Media Today, 4th Edition
Chapter Recaps and Study Guide
Chapter 9: The Magazine Industry
A magazine is a collection of material (stories, ads, poetry, etc.) that its editors believe
will be of interest to readers.
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
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Sketch a history of magazines and understand its importance.

Describe the physical and digital production, distribution, and exhibition of
different types of magazines.

Explain the view that magazines are brands that need to follow their readers.

List the risks and barriers involved in launching a new magazine.

Analyze critics’ concerns regarding the influence of industry ownership and
advertising.
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The development of the magazine.
o The term “magazine” means storehouse.
o Political and literary magazines appeared in England by the 1700s and in
the British American colonies by 1741, where they often failed to sustain
publication.
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The transformation of magazines into mass media.
o The rise in literacy, the development of the steam powered presses, and
postal loopholes encouraged the development of the magazine as mass
medium in the mid-1830s (during the same time that the penny
newspapers were emerging as a mass medium).
o Magazines targeted audiences with special topics.
o Major American writers wrote for a variety of early magazines.
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More fundamental changes in magazine publishing.
o Railroad development and the Postal Act of 1879 encouraged the
development of magazines that reached people throughout the country, not
just in local areas.
o Expanded circulation meant lower unit prices; magazines adopted a
branding approach to make their contents distinctive.
o Both trade magazines and consumer magazines were developed to reach
different audiences.
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New roles for mass-circulation magazines.
o In the early twentieth century, muckrakers, writing in magazines,
provided sensational news by exposing abuses of business and corruption
in politics.
o Several leading magazines specialized in providing entertainment,
featuring the work of famous fiction writers.
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Magazines later in the twentieth century.
o Television forced mass circulation magazines to specialize in reaching
small, carefully targeted audiences.

An overview of the magazine industry.
o Business-to-business magazines (trade magazines) target a particular
profession or industry.
o Consumer magazines reach a variety of audiences whose members buy
and consume products and services advertised in the magazines.
o Literary reviews and academic journals reach targeted audiences in
academia, politics, or business.
o Newsletters reach small numbers of readers and include specialized
information for people in a variety of businesses or other areas of
professional life.
o Comic books emerged from newspaper comic strips and pulp fiction and
reach a variety of targeted audiences.

Financing magazine publishing.
o Advertising is the major source of revenue (except for newsletters and
academic journals), followed by subscription charges.
o Controlled circulation magazines are targeted to specific professions;
the publisher, not the reader, decides who receives it; custom magazines
target a company’s customers or other people.
o Paid circulation magazines are financed by subscription.
o The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) tracks magazine circulation and
provides information to advertisers.
o The magazine industry has developed a market segments strategy that
allows for the insertion of different ads for different subscribers in
different parts of the country.
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Production in the magazine industry.
o Goals.
 Drawing an attractive audience: magazines attempt to reach
upscale readers and develop content with such readers in mind.
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Drawing a loyal audience: magazines attempt to build brand
loyalty among their readers, so the readers become very engaged
with the content and presumably with the ads.
 Creating a conducive environment: magazines generate content
that is conducive for the presentation of the ads that are published.
 Setting an efficient price: magazines are able to provide special
editions that reach specific and lucrative audiences, even though
the CPM for such special audiences may be higher than for nonspecially targeted editions.
Launching and editing a magazine.
 Getting started requires asking important questions about the
potential editorial need for the proposed magazine, about the
demographic characteristics of the target readership, and the
magazine’s advertising potential.
 Once the decision is made to progress with the launch, several
questions area raised about magazine’s title, its cover design, its
overall layout, and its editorial (content) concept.
 Market research is conducted to learn if the proposed magazine
will sell and to learn what changes need to be made in order to
reach the target.
 The launch involves reaching potential subscribers; 3–5 percent
positive return is considered successful..
Producing a magazine as a brand.
 Magazines foster a sense of personality, or brand, in order to
engage readers.
 Digital magazines: magazines are using the Web to extend their
brand relationships with their readers; the websites are used to
encourage subscriptions.
 Expanding into other media and events: magazines sponsor a
variety of events aimed at fostering a relationship with readers;
some magazines move their brands into other media that help
enhance their brands.
Distribution and the magazine industry.
 Subscription and single-copy sales are the traditional methods of
distribution.
 An increase in postal rates has discouraged the use of direct mail
offers (often with sweepstakes) to potential subscribers.
 As in the book industry, the magazine distribution system involves
a distributor, a wholesaler, and a retailer.
Exhibition and the magazine industry.
 Magazine stands and supermarket checkout stands are highly
competitive areas for the display and potential sale of magazines.
 The larger magazine companies have greater influence than the
smaller ones in how their brands are positioned in retail outlets.

Single copy sales seem to be declining, a source of concern
because the industry relies on these sales to help build circulation
by means of subscription.
o Media literacy and the magazine industry.
 The magazine industry is experiencing conglomeration, and
smaller companies have a harder time launching new titles; the
large conglomerates may push the smaller operators out of the
market.
 Advertiser influence on content is a major concern for media
literate persons.