Magazines
Magazine launches
• Martha Stewart Living (1991)
• O, The Oprah Magazine (2000)
• McCalls becomes Rosie (2001)
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Early History of Magazines
• “magazine” from French word magasin,
meaning storehouse or shop
• Colonial magazines - first in 1741,
Philadelphia
• 1776 - about 100 operating
Early History of Magazines
– North American Review (1815)
– Saturday Evening Post (1821)
Early History of Magazines
• 1850 - nearly 600 magazines
Godey’s Lady’s Book (1850s)
Early History of Magazines
• The Nation (1865)
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• 1870s - about 1200 magazines
• Postal Act of 1879: postal rates went down
Early History of Magazines
Pictorial Pioneers
Harper’s Weekly/Photos around 1890
Early History of Magazines
• 1905 - more than 6000
• In 1903, Ladies’ Home Journal reached
circulation of 1 million.
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Early History of Magazines
• Magazines help readers to see
themselves as part of nation
Social Reform and
Muckrakers
Social Reform and
Muckrakers
Social Reform and
Muckrakers
Social Reform and
Muckrakers
Social Reform and Muckrakers
• President Theodore Roosevelt, 1906:
reporters willing to crawl through “muck”
of society to uncover story.
Social Reform and Muckrakers
• 1902, McClure’s Magazine (1893-1933)
– Ida Tarbell’s book The History of the
Standard Oil Company on John D.
Rockefeller’s big oil monopoly.
Social Reform and
Muckrakers
– Lincoln Steffens’ “Shame of the Cities” on
urban problems.
Social Reform and Muckrakers
• 1906, Cosmopolitan
(1886- ) purchased by
Hearst, series called “The
Treason of the Senate”
Social Reform and Muckrakers
• Collier’s “The Great American
Fraud” series on patent
medicines. SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS
Social Reform and Muckrakers
• Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle and
Collier’s and LHJ muckraking reports,
led to the Pure Food and Drug Act in
1906.
Rise of General Interest
Magazines
• Saturday Evening Post
- hits 2 million in 1920s.
• Reader’s Digest
- by 1946, most popular magazine,
hits 9 million circulation.
Rise of General Interest
Magazines
• Time (1923 - ) and national newsweeklies
1933
Rise of General Interest
Magazines
• Life (1936) - photojournalism
The Fall of General Interest
Magazines
• Saturday Evening Post folds, 1969
• Look folds, 1971
• Life folds, 1972
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All three in top 10
Selling for less than cost of production
Relied on subscriptions, with high mailing rates
Advertisers migrated to TV to reach general audience
The Fall of General Interest
Magazines
• TV Guide (1953) - most newspapers didn’t do
TV program listings. A huge success.
Demonstrated sales power of supermarket
checkout sales.
• Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bought in
1988. Why? Sold in 2000.
The Fall of General Interest
Magazines
• People finds success as new general interest
magazine in 1974. Emerges from Time
section.
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Specialization
• Regional editions - content tailored to
different geographic regions
• Split-run editions - national magazines that
tailor ads to different regions
• Demographic editions - ads target different
consumers by occupation, class and zip code
Categories
• Magazines are developed for many
NICHES
– (Primedia video)
• Currently about 12,000 magazines
in U.S.
Fragmented Marketplace
• Of the 12,000 consumer magazines, only
about 90 have circulation of more than one
million
The largest magazines?
Fragmented Marketplace
• Of the 12,000 consumer magazines, only
about 90 have circulation of more than one
million
AARP Bulletin (21.5 million)
AARP The Magazine
Reader’s Digest
TV Guide
Better Homes and Gardens
Supermarket Tabloids
• The National Enquirer
Making magazines
• Editorial Content (about 50-50)
• Advertising and Sales
– $64,000 fullpage ad
– $20,000 1/3 page ad
• Circulation and Distribution
– Evergreens
– Paid circulation
Major Chains
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Time Warner
Meredith Publishing
Hearst Corporation
Bertelsmann
Hachette Filipachi
Advance Publications/Condé Nast
• Online Magazines
– Salon
– Slate