Magazines

Magazines became important as a source of entertainment, information and advertising after the Postal Act of 1879 granted second-class mailing rates to magazines, giving them low cost distribution through the mail system. Now, with digital publishing and file transfer, magazine are able to print and distribute locally, thus allowing greater geographic interest, market segmentation and local advertising and content flavor.

Magazines rank fourth highest in total dollar revenue. They yield excellent market segmentation, not only geographically, but by special interest, since many products appeal to some groups and not others. Magazines are often targeted by interest, Model Railroader, Ammunition Today, Sports Illustrated, Discover Magazine, the Family Handyman, Rolling Stone, Silicon Valley Engineer and Stereo Review show evidence of this in their titles. This makes magazine a very attractive media for manufacturers to advertise hybrid seed corn to farmers and auto-winders to camera enthusiasts.

Types of Magazines

The Standard Rate & Data Service (SRDS), a market research company specializing in media, classifies magazines by audience and frequency of publication. http://www.srds.com/

Questions: where would you put Mac World and Silicon Valley Engineer in the lists above?

Note: the magazine with the highest circulation is Modern Maturity with a circulation of 23 million and readership of 60 million.

Advantages and uses of magazine advertising include:

• market segmentation selectivity - reaches specific target audience by lifestyle and interests
• quality of reproduction
  • black & white, or full color
  • high quality print
• long life - 1 week to 3 months
• good frequency due to 3-5.1 person pass-along
• poor reach for broad market
• builds awareness and attitudes slowly
• many special interest magazines
• can contain detailed information
• can contain response devices
• Special services - available in some magazines
  • call retailers regarding products and services covered in an issue
  • index advertisers and products on a single page with page references where the ad appears
  • attention attracting inks
  • gatefolds
  • odd sized pages and different stock papers
  • popups
  • audio
  • fragrances
  • splits or split runs for testing ads versions and for geographic segmentation of ads
    

• largest space available is double-page spread - two pages face-to-face
• In saddle stitched (stapled in the middle when opened to the center, i.e. Time Magazine and Rolling Stone), usually only the center page is available as a double-page spread
• Full, half and quarter pages are common with smaller parts not unusual
• Bleed pages are available, where the color background extends to the edge (bleeds off the edge) of the page (may cost 0-15% extra)

• use is measured by audience (readership) and circulation (subscription plus newsstand sales)
• Renewal rate is a key subscription trend
• newsstand purchases are voluntary and are a key trends
• subscriptions are analyzed by
  • how produced - mail, catalog, field sales staff
  • duration of subscription
  • percent sold in combination
  • percent in arrears
  • percent sold at regular price versus special price offers
• lead time is 30 to 90 days for a monthly
• many national magazines offer splits, i.e. regional ad versions (about 15%)
• priced and quoted by column inch or portion of page
• actually sold by page part - full, half, quarter, eighth, etc.
• cost range from $25 to $50,000
• can buy specific issues and page placements
• discounts for space used and frequency of ads during a year
• available in color or black & white
  

Example of National Magazine Prices -

Magazine CPM (cost per thousand)

CPM = Page rate x 1,000        
          circulation (or audience)

Disadvantages of Magazine

• Less flexible in spot coverage and time due to wide distribution (exceptions are local editions or local, small magazines)
• Some offer as many regional editions (Field and Stream offers 5, Time offers 50, one for each State)
• Longer lead times with less flexibility 1-3 months
• Many printers to deal with

Making Ads and Using Media Effectively

Much testing has been done over periods of time covering reader habits, including eye tracking on a page, recall, change in beliefs and habits, impulse behavior, and more. Here are some of the results.

• Up to 40% of readers do not start from the front, starting from some other point
• Readers tend to "fan" a magazine with the left hand and look at ads and articles from the back to front
• Magazine has been shown to be the strongest media for helping an audience learn what a new product looks like on a store shelf or becoming aware of a new variety of a product (note - there are over 18,000 products in a typical supermarket)
• Things that fail
  • metallic paint
  • white print on black background (reverse print)
  • copy that is too large a font
  • copy that is too small a font
  • little space between words
  • print ads that are "billboards" or simple reminders of TV commercials (don't stand alone)
• Print ads work best when they communicate an advertiser's objectives and support an overall marketing strategy
• An exceptionally strong ad will work no matter where it is placed in a magazine

source: Magazine Publishers of America