1 magazines chapter 5 © 2009, the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. all rights reserved
TRANSCRIPT
1
Magazines
Chapter 5
© 2009, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
2
CHAPTER OUTLINE
• History• Magazines in the Digital Age• Defining Features of Magazines• Organization of the Magazine Industry• Magazine Ownership• Producing the Magazine• Economics• Feedback
3
HISTORY
• Magazines have had a long history in the US
4
The Colonial period
• “Magazine”: warehouse or depository– Variety of opinion pieces, facts, human
interest stories
• Strong political bias
• Written to educated urban audience
• Encouraged literate and artistic expression
• Unified the colonies
5
After the Revolution
• Continue to target educate elite audience
• Present mix of topical and political articles
• Roots of modern news magazine
6
The Penny-Press Era
• 1820s-1860s -- Magazines appealed to mass audience
• Parallel strategies of penny press newspapers
• Target the middle class
7
The Magazine Boom
• 1860-1900 – many new magazines appeared– More available money– Improved printing techniques– Postal Act of 1879
• Special mailing rates for magazines
– Magazines could reach national mass audience
• Muckrakers – investigative reporting
8
Between the Wars
• Changing lifestyles influenced magazine development
• Three magazine types emerged– Digest– News weeklies– Pictorial magazine
9
The Postwar Period
• Publishers continued to specialize to satisfy readers who had– Increased leisure time– Liberalized views– New interests in urban lifestyles
10
Contemporary Magazines
• Challenges to magazine industry– Declines in single-copy sales– Sweepstakes competitions have nearly
disappeared– National do-not-call list– Cable TV and Internet
11
MAGAZINES IN THE DIGITAL AGE
• Magazines are still learning how to use the Internet
• Generating revenue from the Internet– Ad-supported web-only titles– Repackaged print content– Charging for access to archives– E-commerce
12
Replica Editions
• Replica editions are not online editions
• Replica editions mimic the print magazine
13
Mobile Magazines
• Magazines can be read on laptops, cell phones, PDAs
• Magazine podcasts are available
• Challenges with mobile magazine delivery– How long will readers stay with mobile
editions?– What about payment
14
User-Generated Content
• Publishers are cautiously exploring user-generated content– Want to retain control of content– Not sure how to generate revenue– Could be way to build audience base
15
DEFINING FEATURES OF MAGAZINES
• Specialized audiences
• In tune with social, economic, cultural trends
• Can influence social trends
• Convenient portable format
16
ORGANIZATION OF THE MAGAZINE INDUSTRY
• The magazine industry can be classified by the types of content presented in the magazine, or by the three traditional components of manufacturing.
17
Content Categories
• General consumer magazines
• Business publications
• Custom magazines
• Literary reviews and academic journals
• Newsletters
• Public relations magazines
18
Functional Categories
• Production
• Distribution– Paid circulation– Controlled circulation
• Retail
19
MAGAZINE OWNERSHIP
• The magazine industry is dominated by large corporations, many with holdings in other media.
• The five leading magazine publishers are Time Warner, Advance Publications, Hearst Corporation, Meredith Corporation, and Reader’s Digest Association
20
PRODUCING THE MAGAZINE
A variety of people work together to create a magazine
21
Departments and Staff
• Publisher
• Circulation Department
• Advertising Department
• Production Department
• Editorial Department
22
Publishing the Magazine
• Plan for upcoming issues
• Convert ideas into articles, pictures, illustrations
• Create dummy – conceptual plan or blueprint of final publication
• Assign work schedules and deadlines
• Begin the work
23
ECONOMICS
• Revenue sources– Subscriptions– Single-copy sales– Advertising– Ancillary services
• The magazine industry is facing tough times
24
FEEDBACK
• Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC)– Paid circulation– Rate base
• Business Publication Audit (BPA)• Mediamark Research, Inc (MRI)
– Primary audience– Pass-along audience
• Online readership– Audit Bureau of Circulation– Nielsen/NetRatings
25
Magazine Audiences
• 85% of US adults read at least one magazine per month
• Adults look through an average of 10 magazines per month
• Readers more educated and more affluent than non-readers
• Readers tend to be joiners