Is the Magazine Industry Really Dying?
Last weekend, several of my friends and I took a trip to Michigan for a few days of fun and relaxing on the beach. Before I left, I made sure to pick up a few of my favorite magazines to enjoy on the trip. Turns out I wasn’t the only one. As we all sat on the beach, every single one of us had some reading material in hand, and the choice for the majority of us was a magazine. I’m a big reader, but not all of my friends are, so this really got me thinking. Despite all the gloom and doom predictions about print media these days, is the magazine industry really dying?
Yes, the Internet has overtaken all other forms of media as the way most of us get our information, especially for my generation. But not one of us was sitting there reading from a phone, iPad, Kindle, or any other device. And if you think about it, it makes sense why magazines are still a popular choice of reading material. Magazines are easily portable, and you don’t have to worry about just throwing them in your bag and taking them along wherever you go. You can find a magazine to suit just about anyone’s interests – not like a newspaper, which only has a few stories, or maybe a section, devoted to a certain topic. Also unlike newspapers, a lot of magazines typically still have a ton of print-exclusive content. Finally, their articles are usually not more than a few pages, so unlike books, they’re easy to pick up and put down.
I did some research, and it turns out my observations of my group of friends might not be that far off from the rest of the media-consuming world. According to Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni, Ph.D., the director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi, 68 new magazines were introduced in July of 2010. Compare that with 58 titles in 2009, 54 titles in 2008, and 34 titles in 2007, and it looks like, amazingly enough, the magazine industry is growing. Of course, this doesn’t take into account the magazines that have ceased publishing, but I take it as a good sign that the number of new magazine introductions has doubled from what it was just three years ago.
So, what does this mean for those of us in the PR world? Stay on top of the new titles that are launching so you can build relationships with the editors and reporters from the start – when they’re especially hungry for content. Sure, they might be small now, but even Glamour, Time, and Fast Company had to start somewhere, and who knows what the next big “must-read” title will be.
Kari comes to Walker Sands with a background in business-to-business PR and marketing. At Walker Sands, Kari works to secure top placements for her clients through creative, strategic media pitches and outreach. Her strong writing and communication skills help her craft effective pitch materials and news releases, resulting in strong ROI for her clients.
You’re right on. The Magazine industry launched a campaign for itself earlier this year. If you are reading big publications you’ve probably come across it recently. I can’t find a link to the creative, but they put out a press release on it earlier this year:
http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/magazines/42679/
In it, they cite 5 reasons why Magazines are thriving not dying:
Magazine readership has risen 4.3% over the past five years (Source: MRI Fall 2009, Fall 2005 data)
Average paid subscriptions reached nearly 300 million in 2009 (Source: MPA estimates based on ABC first half 2009 and second half 2009 data)
Adults 18-34 are avid magazine readers. They read more issues and spend more time per issue than their over-34 counterparts (Source: MRI Fall 2009 data)
During the 12-year life of Google, magazine readership increased 11% (Source: MRI Fall 2009 data)
Magazine effectiveness is growing. Ad recall has increased 13% over the past five years. Action-taking—based on readers recalling specific ads—increased by 10%. (Source: Affinity’s VISTA Print Effectiveness Rating Service, 2005-2009)
Magazines outperform other media in driving positive shifts in purchase consideration/intent. (Source: Dynamic Logic
I’m still trying to sort out the spin within this, but I think for the most part we are seeing a plateauing of readership and subscriptions. Certainly they’ve had a couple tough years, but they aren’t going away. People like reading magazines and they are a good platform for engagement. It’s important for both media buyers and PR pros to stick with the medium.
Good post. The future of magazines I think is going to be on hand-held devices, the iPad especially. I got a chance to flip through an issue of Popular Mechanics on the iPad and it was pretty impressive. The navigation of the pages is smooth and intuitive for the most part. The coolest thing were the ads. They resemble full-page glossy ads, but can also have video in them.
I’d hate to see magazines really die out. They go through the airport easier than electronics and you don’t have to turn a magazine off during takeoffs and landings.
Print mags are losing subscribers and readers, which causes loss of revenue because of printing and shipping and other expenses for print media. With so much free content on the internet, fewer and fewer people want to pay for mags. Any ideas on how this industry survive in the future?
przeprowadzki
Interesting to see how the trends are shaping up in the months since this post was first written. I still haven’t bought into iPad magazines, and while a few titles here and there are getting their feet wet to some extent, I think the entire digital mag medium has a lot of work to do before it proves itself a viable long-term replacement for print. I really don’t have a valid reason to own an iPad, so why plunk down $499+ just to read magazines? You can get a LOT of print mag issues instead for that $499. And IMHO print is a much better reading experience. So what’s the rationale? Not convinced that tablet mags are worth it – or that they’re here to stay.