Industrial context- The brand: Hearst

 A BRIEF HISTORY

1887

On March 4, a 23-year-old William Randolph Hearst places his name on the masthead of the San Francisco Examiner as "Proprietor" for the first time, marking the beginning of Hearst Corporation. 

1897

Hearst introduces “The Katzenjammer Kids” in the New York Journal. King Features still distributes the strip, making it the longest-running newspaper comic in history.

1900

The Good Housekeeping Institute, a precursor to the FDA, is founded 15 years after its namesake magazine to improve the lives of consumers and their families through education and product evaluation.

1912

Hearst’s New York Journal introduces the first full page of weekday daily comics. 

1933

Harper’s BAZAAR is one of the first fashion magazines to do a shoot on location and show a model in motion.

1955

Hearst Newspapers arranges the first cultural exchange between the United States and Russia, including interviews with top Soviet leaders that led to a Pulitzer Prize. 

1965

In February, Harper’s BAZAAR becomes the first women’s fashion magazine to feature a man—actor Steve McQueen—on the cover. 

1978

Hearst launches Country Living as an annual. It becomes a monthly in 1982.

1979

Hearst acquires the Edwardsville Intelligencer, Huron Daily Tribune, Midland Daily News, Midland Reporter-Telegram and Plainview Daily Herald.

1980

Hearst acquires First Databank.

1981

Hearst is a founding partner, with ABC, in the predecessors of cable networks A&E and Lifetime.

1986

Hearst acquires Boston’s WCVB-TV.

Esquire becomes a Hearst publication.

1987

Houston Chronicle is purchased by Hearst.

1990

Hearst acquires a 20 percent interest in ESPN.

1993

Hearst adds the San Antonio Express-News to its newspapers group.

2001

Hearst is the first company to commit to a major building project in New York City after 9/11: Hearst Tower. The building is architect Lord Norman Foster’s first skyscraper in the U.S.

2002

ESPN reaches agreement for multimedia NBA coverage, becoming the first network to televise all four major professional sports—NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA

2005

ESPN is one of the first networks in cable television history to pass the 90 million subscriber mark in the U.S.

2008

The October issue of Esquire features a flexible electronic "paper" cover that allows words and images to scroll across it—a first for magazines—in celebration of the magazine’s 75th anniversary.

2010

Hearst is the first magazine publisher to make all of its titles available to read on every major tablet device.

2011

Hearst acquires nearly 100 magazines in 14 countries from Lagardère, making it one of the largest monthly magazine publishers in the world and the largest monthly publisher in the U.S. 

2014

Hearst announces the formation of Hearst Health, a brand that encompasses the company’s healthcare information businesses and health ventures.

2018

Hearst completes transaction with Rodale, Inc. to acquire the company’s global health and wellness brands. The acquired brands publish 62 print editions and 57 websites in 31 countries.

Hearst takes full ownership of Fitch Ratings Inc., one of the “Big Three” credit rating agencies, after originally acquiring a 20 percent stake in 2006

Contemporary context

MAGAZINE INDUSTRY

As society has broadened and become more open-minded to new trends and concepts, there are a larger amount of interests and topics that are becoming more popular. Due to this, magazines have also had to broaden to include more niche and mainstream structure and content to reach viewers with various demographic and psychometric groups that may have not existed or been as popular previously. This fills gaps in the market and also satisfies readers with all different interests. Within the industry there are more dominant conglomerates such as Hearst- companies like this own a large majority of successful publications.

However, due to advancements in technology in recent years many individuals, especially the younger generation, are beginning to consume their content on online platforms. Social media such as Instagram and Twitter are becoming increasingly more popular and a place where people can follow these magazines. Subscriptions on websites are also now becoming easier to access for a lot of people and more convenient, showing that there is becoming a decline in print magazines, as not as many people have the time to go out and purchase one. Although, some people are more traditional and prefer enjoying the experience of a print copy.

FINANCE

Magazine companies finance magazines through:

• Sponsorships and sponsored content
• Print subscriptions
• Online subscriptions 
• Print advertising 
• Digital advertising
• Events and conferences 
• Live streaming
• Videos and podcasts

In 2020, magazine advertising spending in the United kingdom fell to £461 million, but is still where magazines make most revenue from.

DISTRIBUTION 

Magazines are distributed through:

• Print copies sold in shops
• Subscriptions on websites
• Social media
• Blogs

UK magazine circulation figures fell by an average of 6% year-on-year in 2020, according to the latest ABC figures.

Industrial context: Brief history/ timeline of magazines

1663- The earliest example of magazines was Erbauliche Monaths Unterredugan, a literary and philosophy magazine, launched in Germany.

1731- The Gentleman’s magazine was first published in London, this was the first magazine that was considered general interest.

1821- Came the first really successful mass circulation magazine in the US, The Saturday Evening Post, by 1855 it had a circulation of 90,000 copies per year. It is said to have transformed the look of magazines.

1830s- It became cheaper for publishers to print and mail, producers started to produce less expensive magazines, with wider audiences in mind. It was no longer just focused on the elite.

1842- The oldest magazine that is still in publication was published, The Illustrated London News. It was the first magazine that was accompanied by illustration, and or later incorporate photographs.

1880- Magazines started to become more inexpensive 

1899- National Geographic first published and sold

1920- Mass circulation magazines became much more common after 1900, some with circulations in the hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Some passed the million mark in the 1920s. It was an age of mass media. Due to the rapid expansion of national advertising, the cover price fell sharply to about 10 cents.

The 20th century brought about the introduction of new genres of magazines.

Early 2000s there were developments in technology , magazines have to innovate to remain current, and retain readership.

Audience Profile

 Focus group research: primary and secondary audiences 

Name: Charlotte Colley

Age:17

Gender: female

Race: white

Location: Essex

Interests: attending events, fashion, debating, photography

Psychometric group: Aspirer

Values/ brief application: Loves engaging with current events and the cultural production of media products. Finds the overall psychology of why people enjoy things and their behaviours. Not particularly immersed in politics, but like to keep up with current affairs. I think fashion, especially editorial is at the heart of what I do and I personally if I can like to buy magazines as a collection.

PRIMARY AUDIENCE

Name: Mia Petchy

Age: 17

Gender: female

Race: British

Location: Essex

Interests: fitness, health, topical news, puzzles

Psychometric group: Explorer

Values/Brief application: Likes to read topical magazines, that include health and fitness as is an interest. Likes to read Paper, Cosmopolitan and Daze magazine.

PRIMARY AUDIENCE

Name: Polly Magill

Age: 16

Gender: female 

Race: white (British)

Location: Essex

Interests: music, vintage fashion, films 

Psychometric group: Aspirer/Explorer

Values/Brief application: Likes magazines that present the real issues people are facing, and not just superficial world problems. Likes a change in fashion and mindset and so likes to read cosmopolitan, as it focuses on real world issues people face mentally and physically.

PRIMARY AUDIENCE

Name: Marnie Grieve

Age: 17

Gender: female

Race: white (British)

Location: Essex

Interests: fashion, collecting old records, performing, magazines, beauty 

Psychometric group: aspirer/explorer

Values/ brief application: Enjoys consuming media both online platforms and print, loves to collect magazines and adding to her collection. Favourite magazine is Vogue, as wants to be a journalist for them.

SECONDARY AUDIENCE

Name: Jonathan Gedda

Age: 46

Gender: Male

Race: white

Location: Essex

Interests: card games-poker, paddle boarding, current affairs, film

Psychometric group: reformer 

Values/ brief application: prefers to read about news and current affairs, as likes to keep up-to-date with issues. Particularly likes to watch Middle Eastern news as it is an interest to him.

SECONDARY AUDIENCE

Name: Judi Gedda

Age: 47

Gender: Female

Race: white (British)

Location: Essex

Interests: socialising, films, running, travelling, music, cats

Psychometric group: Creator/striver

Values/ brief application: Likes home and garden magazines. Also Health magazines as interested in keeping healthy. Mostly looks at the  front pages and attracted through the front cover. Also interested in recent and upcoming events in magazines.

Audience Profile: Moodboard

 

Audience Research

The target audience for my magazine is 16-25 year old, middle market, aspirational audience. Due to their age range, they are likely to be growing up with social media and technology, and so are likely to have a proficient understanding of popular trends, culture, and different modern platforms like Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram. The audience are likely to keep up to date with social media, and because of the fact they are a student or employed, and so they are likely to engage with technology every day. 16-25 are some of the most influential years in someone’s life and social media has a big impact on the audiences identity, ideas and values. Due to standards created online as well, the audience are most likely to be self conscious with a higher risk or mental health issues, because of the exposure to different unrealistic expectations created.

A study shows that 3/4 of common mental health problems emerge before the age of 25, from social media platforms.

Middle market suggests people who are middle class (BC1) demographic. An aspirer describes psychometric group that seeks status and appearing rich, and living in luxury and popular within society.

Magazines are not likely to be the first media product chosen by the audiences, however topics like fashion, technology, mental and physical well being, diet/food trends, events, and sport will have a higher chance of attracting the attention of the audience as they are relatable and popular topics that would be of interest to them, because of the fact they like to keep up to date with trends, and want to relate to the standards created. They are likely to have a high cultural competency and topics like this will help them to engage more on social media. 

Planning- Moderators report

• The target audience was specified as a culturally sophisticated, 16–25 age group, class AB demographic. 
• At least four different images using original photography across the covers and contents; a different setting for each cover; at least two models representing at least two different social groups; a call to action pointing readers to the website. 
• The stronger magazines chose their fonts with discrimination (not relying on standard body-text fonts to create sell lines or the masthead) and showed control in terms of size and leading. The best work used a variety of images on the contents, with page numbers on the images anchoring them to the written contents, and appropriately laid out and sized text.
• Many of the magazines constructed representations really well, with subtle but thoughtful differences around nationality, class, aspiration as well as ethnicity and gender. Some of the most interesting work questioned issues of normative gender stereotypes.
• Magazines which were more lifestyle than fashion (including, for example, cover features on cars or sports stars with no fashion context or a fashion element which seemed to have been ‘shoehorned’ in)
• Magazines where the front cover image was either a medium close up or a close up of a model’s face and so had no focus on fashion. Where candidates' photographs did not specifically address an AB demographic this could have been achieved in the cover-lines and contents, for example focusing on high end designer fashion
• Contents pages which duplicated text, stories or imagery/ models across both issues
• One or two magazines did not include the price (or a barcode) on the cover, despite the brief stating that the product was to be sold by retailers
• Magazines where excellent front covers were not matched by the quality of the contents pages; for example, no sub-headings, limited use of images, little/ no copy, no use of columns or use of a wide variety of fonts, inconsistent column structure, too much white space, very little in terms of actual written contents, font sizes which were overly large in order to fill the space. All of these demonstrated a lack of understanding of the codes and conventions
• Several sets of magazines did not refer to the fact that these were supposed to be the first two editions – this was a requirement of the brief.

I chose brief 3: magazines and online as I feel like I have better knowledge of magazines and will be able to produce a better result. I really enjoy fashion magazines and I think I will enjoy creating my own one.