ch4

1. MEDIA/IMPACT
12TH EDITION
Chapter 4 – Magazines: Chasing the Audience

2. MAGAZINES REFLECT TRENDS AND CULTURE
 Magazines, more than any other medium, have reflected the surrounding culture and
the characteristics of their society.
 Examples: Glamour, Parenting, Seventeen, Sports Illustrated, Maxim
 As readers’ needs and lifestyles change, so do magazines.
 The current trend is toward specialty and Internet magazines, in response to the
shrinking number of print magazine readers.
 Magazines must give their readers information they can’t find anywhere else.
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

3. COLONIAL MAGAZINES COMPETE WITH NEWSPAPERS
 In 1741, more than 50 years after the birth of the colonies’ first newspaper,
magazines entered the American media marketplace.
 American Magazine
 Andrew Bradford, first to publish a magazine in 1741 - three issues
 General Magazine
 Benjamin Franklin published his first magazine three days later - six issues
 No advertising, so they were expensive.
 Newspapers covered daily crises. Magazines could carry cultural, political and
social ideas to help foster a national identity.
 Magazines became America’s only national medium to travel beyond local
boundaries. Subscribers depended on them for news, culture and entertainment.
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

4. TIMEFRAME: 1741-TODAY (1 of 2)
 1741: First magazines published in Philadelphia.
 1821: The Saturday Evening Post is the first magazine to reach wide public audience.
 1830: Sarah Josepha Hall first woman magazine editor – Godey’s Lady’s Book.
 1865: The Nation, featuring political commentary, is first published.
 1887: Cyrus Curtis begins publishing The Ladies’ Home Journal.
 1893: Samuel McClure founds McClure’s, featuring muckrakers Ida Tarbell and Lincoln
Steffens.
 1910: W.E.B. Du Bois and the NAACP start The Crisis.
 1923: Henry Luce creates first news magazine, Time. Later: Fortune, Life, Sports Illustrated.
 1925: Harold Ross introduces The New Yorker.
 1945: John Johnson launches Ebony and then Jet.
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

5. TIME FRAME: 1741-TODAY (2 of 2)
 1985: Consolidation begins when Advance Publications buys The New Yorker for $185
million.
 1993: Newsweek launches an Internet edition.
 2000: Oprah Winfrey launches the lifestyle magazine O, the Oprah Magazine.
 2005: Slate magazine becomes popular as Internet only magazine.
 2009: Publisher Condé Nast shuts down Gourmet, Modern Bride and others.
 2010: Condé Nast launches mobile and tablet editions of its most popular magazines.
 2012: Newsweek stops publishing a printed magazine, shifts to online publication.
 Today: Large media companies publish most magazines, and some are only published on
the Internet. Magazine revenues have continued to decline.
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

6. PUBLISHERS LOCATE NEW READERS
 Women’s Issues – Women sought out
Godey’s Lady’s Book for advice on
morals, manners, literature, fashion, diet
and taste.
 Social Crusades - The Ladies’ Home
Journal is credited with leading a
crusade against dangerous medicines. It
offered columns about women’s issues,
published popular fiction and even
printed sheet music.
 Political Commentary - Political
magazines provided a forum for public
arguments by scholars and critical
observers. Examples: The Nation, The
New Republic and The Crisis.
 Fostering the Arts - In the mid-1800s,
American magazines began to seek a
literary audience by promoting the
nation’s writers. Examples: Harper’s and
The Atlantic.
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

7. POSTAL ACT HELPS MAGAZINES GROW
 Until 1879, newspapers could be mailed for free while magazine publishers had to pay
postage.
 Postal Act of 1879
 Gave magazines second-class mailing privileges and a cheap rate.
 Allowed for quick, reasonably priced distribution of magazines.
 Today magazines still have a preferential postage rate.
 The number of monthly magazines increased from 180 in 1860 to more than 1,800 by
1900.
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

8. McCLURE’S LAUNCHES INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
 McClure hired writers such as Lincoln
Steffens and Ida Tarbell to investigate
wrongdoing.
 Tarbell series about President Lincoln
boosted the magazine’s circulation.
 Tarbell tackled a 19-part series about
Standard Oil Co in McClure’s in 1904,
targeting oil magnate John D. Rockefeller,
who called her “that misguided woman.”
 By 1910 many of the reforms sought by
the muckrakers had been adopted, and
this style of journalism declined.
 Muckrakers - Investigative magazine
journalists who targeted abuses by
government and big business.
 The muckrakers often are cited as
America’s original investigative
journalists.
 Samuel S. McClure founded McClure’s
Magazine in 1893.
 McClure and his magazine were very
important to the Progressive era in
American politics, which called for an
end to the close relationship between
government and big business.
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

9. THE NEW YORKER AND TIME SUCCEED DIFFERENTLY
 Two kinds of audiences
 Definable, targeted, loyal audience
 Harold Ross’ The New Yorker
Commentary, fiction and humor for a sophisticated, wealthy audience
 Broad, general readership
 Henry Luce’s Time
News and commentary that covered the week’s events in 28 pages
“For people willing to spend a half hour to avoid being uninformed”
 Ebony and Jet, 1940s
A combined 3 million readers
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

10. MAGAZINES DIVIDE INTO THREE TYPES
1. Consumer Magazines - All magazines sold by subscription or at newsstands,
supermarkets and bookstores: People, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan.
2. Trade, Technical and Professional Magazines - Magazines dedicated to a
particular business or profession: Veterinary Practice Management, Columbia
Journalism Review
3. Company Magazines - Magazines produced by businesses for their employees,
customers and stockholders: Chevron USA Odyssey
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

11. TOP 10 U.S. CONSUMER MAGAZINES
 1. Better Homes and Gardens
 2. Game Informer Magazine
 3. Good Housekeeping
 4. Family Circle
 5. National Geographic
* Source: Alliance for Audited Media, June 2014
 6. People
 7. Reader’s Digest
 8. Woman’s Day
 9. Time
 10. Ladies’ Home Journal
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

12. MAGAZINES AT WORK
 Editorial – Editors, designers, artists
and photographers decide the subjects
for each magazine issue, articles,
design/look, layout and schedule of the
printed and online magazine.
 Circulation Sales – Manages the
subscription information, entering new
subscriptions and handling address
changes and cancellations.
 Advertising Sales – Responsible for
finding companies that would like to
advertise in the magazine; often help the
companies design their ads to be
consistent with the magazine format.
 Manufacturing and Distribution – These
departments manage the production of
the magazine and get it to readers. This
often includes contracting with an
outside company to print the magazine
and publish it on the Internet.
 Administration - Takes care of the
organizational details—paperwork of
hiring, paying bills, managing the office.
 Freelancers - Writers who are not on the
staff of a magazine but who are paid for
each individual article published.
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

13. MAGAZINES COMPETE FOR READERS
IN CROWDED MARKETS
 Today most magazines are seeking a specific audience, and many more magazines
are competing for the same readers.
 Women continue to be the single most lucrative audience for print magazines.
 Men read online magazines more than women.
 Point-of-Purchase Magazines - Magazines that consumers buy directly, not by
subscription. They are sold mainly at checkout stands in supermarkets. Examples:
Women’s Day, Vogue, Glamour, Essence, Working Woman.
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

14. READERS REPRESENT A VALUABLE AUDIENCE
FOR ADVERTISERS
 Average magazine reader
 High school graduate
 Married
 Owns a home
 Works full time
 Attractive audience for advertisers
 Pass-Along Readership - People who share a magazine with the original recipient.
 People keep magazines an average of 17 weeks
 Each magazine has an average of four readers
 Better ad targeting
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e

15. DIGITAL EDITIONS OFFER NEW PUBLISHING OUTLETS
 Digital editions offer publishers a way to expand readership and give advertisers access
to an online audience.
 In 1994, Business Week began offering its magazine online, including a feature that
gives readers access to Internet conferences with editors and newsmakers and forums
where readers can post messages related to topics covered in each issue of the
magazine.
 Salon.com and Slate, launched by large magazine publishing companies, have attracted
a very loyal Internet readership.
 Digital contributed half of all ad revenue at Wired magazine in the final three months of
2012. Overall, for the entire year, digital ads accounted for 45 percent of sales.
 The Atlantic: Digital delivered 59 percent of ad revenue in 2012.
© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Biagi: Media/Impact, 12e