The magazine industry has been upended in recent
years by many factors, such as the movement to online. Online media now takes a
large role in the distribution of information in society, resulting in the
movement of magazines to newer online media sources which happen to be easier, while
other institutions already moved onto the online scene altogether. Smartphones
and tablet devices are examples contributing to the continued popularity of
magazines. With greater availability of high-speed broadband, streaming and
downloading online content has become even more popular. Publishers are
creating content in digital formats for mobile users to improve customer
engagement and reach a wider audience.
The Covid-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on the
industry as it caused news agents, newsstands and free titles not being able to
distribute their products. The pandemic sharply accelerated the fall in print
advertising revenue, which fell by 33% from 2019 to 2020 and has yet to
recover. Despite this, print is still a significant method for many but has
been in long-term decline, with digital editions and subscriptions for the most
part not making up for this drop in sales. Like all publishing sectors,
magazines have been hit by sharp falls in print advertising revenue,
while digital advertising spend has
been monopolised by tech platforms such as Google and Facebook. Roger Lynch,
chief executive of the 113-year-old Conde Nast, stated that the business was “no longer a
magazine company” as its audiences now predominantly interact with its brands
through its websites and social media rather than its magazines. Douglas
McCabe, chief executive of Enders Analysis, told Press Gazette: “It’s an
industry that during (the past ten to 15 years) has literally changed its
definition.
In 2000, 1.6 billion magazines were circulated in
the UK. Unfortunately, last year, that number was down to 565 million. Consumer
expenditure has also shrunk, as UK consumers spent £669m on magazines in 2020, and
according to Enders estimates, that’s less than half the £1.4bn spent in 2000.
In the past five years, men’s magazines and music magazines have been among the
most impacted. The total circulation of men’s magazines reporting to ABC fell
by 89% from 32.3 million to 3.6 million between 2017 and 2021, while music
magazines fell by 90% to 1.8 million. According to McCabe, verticals where
consumers can easily substitute the content once found in a magazine with a
newer online source are the hardest hit. Social media platform, Instagram, has
been a big factor as to why the men’s category completely collapsed, as the app
satisfies audiences level of interest.
Despite this, Magazines are projected to
have accounted for almost £560.4 million of ad spend in 2022, with top magazine
advertisers including Apple, VictoriaPlum, Johnson & Johnson, Chanel and
Sainsbury’s. Magazine media reaches 76% of adults in the UK each month and almost
two thirds of UK adults (63%) read magazines through a digital medium each
month and this is growing steadily. According to PAMCo data 72% of readers
think that reading magazines is time well spent and 91% trust what they read. Around
the world magazine publishing is expected to continue growing by between 1% and
0.5% per year to 2026. Printed magazines are expected to have a significant
share of the predicted growth as people still prefer to read printed magazines and
trust the content they find there.
The leading companies in consumer magazines, Bauer
Media, Immediate Media Company and Future Plc, controlled an estimated 37% of
circulation in 2020. This is based on an analysis of the total annual number of
magazine copies circulated by each publisher, according to data reported to the
Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
The top publishers are responsible for a number of
household names.
·
Bauer’s biggest titles in 2020 for example included
TV Choice (average monthly circulation of 1.04 million), Take a Break (380,000)
and Yours (180,000).
·
Future’s biggest sellers in the consumer market
include What's on TV (690,000), Woman & Home (250,000) and Woman's Weekly
(210,000).
·
Hearst's most popular household names include ASDA
Magazine (1.83 million), Good Housekeeping (420,000) and Prima (210,000).
·
Immediate’s leading titles include Radio Times
(480,000, English Heritage Members Magazine (450,000) and BBC Gardeners' World
(220,000).
Information
referenced from the following sources:
https://www.pulsemagazine.co.uk/blogs-articles/the-outlook-for-magazines-in-2023/
https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/biggest-magazine-publishers-uk-2021/
https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/magazines/uk-consumer-magazine-industry-charts/
https://magnetic.media/research/market-overview/market-overview-insight
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