How Magazines Create Value for Advertisers

Brad Mogavero

Today, there is no doubt that the magazine business has declined as opposed to the industry in the twentieth century. To put it simply, it is because audiences can now get the same information from articles online.  Of the whole full-time editorial workforce, journalists who work in news magazines have decreased by almost half from 1970 till now according to The American Journalist in the 21st Century. 

That raises the question: For those who are funding the magazines (mainly advertisers buying space), how is value being created for them? For starters, magazines, especially news/political magazines, are more narrowcasted. The magazines tend to be partisan implicating the same for its audience. This allows for advertisers to know better the audience they are targeting. Also, when looking at magazine advertising vs. newspaper advertising, people tend to hold onto magazines longer than they do newspapers. For advertisers this means that their audiences hold onto their content longer in the magazine medium. Not to mention, the images created by advertisers on magazines are much more vibrant and attractive than newspapers.

Mullen, a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, explains that assistants to presidents prefer giving their big stories to political magazines instead of newspapers. This means more in-depth stories for magazine readers of their perspective partisan magazines. Advertisers benefit greatly from the value of information that is provided through these political magazines. Captivating stories means a full page advertisement before said story would have a greater chance of meeting the intended audience.

So what kind of advertisements would be featured on The Atlantic? The typically left leaning publication features advertisements for Boeing, and TIAA, a financial service provider based on financial protection for retirement. What this told me is that these advertisers take advantage of knowing their demographic- probably an affluent middle aged man or woman who takes notice to recent, detailed news stories. It is important that these viewers not be tricked by advertisers either as more information has come to light on false advertising manipulation. The Federal Trade Commission monitors crass and inappropriate advertising, but warns people about testimonial advertising for something such as a weight loss pill that makes false promises– “fake news.”

The power of knowing your audience is all too important for advertisers, and magazines provide a more specific route than the mass medium of newspapers. It is in this way that magazines stay a relevant medium for advertisers.

 

Sources:

Brownstein, Ronald. “Democrats’ Narrow Path to Winning the House.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company.

Huebsch, Russell. “What Are the Benefits of Magazine Advertising?” Chron.com.

Kokemuller, Neil. “Magazine Advertising vs. Newspaper Advertising.” Chron.com.

Mullen, Lawrence. “An Overview of Political Content Analyses of Magazines.” Communication Institute for Online Scholarship

Weaver, David, et al. The American Journalist in the 21st Century. Psychology Press, 2014, books.google.com/books.

Vladek, David C. “Remarks before the Magazine Publishers of America.” 25 Feb. 2010, New York, NY, Federal Trade Commission.

 

Different Political Magazines Means Different Biases

Brad Mogavero

In the America of today there is no doubt of a partisan environment in magazine publications. There are right leaning and left leaning magazines that take different perspectives on common societal issues. Examples of commonly reffered conservative magazines include: National Review, The Weekly Standard, and Economist. Examples of more liberal magazines include: Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The American Prospect. Having media literacy is important when reading any of the magazines listed above because the biases in modern publications demand that readers decipher a bias. While the stories of any of these publications may be objective with some facts, the audience must understand subjective undertones in the publications’ coverage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When looking at the separate articles posted by National Review and The American Prospect, one can understand a difference in viewpoints by the writers of the adverse publications. National Review made an argument to its audience the positives of Trump’s role as the President of the United States. On the contrary, when understanding the article written by The American Prospect, the argument is undoubtedly unsupportive of Trump as the American leader. It portrays him as a bigot and a racist. Each article has information that may be factual, but without grasping media literacy one may fashion their thoughts on the persuasion that the magazines work to create for their readers.

Trump is currently at the forefront of all political news in America. In the case of magazine articles on political issues, the right and left leaning gatekeepers for news publications can not get enough of him. They capture all of his movements. What is pivotal is that readers take news from a multitude of magazine sources as to create their own educated opinion to prevent closed mindedness.

 

Sources:

Black, Conrad. “Trump Is the Good Guy.” National Review, 15 Dec. 2015.

Waldman, Paul. “Donald Trump, President of the Culture War.” The American Prospect.

 

Magazine Media Convergence

Brad Mogavero

Today, almost all magazines that were once published solely as print media are evolving and conforming to the digital age. Almost all popular magazines that either do or do not have a political bias are taking advantage of their online users. What does this mean for the industry as a whole? In short, it is bad for some (Heat, Hello! and Closer– celebrity publications) and great for others who take advantage of its capabilities (Time, The New Yorker, The Atlantic).

Vivian explains in his text that magazines have always had to be resilient throughout their existence.  In the 1950s, magazines had to compete with the newly popular network television. The 1990s brought upon magazine’s newest challenge–the internet. Magazine sales may have declined by 14% since the introduction of the internet, but news magazine publications have declined only 1% (Vivian 82). It is to be noted that news publications such as Time– online publication pictured above- succeed because of the loyalty of the publication’s users and the adaptability of journalists to “milk” the digital platform’s ability. Inserting videos and vivid pictures throughout allow for readers to engage with the stories more actively than print versions.

Consumers can be confident that print magazine publications will stay alive even with the rise of digital media as an alternative. Sales are simply not declining enough for big publishers to pull them off the stands. What can be certain is that media convergence of magazines onto digital platforms has empowered journalists to evolve their publications in new ways that allow consumers to immerse themselves more into the stories.

Sources:

Haughney, Christine. “Magazine Newsstand Sales Plummet, but Digital Editions Thrive.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Aug. 2013

Rowlands, Barbara. “The Fall and Rise of Magazines from Print to Digital.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 7 Mar. 2013

Vivian, John. The Media of Mass Communication. Pearson, 2017.

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