Research Into UK Magazine Industry

The 1960's to the 2000's were the magazine industries most successful years as circulations were high, magazines based around advertising were selling well and lots of magazine companies were very profitable; however, in the past 10 years, less people have been purchasing magazines because of developing technology e.g. the internet and some companies have been struggling to keep up and retain their audiences. The biggest reason for such a huge decline in people buying magazines is because of the rise in technology. They can instantly read the same information provided in magazines online for free. Although the internet has been helpful for companies to try and attract new readers through search engines and social networking sites, they also provide entertainment/music news for the consumers faster than any magazine could be written, edited, printed, and sent out to the shops.

In 2007, the first iPhone was released, enabling people to read magazine, book and newspaper content when they were travelling. The way that people could read the same information over so many platforms proved popular as they were more flexible than ever. iPhones/iPads/even normal mobiles phones now are both an opportunity to gain new readers with apps etc and a threat to the magazine industry.

Another factor in magazine circulation is the financial crash as smaller companies couldn't survive and were taken over by big companies; little and middle-market magazines find it much harder to stay afloat. Also, magazines catering for men have declined in the past ten years as there is less of a market for them. This is casued by men being much more likely to use online resources for their news and entertainment.

The method that many magazines used to gain money so they could fund the production of their magazine (apart from the actual profit from the magazine sales) was advertising - however, because of the decline in circulation, many companies are trying to fill their magazines with more things tailored to the customers in order to keep people buying it. Other ways that magazines are trying to remain current are:

• Online advertising.
• Having a website where people can order a magazine subscription which is more likely to make them buy it as they don't have to go out to the shops and they can get a discounted price for a years delivery etc.
• Making apps for phones.

The website I used mostly to research the Magazine Industry was: http://www.audiencedevelopment.com/2011/2001+2010+events+shaped+magazine+industry
Although it's American I found a lot of the points to be relevant for the UK's Magazine Industry too.