Magazine Readership: Is it Genuinely Losing Its Trends - Coursework Example

Magazine Readership: Is it genuinely losing its trends? I. Introduction Several magazine managers and editors still accept as true that readership research is not merely excessively costly, but surplus to requirements. For many of them, time, effort and money consumed in conducting researches on readership rates for each of the mass medium are unnecessary activities because researches only produce trivial evidence. However, the rapidly changing marketplace for magazines implies that readership research should contribute an essential role in protecting any prospective industry success. It is a common trend nowadays the shrinking of magazine readership. In a sense, the widespread decline of magazine readership can be initially assumed as caused by a variety of factors such as the increasing realization among readers that it’s basically not worth turning the pages of magazines nowadays because they can acquire the information they need or deemed important somewhere else such as televisions, radio, weeklies, free sheets and most prominently the Internet. Moreover, for some, magazine reading is highly habitual which can suffer from developments in people’s lifestyles. Everyday life has been de-ritualized in the contemporary period which established magazine reading as a form of diversion and amusement, which then becomes insignificant in the working and free time rhythms of a number of individuals. Hence, if both the outmoded appearance and purpose of the magazines and foremost adjustments in the lifestyle of its readers have created it somehow a dying out mass medium, then the challenge to readership research has turn out to be even greater. Readership research is no longer lavishness or something to simply buff up the magazine, to compose it even better than it may have appeared beforehand. Increasingly, research may be essential to keep the magazine and its business significant in a growing varied, competitive, even hard lined market with an escalating number of unsympathetic audiences. II. The Golden Age of Magazines There was a period, not too many years ago, when several people feared that magazines would be weighed down by television; that readership would decline in the technological age and promotional materials would abandon the print media for the glamour of the video screen. From 1995 to 1980, the television outgrew rapidly any other mass medium, both in viewership and marketing revenue.1 Nevertheless, the magazines have recovered strongly. 1990 showcased the magazine industry as a healthy, developing component of nations across cultures. In fact, during this time it’s safe to conclude that magazines are the most promising mass medium. However, the bright prospect of magazines in the nineties is not without worries on its problems and challenges. There are dilemmas which evidently showed themselves at the period of the flourishing of the magazine. First, there was mounting uncertainty about the value of advertising in all types of mass medium, particularly magazines. This then will persistently challenge the ability of involved individuals in guaranteeing that magazine ads grasp and hold the concentration of readers and successfully convey the advertisers’ marketing intentions. If advertisers fail to improve the quality of ads, from its design to its content, the magazines’ effectiveness in changing consumer outlooks and purchasing habits will consequently fall short; hence, can result in a decline in magazine readership; second, efforts to reduce magazine profits such as rate negotiating and intense marking down of magazine ad space pressures to ‘commoditize’2 thus weakening the uniqueness of and importance of magazine ad space to businesses. Evidently, readership of magazines in the 1990s sporadically showed a problem of decline. Even though Americans are purchasing more magazines than ever before, it isn’t very obvious that they are reading more. There is a rising doubt that the interest span of media consumers is diminishing and people are increasingly becoming multimedia browsers and end users. This trend will then be a challenge to magazine makers to catch and hold the enthusiasm of magazine readers in a period of escalating media mess. Furthermore, competition among magazines for readers and marketing agencies will deepen in the future as well financially endowed multimedia corporations, both overseas and domestic. It will be more difficult for meagerly capitalized, small entrepreneurial businesses to compete for the soaring circulation and huge ad budgets. However, the creativity and perseverance of small entrepreneurial businesses to keep up with the big companies cannot be discounted.3 The availability of diverse types of magazines due to a high-level competition in the market can lead to a sudden decline in magazine readership because consumers will become inundated with promotional businesses hence making them passive. III. Magazine Readership: The Numbers Magazine start-ups have persisted to dominate the consumer magazine business in spite from the recession period in 1988-1993.4 Within this five-year period, magazines for both genders have escalated, even though signs of a discrepancy in readership that is more often than not attributed to women’s magazines are absent. Moreover, enhanced interest has been specified in particular domains such as “travel, camping, parenthood and black-oriented issues.”5 Nonetheless, as far as the consumer magazine is concerned, at least from the point of view of readership, except the advertising perspective, there was simply a minimal malfunctioning during the previous five years; only a negligible decrease in the growth pattern which the business has been trailing for three decades. The former belief is apparent: magazines continue to be produced because individuals have a yearning to read them. People’s awareness appears to be consistently developing and so do the figures of magazines to serve up those interests. However, according to TV Guide Inc, the actual trend of magazine readership is the opposite of the success that the consumer magazine is experiencing nowadays. TV Guide Inc. predicted that they will have a reduced number of readers assured to advertisers of its namesake magazine as distribution is anticipated to carry on declining progressively. The regular weekly circulation of the magazine of TV program listings could lessen its rate base through removing free copies provided in location such as doctors’ lounges. President Peter Boylan declared that the reduction doesn’t have a specified date yet the TV guide most certainly lowered its rate base to about 11 million.6 The decision to reduce circulation would lessen costly printing expenses. Boylan strongly believes that a lower rate base would secure the magazine from the obligation to provide advertisers free ad space or money in replacement for not reaching the circulation projections. TV Guide’s circulation is foreseen to decline by about 10 percent annually, which was Boylans forecast to investors at a Banc of America Securities conference in New York.7 Consequently, these decisions from magazine companies to cut down their costs in order to save money thus earning money for higher operations can lead to dramatic decline in magazine readership since the readers will more likely be greatly dissatisfied with the appearance and content of the magazines. Cutting down expenses for the production of magazines could definitely lead to inferior and low-quality end products. On the other hand, Australian magazine readership and sales statistics designate a decline in readership figures over the year until September of 2007. According to the data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, “13 of the nation’s 20 most-read paid magazines posted readership declines over the period. NW, TV Week, New idea, Famous, Who and Woman’s Day all recorded declines. The publications are thought to be suffering from a glut of titles released since 2005. However, celebrity title “OK!” boosted its readership and is currently selling 134,000 copies weekly.”8 The trend of magazine readership in Australia only illustrates that there are types and contents of magazines that readers do not gather interests into and there are magazines such as “OK!” that seems to be successful in grabbing the enthusiasm and loyalty of many Australian magazine consumers. However, a survey from the marketing research firm headed by Roy Morgan released data about the latest readership sector in Australia. “The figures for the 12 months ending March 2007 show a decline of 5.5, with gross readership now at 45.9 million for all titles combined.”9 The lobby organization from the Magazine Publishers Australia however maintains that the industry is executing and performing steadily, and that a number of the decline is accounted for by the advanced statistics for March 2006 that was because of a population of fresh mastheads having been initiated. On the contrary, the launch of “Zoo Weekly” heightened the “men’s lifestyle” category by 7.10 This survey illustrates the potentiality of new designs, innovative contents and ingenious technology in increasing readership. Moreover, according to a June 16, 2008 survey, the readership of weekly women’s magazines dropped by seven per cent within the year to March 2008. “Readership of “Woman’s Day” is down 10.1 per cent and that of “New Idea” is down 13.1 per cent, although readership of “OK!” jumped 28.7 per cent.”11 The Australian homemaker segment almost experienced a decline in readership if not for “Better Homes and Garden”, which reported an elevation of 16.3 per cent in the year to March 2008. On the other hand, the food division performed excellently. Also, there is apprehension about the drop in the youth magazine section and whether communities in this demographic will keep on reading magazines as they get more mature.12 MPA head John McClintock affirmed that the most recent ACNielsen readership data demonstrate that the mainstream magazine market has not gone astray and has preserved its dedication to advertisers to confirm development in classes and additionally in core audience readership. Undeniably, the titles portraying consistent growth in the study cover the range of NZ lifestyles. Annually, the principal frontrunners include “About Kids (up 25%), Weekend Gardener (up 18), Boating NZ (up 20%), NZ Autocar (up 18%), NZ Classic Car (up 25%), NZ Performance Car (up 39%), Ralph NZ (up 27%) and NZ Adventure (up 34%).”13 Among the magazine categories evaluated, the MPA declares most proven growth or stability. “Home, gardening, entertaining and special interest categories led the way with a 3% overall increase year on year.”14 From this statistics, it is safe to assume that the magazine readership base has been largely fragmented because of divergent individual and group of people’s interests and objectives. From the numbers presented, the real trend in magazine readership greatly depends on the type and content of the magazines. Apparently, not all magazines suffer loss in readership and several of these magazines, particularly in the case of Australia, are those that release weeklies which makes them resemble a newspaper. Also, the contents of the magazines that usually failed to grab the interests of the readers are domestic issues such as homemaking, parenting and others. Conversely, magazines addressing technologies, lifestyles and youth issues are thriving in their business to entertain diverse audiences. With respect to the fragmentation of readership base, it is highly likely that this is an offshoot of the emergence of a wide array of topics and interests in magazine contents. IV. The Internet: The Culprit The Folio, in November 1992, made publicly the results of a panel discussion with frontrunners in the publishing industry on the prospect of magazines. Some of the predictions were enlightening with respect to the dominant behaviors more than a decade ago. The forecast was largely cynical with regard to the decline in advertising revenues in print and the panelists envisioned an enduring turn down in conventional print advertising. With the achievement of the Internet over the prevailing periods there were even those who proclaimed that the World Wide Web was going to make magazines obsolete, since they could not efficiently contend with the punctuality, the immeasurable sum of space and expenditure system of the web.15 Publishers are initiating a new study that asserts magazine audiences are transferring to the Internet; according to the report, sourced from Media-mark Research Inc. data, “a group of 200 titles lost 61 million readers, ages 18 to 49, between fall 1997 and fall 1998.”16 Many interpret this dramatic loss in magazine readership as a result of the abandoning of the print by readers in favor of the Internet. However, others argue that the immense shift in audience size are normal and are absolutely not associated to the development of the Internet. The president of Sports Illustrated, Michael Klingensmith, says that “While our audience dropped from the last MRI study to this one, it’s substantially larger than it was in 1995, which was pre-Internet.”17 Moreover, Klingensmith argues that these figures fluctuate a lot if the magazine company is big. Several observers maintain that magazine readership is not decreasing; instead, readers are moving away from the old and typical titles to new and more targeted ones. V. Enhanced Readership Surveys Advertisers commonly use the hymn “Far forward, right-hand page, urgently requested”.18 Magazines’ editorial staff can put up with the challenge through rotating ads, charging more for up-front orientations, include strong editorial segments in the flipside of the magazine. Yet, there will be bad times when salespeople have to confront annoyed advertisers who place accountability of a bad position for a low readership evaluation on them. In this sense, readership surveys can alleviate the tension between advertisers and salespeople, particularly in relation to the performance of companies producing magazines. Readership surveys can guide magazine publishers respond to significant questions on the sources of declining circulation and reader’s feedbacks on style and content. Various survey strategies have different objectives and should be opted for appropriately. Mail surveys are valuable in gathering information and data about buying trends of reader collectives. Readership surveys should be maintained simple and inquire the most attention-grabbing questions initially so as to improve the likelihoods that a reader will fill up a form. Addressing readers’ feedbacks is extremely significant if a magazine-producing company is intending to boost its sale or its readership bases. Asking readers for their opinions about any feature of the magazine can generate valuable results such as increased loyalty and prolonged business relationship with consumers. Changes in magazines, such as the style, form and content should largely come from the audiences because otherwise magazines will find themselves competing for spaces in a dusty shelf. References Magazine Articles Ad location Doesnt Readership Influence. (1996, April 15). Folio . Davies, S. (2008, June 16). ABC & Readership. Australasian Business Intelligence Jackson, S. (2007, May 20). Magazine Slump Pulps Readership. Australasian Business Intelligence . Ennis, T. (1999, April 1). Study: Internet too Blame for Magazine Reader Falloff. Folio . Kobak, J. (1994, January 1). Magazine Trends. Folio . Kummerfeld, D. (1990, January 1). Magazines are the Hot Medium. Folio . Medealf, G. (2008, July 1). Magazines: Coalition of the Thrilling. Marketing Magazine . Shoebridge, N. (2007, November 18). Magazines Put Gloss on Readership Drop. Australasian Business Intelligence . Journal Article Chipman, K. (2000, May 22). TV Guide Warns of Declining Readership. Los Angeles Business Journal . Articles in a Periodical Circulation Decline Due to Lack of Time, Interest. (2000, July 1). The Quill . Magazines Readership Roundup. (2003, September 12). AD Media . Read More