Magazines

Magazine launchesMartha Stewart Living (1991)

O, The Oprah Magazine (2000)

McCalls becomes Rosie (2001)

Early History of Magazinesmagazine from French word magasin, meaning storehouse or shopColonial magazines - first in 1741, Philadelphia1776 - about 100 operating

Early History of Magazines

North American Review (1815)Saturday Evening Post (1821)


1850 - nearly 600 magazinesGodeys Ladys Book (1850s)


The Nation (1865)

1870s - about 1200 magazinesPostal Act of 1879: postal rates went down


Pictorial Pioneers

Harpers Weekly/Photos around 1890

Early History of Magazines1905 - more than 6000In 1903, Ladies Home Journal reached circulation of 1 million.


Magazines help readers to see themselves as part of nation

Social Reform and Muckrakers

Social Reform and MuckrakersPresident Theodore Roosevelt, 1906: reporters willing to crawl through muck of society to uncover story.

Social Reform and Muckrakers1902, McClures Magazine (1893-1933)Ida Tarbells book The History of the Standard Oil Company on John D. Rockefellers big oil monopoly.

Social Reform and MuckrakersLincoln Steffens Shame of the Cities on urban problems.

Social Reform and Muckrakers1906, Cosmopolitan (1886- ) purchased by Hearst, series called The Treason of the Senate

Social Reform and MuckrakersColliers The Great American Fraud series on patent medicines. SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS

Social Reform and Muckrakers

Upton Sinclairs novel The Jungle and Colliers and LHJ muckraking reports, led to the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.

Rise of General Interest MagazinesSaturday Evening Post- hits 2 million in 1920s.

Readers Digest - by 1946, most popular magazine, hits 9 million circulation.

Rise of General Interest Magazines

Time (1923 - ) and national newsweeklies

1933

Rise of General Interest MagazinesLife (1936) - photojournalism

The Fall of General Interest MagazinesSaturday Evening Post folds, 1969Look folds, 1971Life folds, 1972All three in top 10 Selling for less than cost of productionRelied on subscriptions, with high mailing ratesAdvertisers migrated to TV to reach general audience

The Fall of General Interest MagazinesTV Guide (1953) - most newspapers didnt do TV program listings. A huge success. Demonstrated sales power of supermarket checkout sales.

Rupert Murdochs News Corp. bought in 1988. Why? Sold in 2000.

The Fall of General Interest MagazinesPeople finds success as new general interest magazine in 1974. Emerges from Time section.

SpecializationRegional editions - content tailored to different geographic regions Split-run editions - national magazines that tailor ads to different regions Demographic editions - ads target different consumers by occupation, class and zip code

CategoriesMagazines are developed for many NICHES (Primedia video)Currently about 12,000 magazines in U.S.

Fragmented MarketplaceOf the 12,000 consumer magazines, only about 90 have circulation of more than one million

The largest magazines?

Fragmented MarketplaceOf the 12,000 consumer magazines, only about 90 have circulation of more than one million

AARP Bulletin (21.5 million)AARP The MagazineReaders DigestTV GuideBetter Homes and Gardens

Supermarket TabloidsThe National Enquirer

Making magazines

Editorial Content (about 50-50)Advertising and Sales$64,000 fullpage ad$20,000 1/3 page adCirculation and DistributionEvergreensPaid circulation

Major ChainsTime WarnerMeredith PublishingHearst CorporationBertelsmannHachette FilipachiAdvance Publications/Cond Nast

Online MagazinesSalonSlate

*Tarbell: http://archives.cjr.org/year/01/3/tarbell.asp*http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jsteffens.htmShame cartoon: http://mohawk.k12.ny.us/progressive/Steffens1.htm*Time mag: http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101230526,00.htmlNewsweek image: http://hcom.csumb.edu/segreta/prelude.html

Documents

Magazines