Media audiences

Magazines

Magazine audiences

• How do magazine publishers…

• Identify

• Serve

• Maintain

• Measure

…their audiences?

Identifying audiences: market segmentation

• Magazines are divided into discrete markets– Women’s consumer– Men’s consumer– Consumer special interest– Contract/customer magazines– Business (B2B)

Market segmentation

• Each market is sub-divided–Women’s weeklies• Classics (eg Woman, Woman’s Own, Bella)• Easy entertainment (eg Chat, Take a Break)• Mature (eg Woman’s Weekly, People’s

Friend)• Celebrity (eg Heat, Now, Reveal, Hello!, OK!)• Fashion (eg Grazia, Look)

Market segmentation

• Women’s monthly magazines (glossies)– Fashion: Vogue, Marie Claire, Harpers– Lifestyle: Easy Living, Good

Housekeeping, Woman and Home, Cosmo, Glamour

– Home: Ideal Home, Elle Deco, Homes and Gardens

Market segmentation

• Men’s market–Weeklies• Nuts!, Zoo

–Monthlies• FHM, Loaded, GQ, Esquire,

– Health• Men’s Health• Men’s Fitness

Market segmentation

• Music– General

• NME, Q, The Fly, Mojo

– Niche• Metal Hammer• Uncut

– Special interest• Guitarist• Rhythm• Computer Music

Market segmentation

• Magazine audiences are carefully defined and articulated in terms of…– Gender– Age– Demographics (social class, eg BC1)– BUT ALSO IN TERMS OF• Behaviour and lifestyle

The seven ages of magazine readers*

• Magazines are always aimed at discrete audiences– A key difference from newspapers

• It’s not just about demographics– Gender, age, social class

• It’s about behaviour, lifestyle, life-stage, politics, shopping habits, hopes and fears

* Media Week, 2008

1. Pre teens

• Up to 12 years• Brand aware• Mobile phone at 9, use

internet and text• High School Musical• Innocent. Pets, family, tv

characters• MAGAZINES• In the Night Garden• Girl Talk• Doctor Who

2. Youth

• 9-18 years• X Factor, EastEnders,

Chris Moyles• Celebrity, pop, football, U-

tube, Facebook• Computer games• Top Shop, Pineapple• MAGAZINES• Big decline - they expect

free• Heat, Match, NME online,

Sugar

The Lads• 15-25 years• Totty and football• Wants to be constantly

entertained• Friends more important

than family• Needs to be cool, sociable• Brands define them• Top Gear, Richard

Hammond• MAGAZINES• Nuts! FHM, Fast Car, Xbox

360, Stuff

Upmarket women 25-44• Married, two kids• Job share, lawyer• Drives BMW• Cash rich, time poor• Good food, holidays, health• Not into tacky celebs• Likes Mariella Frostrup,

Heidi Klum• MAGAZINES• Moving out of Cosmo or

Marie Claire• Easy Living, Red, still likes

Glamour

Family guy• 25-44 years• Married, a dad-to-be• Marketing exec• Vain, image conscious, six

pack• Sport, comedy,

documentaries• Dave channel• Footy gossip• Drives Renault but aspires to

Audi TT• MAGAZINES• GQ twice a year, Shortlist on

way to work, Men’s Health

Mass market mums• 25-44 years• Married, three kids• Part time job in bookies• Non aspirational• Big Brother, Jade Goody• Worry about money,

relationships and kids• Live for holidays• Diets, wants to quit

smoking• MAGAZINES• Take a Break, Chat, Love

it!, Pick Me Up

New Navigators• 45+ years• Two kids, divorced• Health service manager• Optimistic, forward

thinking• Fashion conscious,

admires Madonna• Sex and the City fan• Men - remarried• golf, reading, music• MAGAZINES• Radio Times, Woman &

Home, Classic Rock, The Word

Market segmentation• Because they are aimed at small groups of

like-minded people, magazine audiences are more tightly defined than newspapers

• Role of the magazine publisher is to define a market and deliver a magazine that addresses its needs with…– Suitable editorial, writing, pictures and design

style– Appropriate paper quality– The right price

• Market must be attractive to advertisers • Publisher must stay close to that market’s

changing attitudes and tastes and change the magazine accordingly

Let’s look at audience segmentation in three different magazine markets

• Women’s weekly fashion– Grazia and Look

• TV listings– Radio Times and What’s on TV

• Young home interest– Living Etc and Elle Decoration

Women’s fashion market

• In 2003 there were no fashion-based weeklies in the UK

• Fashion was the preserve on monthlies like Marie Claire

• Grazia launches weekly in Italy• EMAP (now Bauer) researches the UK

market with the question…Will British women buy a fashion-based weekly?

The birth of Grazia

• Research carried out in hall tests (quantitative) and focus groups (qualitative)

• Hall tests provide numbers– How many?–What demographic?–What type of people?– Current magazine/newspaper usage?