In Britain, there are over 7,000 magazine titles published. All magazines fit into categories, which are outlined below.
Consumer magazines
Consumer magazines are sold in newsagents and usually have websites as well; they are targeted at consumers (the general public), rather than trade people. They fit into two categories: general and specialist. A general magazine’s aims are to entertain and to inform people on their subject. For example, Radio Times Magazine (pictured left) is a general magazine because it entertains with articles about TV shows and also informs people about what is on TV. A specialist magazine is about a specialist hobby or interest, so it targets a niche market. For example, Gardener’s World is a specialist magazine but it is not a trade magazine because it is for sale to the general public. In the UK, competition is fierce between magazines in the consumer category. Britain has about 2,800 and growing consumer magazines. The USA does have more (approx. 3,200) consumer magazines. However Britain only has a population of 60 million, explaining why it is seen as the fiercest market in the world.
Business magazines
Business magazines (A.K.A Professional or Trade 
magazines) are aimed at people who work in a particular industry. For example, Press Gazette is a magazine for journalists. It is a business magazine because it is only aimed at people who work in journalism. The style or format of business magazines are usually more like tabloid newspapers, with few colours (unlike glossy magazines) and are A3 in size. Some business magazines are free to people in that industry so they rely on advertising revenue. This is called controlled circulation.
magazines) are aimed at people who work in a particular industry. For example, Press Gazette is a magazine for journalists. It is a business magazine because it is only aimed at people who work in journalism. The style or format of business magazines are usually more like tabloid newspapers, with few colours (unlike glossy magazines) and are A3 in size. Some business magazines are free to people in that industry so they rely on advertising revenue. This is called controlled circulation.
Customer magazines
Not to be confused with consumer magazines, customer magazines are made by a company to advertise products. The store will put them on newsstands (often near the till) or send them out by post. The companies that make customer magazines tend to be large companies like supermarkets. For example, Sainsbury’s make Sainsbury’s Magazine. Their magazine mainly has articles about food and some entertainment and lifestyle articles. In their articles about food, they persuade customers to buy ingredients that they stock. Customer magazines make up 7 million copies of the UK magazine market in a year. Many of these magazines are free, like business magazines, so they rely on selling advertising space to other companies (although not competing ones) and making back what they spent in printing the magazine in sales of their products.
Newspaper supplements
Newspaper supplements tend to come with Saturday and Sunday papers and will usually based around entertainment and culture, rather than serious news. Currently 13 million copies of Newspaper Supplements are sold free as part of newspapers every week. For example, the Financial Times publishes How to spend it. Because newspapers have such a big circulation, newspaper supplements tend to have a larger readership than stand-alone magazines.
The two other categories of magazine are Part Works, which are collected over a period time about a particular subject. Academic journals, for people like university lecturers, tend to have an academic board that reviews articles.
Market share
Factors that affect the magazine industry
The internet has become just as important
as print media now. One of the problems this causes for the magazine industry is loss of advertising revenue because companies are advertising on websites more rather than in magazines. Another problem it causes for magazine publishers is that customers are increasingly finding information and entertainment from the internet for free, rather than spending money on a magazine to read.
Another factor that affects the industry is the integration between well established brands and magazines. For example, the BBC has a better chance at succeeding with a magazine like Gardener’s World than other publishers because the BBC is already trusted and the Gardener’s World ‘brand’ is already trusted so customers recognize it.
Statistics about the UK magazine market
- There are over 3,000 different consumer titles published in Britain. In in 1980, there were 1,383.
History of the magazine industry
- 1950s: Playboy launched, mixing sex and glamor for the first time ever
- 1960s: Rolling Stone first published and represented the spirit of rebellion that made up youth culture in the 1960s
- 1970s: Cosmopolitan launched (1972) that offered women the previously male world of sexual freedom
- 1980s: New software like Adobe Illustrator and new printers made publishing more high tech
- 1990s: Loaded magazine launched (in 1994) reflecting the new era of lads who liked drinking and women
- 2000s: Magazines like Heat, Hello, OK and Grazia that offer a look at celebrity culture and gossip
