering News, Editor & Publisher).
- Hobby or sport (Art & Antiques, Game & Fish Magazine).
- Socio economic background wealth (Fortune), education (Harpers).
- Application entertainment (TV Guide), surveillance (Newsweek), decision making (Consumer Reports).
- Ideology liberal (Mother Jones), conservative (National Review).
- Topic areas (Dog World, Astronomy, Guns & Ammo).
- see p. 156
News and lifestyle magazines Henry Luce, who later developed the Time, Inc. Publishing empire, capitalized on the need for news, the development of the 35-millimeter camera, and the desire for interpretation. He and Britton Hadden started Time in 1922, at first clipping and rewriting items from daily newspapers and later adding their own staff and building the weekly into one of the most renowned news vehicles in the nation. In 1936 he created Life, based on the model of German picture magazines. The stunning photographs that appeared each week on the pages of Life captivated an audience bewildered by the depression and curious about an oncoming war. See p. 149
Consumer magazines Consumer magazine numbers have not deviated significantly in recent years, but some changes reflect demographic and lifestyle aspects of today's society. Specialization still is the key to success, with magazines covering computers, health and fitness, pets and teens growing steadily. Magazines covering entertainment, spectator sports and general editorial topics have declined slightly in circulation. See p. 153
Computer magazines Computer magazines exemplify the impact of specialization on the magazine market. In 1988, a computer magazine of any kind would have been considered a specialized magazine. Now, the computer market is divided into its own specialized categories. Computer magazines target the laptop industry, advanced users, novices, people with home offices, users of windows, and other segments of the computer market. The company that has cashed in most successfully on this market is Ziff-Davis, an American company bought by the Softbank Corporation of Japan in 1996. Ziff-Davis markets computer magazines to the world. In 1995, Ziff-Davis increased its revenue by 11 % over that of 1994, sold more than 50,000 advertising pages worldwide, and pioneered with demographic and regional editions. Its most successful magazines in garnering advertising were Computer Shopper, PC Magazine, FamilyPC, and Computer Life. See p. 153
Age-group or gender-group magazines Probably more than any other type of magazine, the teen magazines reflect and shape changes in society. Seventeen, which was fifty years old in 1994, has a circulation of 1.9 million. Gruner & Jahr's YM in 1994 was closing in on Seventeen, with a circulation of 1.8 million. These two magazines dominate the market, but Teen and Sassy, both owned by Petersen Publishing Company, have a combined audience of 1.9 million as well. Sassy's audience is slightly older and the content reveals that. YM claims to be a fashion and beauty magazine, but Seventeen's editor says that YM is tied to a sensationalist approach, with cover lines like "I Slept with My Best Friend's Boyfriend," that Seventeen would not try to emulate. See p. 157