Overview on the Magazine Industry

Overview on the magazine industry

The magazine industry has been developing for a long period of time being one of the biggest sources of media out there. In statistics 54% of the population read a weekly magazine, with 63.5% being households which buy the magazine and they pass round for each other to read. They have predicted that the middle classes are the biggest drive for the consumer magazine revenue. The magazine revenue will be an upwards curve until 2019, but the revenue will be no higher gain that 0.55% in any forecast year.

The top magazine in the UK is TV choice, they earn around £18 million in profit a year as they have sold an huge 1,276,045 magazines a year. The second top magazine in the UK is TV choice which earns a estimate of £30.5 million a year. They earn more due to the magazine cost being higher than TV choice. They sold a huge 1,010,798 magazines in a year. This shows that the TV Listing magazines are the popular magazine to buy on the market. The third top magazine in the UK is take a break which earned around £27.1 million a year, the magazine sold 602,674 copies a year. This shows us that the biggest target audience is women as take a break is a women’s weeklies magazine. Looking at the top 10 magazines they all fall into the categories of women magazine and TV listings such as slimming world, glamour, new!, closer, Radio Times and chat being up in top 10.

The magazine which had the biggest fall for 2014 is readers digest which fell 38 per cent to 133,469 sales a month which is a huge fall. But the most successful magazine is forever sports which has a huge success with their launch with has a paid for circulation of 62,277 a month. Magazines aimed at children at pre-school age are continuing to do well. For example a new magazine called Peter Pan has a circulation of 34,487.

In the music magazine industry the biggest performing magazine is Q which is followed by Rolling stones and Entertainment weekly. They are all high performers with different type of edge to them. They are based at different audiences with different content.

Music Magazine Analysis

Analysis of a music magazine

Q magazine

 

The magazine which I have decided to look into with more detail is Q magazine which is a music magazine. It was first published in October 1986. It has a sister magazine called ‘mojo’. Originally it was meant to be called ‘cue’ as they wanted to link it with cueing for a record but decided on ‘Q’ so they wouldn’t be mistaken for a snooker magazine. The founders of Q are Mark Ellen and David Hepworth who believed that there wasn’t a magazine out there for the older generation who were still buying CD’s. Their aim was to publish ‘Q’ monthly and making sure that the photography and printing was at a much higher standard than other magazines. In 2008 ‘Q’ revamped its image which they began to focus on smaller text and even larger focus on the subjects not linked to music.  The main genre for Q is rock and roll.

The magazine covers content of new releases, reissues, music compilations, (film, live concerts, radio and television) reviews. But mainly most of the magazine will feature interviews from popular music artists. They have promotional gifts which are sometimes given away which are CD’s and Books. They make their magazine unique by each issue published of ‘Q’ will have a different message on the spine which will give readers a clue of what the content may feature inside the magazine. The magazine has a close connections with Glastonbury festival which they produce a free magazine daily on their site and a review magazine at the end of the festival.

‘Q’ launched its first radio station in June 2008, but you could only have access to it on digital Television. They also had their own music channel which was called Q TV. Its circulation figures are 52,781 from July to December 2013. Most of ‘Q’ magazine readers are male being 66.2%, 83.8% of readers are between the age of 15-44. The cover price for ‘Q’ magazine is £4.00 but if you subscribe you can 6 issues for only £15. ‘Q’ magazine has 116 K followers on twitter, 104,416 likes on their Facebook profile and 5,117 followers on Instagram.

The target audience for ‘Q’ magazine is mostly based at the older generation between 30 and 40 years old. They are more interested in the music and that is the reason they purchase the magazine.

College Magazine Analysis

College Magazine Questionaire

College Magazine Questionnaire

(Circle the answer relevant to you)

1.      Do you read the college magazine?  

Yes / No

2.      How much are you willing to pay for the college magazine?

Nothing / 50p / £1 / £2

3.      How often would you like the magazine to be published?

Week / fortnight / month / half term

4.      Would freebies encourage you to buy the magazine?

Yes/ No

5.      What would you like in the magazine? ( choose your top three )

Student tips and advice / subject advice / problems page / music gigs / sports / local events / technology / fashion / film releases / college events

6.      What image would you like on your front cover?

Student / Teacher / Students work / Technology / Nature

7.      What would you like the magazine to be called?

8.      What colours would attract you to the magazine? ( select three )

9.      What fonts would you like for the front cover?

10.  Would you like people to advertise in the magazine?

Yes / No

11.  Would you be interested in an online version of the magazine which you could subscribe to?

Yes / No

12.  Would you like a jobs page?
Yes / No

questionnaire results analysis

I recently conducted a questionnaire which is suitable for college students aged 16-19 years old about what they would like in our magazine. From the results I have collected I am able to see what the students would like. The first question asked was do you read the college magazine. The feedback we got was that 90% of our audience said no which means that our magazine was failing and wasn’t working with our audience as they wasn’t reading it. The second question asked was how much are you willing to pay for the magazine. The feedback we received from the audience was 85% were willing to pay nothing up to 50p. This gives us a clear view that we need to either have the magazine as free or charge anything up to 50p to attract the audience to read it. The third question asked was how often would you like the magazine to be published. The feedback we received from the audience was 60% said they would like it either fortnightly or monthly. This gives us two options to consider when we re create the magazine which the audience would prefer. The fourth question asked was would freebies encourage you to buy the magazine. The feedback we received from the audience was a clear answer which was yes. The sixth question asked was what would you like on the front cover as the main image. The feedback we received from the audience was 75% wanted to see either a image of a student or students work. This gives us two clear pathways to consider when we create the magazine as that is what the audience wants. The seventh question asked was what would you like the magazine to be called. The feedback we received from the audience was that they didn’t mind but we had a few suggestions which had ‘EN’ on it which is a short pronunciation for our college name ‘East Norfolk’. So we still need to think of a magazine title. The eighth question asked was what colours would attract you to the magazine. The feedback we received from the audience was the six top colours being red, black, white, pink, purple, grey. When making the magazine I will pick around three or four colours as the theme out of the six. The ninth question asked was what fonts would you like on the magazine. The feedback we received from the audience was that they didn’t mind which font but we have decided on a modern font as we are aiming at students.   The tenth question asked was would you like people to advertise in the magazine. The feedback we received from the audience was that 60% said yes, so we will need to find people to advertise which could take time. The eleventh question we asked was would you like a jobs page. The feedback received from the audience was 95% wanted a jobs page. 

college magazine front cover and contents page