My answer to this question is free content will not kill magazines but let me back this up for you. Magazines are a luxury product, but “as consumers spend less on newspapers they seem to spend more on magazine brands” (McKay, 2013). There will always be a market for magazines because they are glossy, full of information, look pretty on coffee tables and are great to read on the train home from work while sipping on a skinny caramel macchiato.
The magazine industry has changed into more of a community with titles using media platforms, like Facebook, to support content in their print magazine. An example of this is Cosmopolitan who has “been around since 1886” (McGuire, 2010) and started as a fashion magazine but have refocused their content on becoming a sex manual for women therefore differentiating themselves from popular fashion magazine brands Vogue and Elle. The women's magazine market is very saturated therefore magazines need focused content that readers recognize them for, otherwise known as brand recognition.
The problem that women’s weeklies like More, is more of their content is available online before they publish their magazines. The Mail Online is one of the main reasons for the decline because it “covers a huge amount of the ground women’s weeklies made their own” (Jackson, 2013) therefore why would we buy a gossip magazine when it is available for free on Mail Online. The Mail Online updates their content daily and has 11,792,392 (BRAD, 2014) unique users on a daily basis therefore there really is no competition.
We know that print magazines rely on advertising for revenue but they have created opportunities for advertisers to advertise on their websites and social media channels. The market for online advertising has grown by “15%-16% a year” (FIPP, 2013) with popular titles like ELLE charging £45,000 per week (ELLE, 2014) for a website take over. Magazine consumers love to interact with content through social media. If I retweet an article I read on a magazine website, like Vogue, then my 148 followers are able to see this content as well therefore reaching a whole new audience that they wouldn't have reached with just a print magazine.
McKay (2013, p 264) states that unless magazines have brand extension across a variety of multi-platforms they aren't going to survive. In the future, Scott and Stam (2014 pg. 246) suggest that magazines need to have multi-talented staff that can create and publish content for print and digital.
Therefore these points suggest that the print magazines will never die they will always be around, their sales may decline but loyal readers are always going to purchase their favourite magazines. As a student, I still find money to indulge in a print magazine (even if it means i starve for a day) because I love flicking through the glossy pages and reading the creative content.
References:
Brad Connect (2014). Mail Online. Available at: http://www.bradinsight.com/BRAD/Profile/Title/a0HD0000008juksMAA#traffic (accessed: 24th November, 2014)
ELLE (2014), Media Pack. Available at: http://hearstcouk.wp.cdnds.net/tmp/wpro1405942645908842/2014/05/ELLE14_MEDIA_INFO.pdf (accessed: 24th November 2014)
FIPP (2013). World Magazine Trends 2013-2014. 19th Edition. FIPP Limited: London
Jackson, J (2013) ‘More! is less: The decline of women’s weeklies and the precarious world of consumer magazines’. Available at: http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/more-less-decline-womens-weeklies-precarious-consumer-magazines (accessed on: 24th November 2014)
Jackson, P (2013). Why have the women’s weeklies become ladies of easy virtue? Available at: http://www.inpublishing.co.uk/kb/articles/why_have_the_womens_weeklies_become_ladies_of_easy_virtue.aspx (accessed on: 24th November, 2014)
McGuire, L (2010). THE EVOLUTION OF COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE. Available at: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/04/26/guest-post-the-evolution-of-cosmopolitan-magazine/ (accesed on: 24th of November, 2014)
McKay, J (2013) The Magazine Handbook. 3rd Edition. Routledge: Oxon
Mintel Oxygen (2014) 'Magazines - UK 2014’.'. Available at:http://academic.mintel.com.oxfordbrookes.idm.oclc.org/display/707069/ (Accessed: 24th November, 2014).
The magazine industry has changed into more of a community with titles using media platforms, like Facebook, to support content in their print magazine. An example of this is Cosmopolitan who has “been around since 1886” (McGuire, 2010) and started as a fashion magazine but have refocused their content on becoming a sex manual for women therefore differentiating themselves from popular fashion magazine brands Vogue and Elle. The women's magazine market is very saturated therefore magazines need focused content that readers recognize them for, otherwise known as brand recognition.
The problem that women’s weeklies like More, is more of their content is available online before they publish their magazines. The Mail Online is one of the main reasons for the decline because it “covers a huge amount of the ground women’s weeklies made their own” (Jackson, 2013) therefore why would we buy a gossip magazine when it is available for free on Mail Online. The Mail Online updates their content daily and has 11,792,392 (BRAD, 2014) unique users on a daily basis therefore there really is no competition.
We know that print magazines rely on advertising for revenue but they have created opportunities for advertisers to advertise on their websites and social media channels. The market for online advertising has grown by “15%-16% a year” (FIPP, 2013) with popular titles like ELLE charging £45,000 per week (ELLE, 2014) for a website take over. Magazine consumers love to interact with content through social media. If I retweet an article I read on a magazine website, like Vogue, then my 148 followers are able to see this content as well therefore reaching a whole new audience that they wouldn't have reached with just a print magazine.
McKay (2013, p 264) states that unless magazines have brand extension across a variety of multi-platforms they aren't going to survive. In the future, Scott and Stam (2014 pg. 246) suggest that magazines need to have multi-talented staff that can create and publish content for print and digital.
Therefore these points suggest that the print magazines will never die they will always be around, their sales may decline but loyal readers are always going to purchase their favourite magazines. As a student, I still find money to indulge in a print magazine (even if it means i starve for a day) because I love flicking through the glossy pages and reading the creative content.
References:
Brad Connect (2014). Mail Online. Available at: http://www.bradinsight.com/BRAD/Profile/Title/a0HD0000008juksMAA#traffic (accessed: 24th November, 2014)
ELLE (2014), Media Pack. Available at: http://hearstcouk.wp.cdnds.net/tmp/wpro1405942645908842/2014/05/ELLE14_MEDIA_INFO.pdf (accessed: 24th November 2014)
FIPP (2013). World Magazine Trends 2013-2014. 19th Edition. FIPP Limited: London
Jackson, J (2013) ‘More! is less: The decline of women’s weeklies and the precarious world of consumer magazines’. Available at: http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/more-less-decline-womens-weeklies-precarious-consumer-magazines (accessed on: 24th November 2014)
Jackson, P (2013). Why have the women’s weeklies become ladies of easy virtue? Available at: http://www.inpublishing.co.uk/kb/articles/why_have_the_womens_weeklies_become_ladies_of_easy_virtue.aspx (accessed on: 24th November, 2014)
McGuire, L (2010). THE EVOLUTION OF COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE. Available at: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/04/26/guest-post-the-evolution-of-cosmopolitan-magazine/ (accesed on: 24th of November, 2014)
McKay, J (2013) The Magazine Handbook. 3rd Edition. Routledge: Oxon
Mintel Oxygen (2014) 'Magazines - UK 2014’.'. Available at:http://academic.mintel.com.oxfordbrookes.idm.oclc.org/display/707069/ (Accessed: 24th November, 2014).