Industrial context: Magazines

Magazines can be general interest for mainstream audiences or specialist interest for niche audiences.

Most popular magazines

• Entertainment Weekly (Circulation: 1.8 million (2013))
• People (Circulation: 3.4 million (2018))
•  Us Weekly (Circulation: 2 million (2013)) 
• TV Guide (Circulation: 1.8 million (2014))
•  Rolling Stones (Circulation: 700,622 (2018)) 
• Empire (Circulation: 123,004 (2016))

Financing of Magazines

Magazines are usually financed by advertising or by a purchased price or by prepaid subscription or a combination of the three. For adverts, the magazine allows advertisers to use their unused space for their adverts which usually costs thousands of pounds. For subscriptions allow consumers to receive the magazine directly and is usually more profitable as one of the intermediaries are cut out but, also allows the magazine know what their audience’s consumption habit are like.

Industry decline

Magazine sales have been in steady decline since the introduction of online magazines. Some magazine producers have said that the industry is in a crisis, as print magazines have to compete with online only magazines.

UK magazines

In the UK alone there are over 8000 different magazine titles for general sale.